Building a Better World, Together

Protecting patients. Here's a troubling statistic: Medical mistakes that occur in hospitals account for an estimated 440,000 deaths each year. What's more, Consumer Reports has learned that thousands of doctors across the country have been put on probation by state medical boards for reasons including negligent care, sexual misconduct, and substance abuse. Yet they're still allowed to practice medicine—without having to alert their patients. Read "What You Don't Know About Your Doctor Could Hurt You."

Consumer Reports' Safe Patient Project is working tirelessly to address these important healthcare concerns. Under the leadership of Lisa McGiffert, our advocates are pushing for patient-safety initiatives on federal and local levels. The team is focused on finding ways to reduce medical errors and hospital-acquired infections, improve the safety of medical devices, and ensure that the nation's doctors are practicing good medicine.

"Transparency and giving consumers information they can act on—this is what helps to change the behaviors that harm patients," McGiffert says. "Take infections, which are preventable. If no one knows what's going on inside hospitals, then there's no incentive for those hospitals to clean up their act."

Since 2003 the Safe Patient Project has fought to require hospitals to divulge their infection rates. Thanks in part to this campaign, it's now the law in 33 states and the District of Columbia, and Medicare is now requiring hospitals throughout the U.S. to report their rates.

"When lawmakers hear statistics and technical data, their eyes glaze over, but when they hear about people who have lost loved ones to a hospital infection, they listen," says McGiffert, who was the legislative director for the Texas Senate Committee on Health and Human Services before joining Consumer Reports 25 years ago. The Safe Patient Project's latest effort grew from the work of advocates in California who were battling for more transparency from their state's medical board. In late 2015 we filed a petition with the board urging that the almost 500 doctors on probation be required to notify their patients. That prompted state Sen. Jerry Hill to introduce a bill in February based on our proposal.

"Consumers have the right to know whether their doctor is on probation for misconduct that could jeopardize their health," McGiffert says. Go to SafePatientProject.org to learn more about the work McGiffert and her team are doing to help consumers find good doctors.

Cutting cable costs. Your cable company is at it again. According to the Federal Communications Commission, 99 percent of the 53 million customers paying for cable TV have no choice but to lease a set-top box, paying a collective $20 billion each year. Since 1994 the cost of leasing a box has risen 185 percent while prices for computers and TVs have dropped by 90 percent. We have long pressed for reform, and the FCC recently voted to advance a proposal that would open up the market. That move would help bring "competition and innovation to a market that's in serious need of reform," says Marta L. Tellado, president and CEO of Consumer Reports. Watch ConsumersUnion.org for progress.

Sticker shock. You pick a doctor or hospital in your health plan's network to keep costs down. But then you get ambushed with big bills from specialists or labs that aren't covered by your insurance. When we reported on surprise medical bills in September, we asked you to share your stories with us. By press time for this issue, more than 1,775 readers had told us about their bills, totaling $9,002,935. Go to EndSurpriseMedicalBills.org to see how the number has grown, sign our petition, and share your story.