new, hybrid definition that includes both label- and process-related aspects: "A diagnostic error is failure to establish an accurate and timely explanation of the patient's health problem(s) or to communicate that explanation to the patient." This is the only definition that specifically includes the patient in the definition wording. Impact A 2000 Institute of Medicine report estimated that medical errors result in between 44,000 and 98,000 preventable deaths and 1,000,000 excess injuries each year in U.S. hospitals. In the UK, a 2000 study found that an estimated 850,000 medical errors occur each year, costing over £2 billion. Some researchers questioned the accuracy of the IOM study, criticizing the statistical handling of measurement errors in the report, significant subjectivity in determining which deaths were "avoidable" or due to medical error, and an erroneous assumption that 100% of patients would have survived if optimal care had been provided. A 2001 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association of seven Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers estimated that for roughly every 10,000 patients admitted to the select hospitals, one patient died who would have lived for three months or more in good cognitive health had "optimal" care been provided. A 2006 follow-up to the IOM study found that medication errors are among the most common medical mistakes, harming at least 1.5 million people every year. According to the study, 400,000 preventable drug-related injuries occur each year in hospitals, 800,000 in long-term care settings, and roughly 530,000 among Medicare recipients in outpatient clinics. The report stated that these are likely to be conservative estimates. In 2000 alone, the extra medical costs incurred by preventable drug-related injuries approximated $887 millionand the study looked only at injuries sustained by Medicare recipients, a subset of clinic visitors. None of these figures take into account lost wages and productivity or other costs. According to a 2002 Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality report, about 7,000 people were estimated to die each year from medication errors – about 16 percent more deaths than the number attributable to work-related injuries (6,000 deaths). Medical errors affect one in 10 patients worldwide. One extrapolation suggests that 180,000 people die each year partly as a result of iatrogenic injury. One in five Americans (22%) report that they or a family member have experienced a medical error of some kind. The World Health Organization registered 14 million new cases and 8.2 million