LOS ANGELES, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Despite 10 years of awareness of the problem, about 98,000 Americans still die annually from preventable medical errors, a news report says.

    The Consumers Union report said lawmakers largely have failed to enact patient safety reforms recommended by a 1999 report by the Institute of Medicine that found that medical errors cost the U.S. as much as 29 billion U.S. dollars a year.

    "Ten years later, we don't know if we've made any real progress, and efforts to reduce the harm caused by our medical care system are few and fragmented," the report said.

    The Consumers Union pointed out that 10 years ago the IOM declared that as many as 98,000 people needlessly die each year because of preventable medical harm, including hospital-acquired infections.

    Medical errors, the IOM said, costs the United States about 17 to 29 billion U.S. dollars a year.

    Lisa McGiffert of the Consumers Union called for key reforms of the health care system in order to protect patients.

    "As the debate over health care heats up in Washington, the congress should make sure that improving patient safety is a central part of any reform legislation it adopts," McGiffert said.

    The IOM report sought measurable improvements in patient safety, saying it would be "irresponsible to expect anything less than a 50 percent reduction in errors over five years."

    The landmark report prompted a flurry of activity in Washington, including seven high-profile congressional hearings and the introduction of five medical error bills.

    But none of those bills were adopted and progress in implementing a number of the IOM's key recommendations has been frustratingly slow, the Consumers Union report said.

    "We can't wait another decade to take the steps needed to protect patients from deadly and costly medical errors," said Arthur Levin, director of the Center for Medical Consumers and a member of the IOM committee that issued the 1999 report.

    The report from the IOM, one of the National Academies of Sciences that advises U.S. policymakers, also said that at least 1.5 million preventable medication errors cost the United States about 3.5 billion dollars each year. Such errors include giving or prescribing the wrong drug, providing the wrong dose, or giving the drug in the wrong way.