Hospitals are taking a new approach when it comes to the errors that doctors and administrators make in healthcare—honesty.

It seems crazy, right? However, hospitals have not lost their minds. For years, medical malpractice claims have been a long and hard struggle for those injured or even killed by doctors and other healthcare professionals who make critical errors when treating their patients.

This new approach seems too good to be true, but as more hospitals own up to their mistakes, it might allow malpractice attorneys and victims to rest just a little easier. Learn about this new initiative and how seven Massachusetts hospitals are stepping up to a new era.

Medical Malpractice Lawsuits

Medical malpractice cases form an astonishing number of personal injury suits every year. They can be an uphill struggle when hospitals and healthcare facilities go out of their way to avoid owning up to the errors they make. In the end, it often does not play out well for the hospitals and costs victims years of pain and suffering.

Now, seven Massachusetts hospitals have signed onto a new initiative that might change the landscape of healthcare lawsuits, and here is the kicker: It is about actually owning up to their errors.

The Original CANDOR Initiative

The original initiative that led to this approach started about a decade ago in far-off Michigan, where theUniversity of Michigan Health System first started to practice transparency and honesty. While lawsuits have been a beneficiary of this, the real initiative is to increase patient safety.

The basics of this healthcare model and advice for how it can be implemented have been published in an academic paper in Frontiers of Health Services Management, and in a booklet that the University has published to advise other healthcare institutions.

Federal Backing

Even better, this initiative has been backed by the federal AHRQ, or Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The feeling, which has been upheld in practice since the initiative went into effect, is that not only will this save on malpractice claims which cost hospitals millions of dollars every year, it will allow hospitals to save tens of thousands of lives by improving healthcare best practices.

CANDOR

The new approach is called “CANDOR,” which aside from being a clever reference to honesty, stands for Communication and Optimal Resolution. The idea is that instead of trying to cover up and hide malpractice, hospitals should be taking strict actions to scrutinize what went wrong and actually correct the errors that led to the problem in the first place.

The initiative was developed with a federal research grant to the tune of $23 million and was tested in 14 different hospitals across three different health systems.

Worcester Medical Malpractice Attorney

While the full reach of this initiative as it pertains to lawsuits and patient injuries remains to be seen, both healthcare professionals and medical malpractice attorneys hail it as a victory. It does not mean that malpractice is going away, however.

What it does mean is that it is going to be much easier to pursue cases which previously took years of discovery, investigation and costly battles. If you have been injured due to medical malpractice, we can help. Check out our malpractice services and give us a call in order to start discussing your case today.