Hospital Quality Institute, California Hospital Association & Patient Safety Movement Foundation Form Partnership to Enhance Patient Safety Data Transparency

SACRAMENTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Hospital Quality Institute (HQI), the California Hospital Association and the Patient Safety Movement Foundation (PSMF) have formed a partnership to accelerate the reduction of medical errors and eliminate preventable patient deaths in hospitals across the Golden State.

The central focus of the partnership will be an innovative, publicly available digital dashboard that will provide timely hospital patient safety data to hospitals, clinicians and consumers alike. Unlike other patient safety tracking systems, which typically rely on data that is up to two years old, the data available on the digital dashboard will be updated regularly and posted on the websites of participating hospitals.

“Patients and the public will be able to access important, up-to-date information on the continuous improvement of patient care provided by California hospitals,” said Julie Morath, HQI President and CEO.

According to Morath, five quality of care measures – central line-associated blood stream infections (CLABSI); surgical site infections; C-section birth rates; sepsis mortality rates; and venous thromboembolism – will be initially featured on the digital dashboard. Participating hospitals will verify their use of evidence-based practices – such as those aimed at preventing post-partum hemorrhage or early recognition and treatment of sepsis - that have been shown to improve patient outcomes. The implementation will then be reported on the digital dashboard.

“Implementing evidence-based practices to eliminate preventable patient harm and publicly disclosing the results is the best way we know for hospitals to eliminate preventable deaths,” stated Joe Kiani, founder of the Patient Safety Movement Foundation. “We applaud California hospitals for taking the bold steps necessary to no longer simply hope for ‘zero,’ but rather to plan for ‘zero’ and achieve the goal. We believe California hospitals will become the safest in the nation.”

Carmela Coyle, President and CEO of the California Hospital Association, noted that the digital dashboard will enable hospitals and clinicians to “identify trends earlier than in the past, which will facilitate continuously improved patient care.”

“We are pleased to be able to support this important work,” Coyle said. “As a result of this collaborative effort, the quality of care for patients will continue to improve across our state.”

HQI is jointly sponsored by CHA and three regional hospital associations - the Hospital Council of Northern and Central California (Hospital Council), the Hospital Association of Southern California (HASC) and the Hospital Association of San Diego and Imperial Counties (HASDIC). The organization works with member hospitals across California to advance the goal of improving patient safety and quality of care.

More than 200,000 U.S. patients and three million worldwide die each year from preventable causes. The Patient Safety Movement Foundation (PSMF) was established through the support of the Masimo Foundation for Ethics, Innovation, and Competition in Healthcare to reduce the number of preventable deaths to zero by 2020 (0X2020). The Patient Safety Movement Foundation was created to unite the healthcare industry by making commitments and connecting people, ideas, and technology to confront safety issues. The Foundation also convenes the World Patient Safety, Science and Technology Summit bringing together some of the world’s best minds for thought-provoking discussions and new ideas that challenge the status quo. By presenting specific, high-impact solutions to meet patient safety challenges, called Actionable Patient Safety Solutions, encouraging medical technology companies to share the data their products are purchased for, and asking hospitals to make commitments to implement the APSS.

For more information on HQI and CHA, please contact Jan Emerson-Shea at [e-mail] or [phone]. For more information on the Patient Safety Movement Foundation, please contact Tanya Lyon at [e-mail] or [phone].