By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

ome safety experts say that a government-commissioned report on reducing medical errors neglects simple ideas like counting surgical sponges to make sure none are left inside a patient.

The report, sent to doctors nationwide by the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, highlights only practices that have been rigorously studied, like the use of ultrasound to help guide the insertion of intravenous tubes.

"For policy makers to wait for incontrovertible proof of effectiveness before recommending a practice would be a prescription for inaction and an abdication of responsibility," said a critique by Dr. Lucian Leape and Dr. Donald Berwick of the Harvard School of Public Health and Dr. David Bates of Harvard Medical School. The critique is to be published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The agency commissioned the report in response to concerns about medical errors. In 1999, the Institute of Medicine said medical errors contributed to more than 1 million injuries and up to 98,000 deaths a year.

The critique praised the report for its comprehensive review of certain methods to prevent complications. But, it said, the report gave short shrift to safety practices like having a pharmacist on call in hospitals around the clock.