Insurer Says “Not Our Fault? Not Our Bill”

Chicago, Illinois-based Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois said it will not pay for hospital-based preventable medical errors. Instead, the insurer said it plans to work with network providers to stop errors before they happen.

Published on August 11, 2008

The medical errors that the insurer says it will not cover include "serious hospital-acquired conditions," such as preventable infections and "never events," which are errors in patient care that can and should be prevented — for example, operating on the wrong body part or transfusion errors.

According to Dr. Scott Sarran, chief medical officer for Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Illinois, "Blue Cross' goal for years has been to work to prevent medical errors, which often go undetected."