OB Patient Safety Program Reduces Sentinel Events, Liability Payments

​A New York medical center reports that its comprehensive obstetrics patient safety program eliminated the occurrence of sentinel events over time and significantly reduced indemnity payments. The program, initiated in 2003 by the facility's professional liability insurance carrier, resulted in a steady decline in sentinel events as measured from 2000, when 1.04 sentinel events per 1,000 deliveries occurred, to zero sentinel events in 2008 and 2009.