Washington, D.C., December 12, 2002 - The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) issued the following statement today in support of the hospital voluntary reporting initiative announced today by the American Hospital Association, the Federation of American Hospitals and the AAMC:

"As representatives of the nation's 125 medical schools and some 400 major teaching hospitals and health systems around the country, the Association of American Medical Colleges wholeheartedly lends its support to this landmark public-private partnership to establish effective quality measures of hospital patient care.

The AAMC's support for this initiative is based on its important connection to all three of our missions-health care, research and medical education.

First, as care-providers to many of the nation's most severely ill patients, teaching hospitals are committed to establishing reliable, understandable national quality measures that will assist patients and their families in making informed decisions about the care they and their loved ones receive.

Second, as major centers for medical research and technology, teaching hospitals are often where quality measures are developed and tested. This initiative will build a structure that will help disseminate this research, which is so critical to quality improvement and patient safety.

And finally, as places where new physicians gain knowledge and enhance their patient care skills, this initiative will help teaching hospitals maintain the already strong connection between the medical education environment and quality assessment, so our institutions can instruct tomorrow's doctors on ways to provide the finest-and safest-medical care to future populations.

This quality initiative addresses the need for a uniform national model of reporting. While many different studies of quality and adverse event reporting are available, our members have been disadvantaged by the diverse methodology, which precludes comparison.

Many states have reporting mechanisms, but have different methodologies and most do not have a follow-up or corrective mechanism to close the loop. This effort should help address those limitations.

The AAMC and its Council of Teaching Hospitals and Health Systems believes that this partnership is a focused approach to establish and distribute effective quality measures that hospitals need and the public demands.

We believe that our members will view this national collaboration as the essential next step as they advance their commitment to superior health care, and we are already working to encourage full participation in this voluntary effort.

Through our commitment to this long-term comprehensive initiative, we can continue to strengthen the public's trust in the care they receive-job one for every health care provider."

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The Association of American Medical Colleges represents the 125 accredited U.S. medical schools; the 16 accredited Canadian medical schools; some 400 major teaching hospitals, including Veterans Administration medical centers; more than 105,000 faculty in 98 academic and scientific societies; and the nation's 66,000 medical students and 97,000 residents.

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The Association of American Medical Colleges is a not-for-profit association representing all 129 accredited U.S. and 17 accredited Canadian medical schools; nearly 400 major teaching hospitals and health systems, including 68 Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers; and 94 academic and scientific societies. Through these institutions and organizations, the AAMC represents 109,000 faculty members, 67,000 medical students, and 104,000 resident physicians. Additional information about the AAMC and U.S. medical schools and teaching hospitals is available at www.aamc.org/newsroom.

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