Under a policy announced recently by the Delaware Healthcare Association, Delaware hospitals will not charge patients or insurers for certain rare but serious adverse events. “This represents a major step and underscores our commitment to transparency and quality initiatives,” said DHA President and CEO Wayne Smith. “This policy says to Delawareans that their hospitals are committed to doing everything possible to assure quality treatment.” The nine events, defined as serious reportable events by the National Quality Forum, are: surgery on the wrong body part or patient, wrong surgical procedure, retention of a foreign object, medication error injury, incompatible blood-associated injury, air embolism-associated injury, artificial insemination/wrong donor, and infant discharged to the wrong family. Hospitals in Massachusetts and Minnesota have adopted similar statewide policies.