831 Beginning of required reporting under the Medical Care Availability and Reduction of Error (MCARE) Act

PATIENT SAFETY AUTHORITY

Beginning of Required Reporting under the Medical Care Availability and Reduction of Error (MCARE) Act

[34 Pa.B. 2520]

   The Department of Health (Department) and the Patient Safety Authority (Authority) give notice under section 313(g) of the Medical Care Availability and Reduction of Error (MCARE) Act (act) (40 P. S. § 1303.313(g)) that medical facilities required to report under section 313 of the act (hospitals, ambulatory surgical facilities and birth centers) through a Statewide reporting system (PA-PSRS) shall begin reporting under PA-PSRS the occurrence of serious events, incidents and infrastructure failures consistent with the requirements of section 313 of the act as follows:

   All medical facilities in the following counties are required to begin reporting on June 7, 2004: Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Chester, Delaware, Lehigh, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Monroe, Montgomery, Northampton, Philadelphia, Pike, Susquehanna, Wayne and Wyoming.

   All medical facilities in the following counties are required to begin reporting on June 21, 2004: Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Bedford, Blair, Butler, Cambria, Cameron, Centre, Clarion, Clearfield, Crawford, Elk, Erie, Fayette, Forest, Fulton, Greene, Huntingdon, Indiana, Jefferson, Lawrence, McKean, Mercer, Somerset, Venango, Warren, Washington and Westmoreland.

   All medical facilities in the following counties are required to begin reporting on June 28, 2004: Adams, Bradford, Clinton, Columbia, Cumberland, Dauphin, Franklin, Juniata, Lancaster, Lebanon, Lycoming, Mifflin, Montour, Northumberland, York, Perry, Potter, Schuylkill, Snyder, Sullivan, Tioga and Union.

   Upon their respective reporting beginning dates, medical facilities shall report under PA-PSRS, and the reporting requirements for those facilities under 28 Pa. Code § 51.3(f) and (g) (relating to notification) shall cease in accordance with section 314 of the act (40 P. S. § 1303.314). The Authority and the Department may establish different reporting beginning dates upon publication of a subsequent notice.

   Persons with a disability who require an alternative format of this notice (for example, large print, audiotape or Braille) should contact James T. Steele, Jr., Room 825, Health and Welfare Building, P. O. Box 90, Harrisburg, PA 17108-0090, [phone], for speech and/or hearing impaired persons, V/TT: [phone] or the Pennsylvania AT&T Relay Services at [phone].

ROBERT S. MUSCALUS, D.O.,   
Chair of Board of Directors
Patient Safety Authority

RICHARD H. LEE,   
Deputy Secretary for Quality Assurance
Department of Health

[Pa.B. Doc. No. 04-831. Filed for public inspection May 7, 2004, 9:00 a.m.]