The Betsy Lehman Center for Patient Safety has convened a group of 20 entities to work on a sustained effort to improve patient safety and healthcare quality throughout the health care continuum.
The goal of the consortium is to create a “Roadmap to Patient Safety,” which the Lehman Center describes as “a systematic approach to guide and energize future improvement efforts, with an emphasis on increased uptake of established best practices. The Roadmap will be structured around four interconnected pillars of patient safety: transparency, leadership and culture, learning health systems, and support for patients and the health care workforce.”
MHA has a seat on the panel. Pat Noga, R.N., MHA’s Vice President for Clinical Affairs, said, “Over the last several years, Massachusetts hospitals have made notable advances on patient safety, harm prevention and delivering high-quality care. Despite this progress, there is still more to do to improve care provided in hospitals and other healthcare settings. MHA and our members welcome the opportunity to continue to accelerate our work in these areas through the new Healthcare Safety and Quality Consortium.”
The 20 groups making up the new consortium are: Ariadne Labs, Blue Cross Blue Shield of MA, the Center for Health Information and Analysis, Coverys, CRICO: The Risk Management Foundation of the Harvard Medical Institutions, the Health Policy Commission, Healthcentric Advisors, Mass. Alliance for Communication and Resolution Following Medical Injury, Mass. Association of Ambulatory Surgical Centers, Mass. Coalition for the Prevention of Medical Errors, Mass. Health Quality Partners, Mass. Senior Care Association, MHA, Mass. Medical Society, Office of the Attorney General, Mass. Senior Care Association, Organization of Nurse Leaders, and the Quality & Patient Safety Division of the Mass. Board of Registration in Medicine.
Said Kim Hollon, the CEO of Signature Healthcare, Brockton and an MHA Board Member, “Senior leadership has to see patient safety and quality as the most important strategic initiative of the organization. They have to speak it, talk it” as well as learn how to implement learnings from other high-reliability industries in their organizations.