FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:                CONTACT: Catherine Bromberg
March 11, 2009                                                      781-262-6027       
                                                                             cbromberg@mhalink.org

MHA and MONE Win This Year’s Betsy Lehman Patient Safety Award for Patients First Initiative

Massachusetts Hospital Association (MHA) and the Massachusetts Organization of Nurse Executives (MONE) have won the 2008 Betsy Lehman Patient Safety Recognition Award for their Patients First initiative. Representatives from both organizations will publicly accept the honor at the March 11, 2009 Massachusetts Public Health Council meeting.

“Patients First was launched in January 2005 as a result of candid discussions between MHA and MONE to address critical issues related to the safety of patients and the quality of care in all Massachusetts hospitals,” said Karen Nelson, RN, Senior Vice President of Clinical Affairs for MHA. “We believe Patients First is a groundbreaking initiative that demonstrates leadership and innovation in patient safety and transparency. We’re thrilled and very proud to have our work recognized by the Betsy Lehman Center.”

Patients First is a bold, voluntary initiative by Massachusetts’ hospitals to advance their longstanding commitment to provide the safest levels of high-quality care. The Patients First plan commits hospitals to work collaboratively to create practices and innovations to enhance excellence in patient care.  Hospitals have embraced new strategies to reduce medical errors, improve safety and efficiency, open up communications, and increase transparency by publicly reporting nurse staffing plans and health care quality outcome measures.  Hospitals also pledged to develop new solutions to alleviate nursing and other caregiver staff shortages.  Patients First gives patients and families unprecedented access to information about their local hospitals.

Patients First builds on the success of national quality initiatives such as those established by the Hospital Quality Alliance (HQA), National Quality Forum (NQF), the Joint Commission (JC), and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI).  Patients First, however, set a more aggressive agenda for Massachusetts hospitals to set priorities around a common agenda of quality and safety.

“Because safety and quality are the most important values in the healthcare environment, detailed platforms were developed to address a comprehensive set of goals to provide the public with information on what hospital teams are doing not only to assure high-quality, safe patient care and a safe and supportive work environment, but also to improve in those areas,” said Sharon A. Gale, Executive Director of MONE.

Patients First is composed of five platforms, two of which were specifically cited in the Betsy Lehman award nomination. By signing on to Patients First, Massachusetts hospitals agreed to:

Inform patients, their families and the public about how nurse leaders set safe-staffing plans that meet patients’ needs and, for the first time, committed hospitals to make their safe-staffing plans available to the public.
 
Provide more public information about hospitals by publicly reporting their performance on a series of nationally recognized safety and quality measurements. This reporting allowed patients to measure and assess and hospital’s performance.

The other three platforms are:

Provide the public with “common framework” hospital performance measures to help patients make better informed decisions about their care. The hospitals committed to publicly reporting at least three common nurse-sensitive measures selected from the National Quality Forum list, including care hours per patient day.
Address the chronic problem of shortages of nurses and other care professionals through hospital-based initiatives and strategic partnerships. Hospitals committed to providing in-house education programs, innovative “career ladders,” scholarships, mentoring and preceptor opportunities, and agree to advocate for government support of educational opportunities for caregivers.
Promote a safe and supportive working environment for all those who provide care and in which patient safety is the top priority.

The entire Patients First initiative was specifically designed to be replicated in any region or state. After the first public posting, MHA, MONE and Applied Management Systems hosted a national conference that attracted an audience from multiple states. Those involved in the development of Patients First have also presented information on how to implement similar reporting in many other individual states, two of which are currently interested in voluntarily, publicly reporting nurse staffing plans. The Patients First web site is www.patientsfirstma.org/measures.cfm.

The Betsy Lehman Center for Patient Safety and Medical Error Reduction presents its annual patient safety award to recognize leadership and innovation in patient safety through the implementation of best practices that include: public awareness, education, and the promotion of system-based solutions. The 2008 award focused on persons/organizations that best demonstrate a commitment to public transparency and the active involvement of patients in quality and safety initiatives.

MHA and MONE Win This Years Betsy Lehman Patient Safety Award for Patients First Initiative (Microsoft Word Document)