Roadmap to Health Care Safety
A new vision for improving safety
To develop the Roadmap, the Massachusetts Health Care Safety and Quality Consortium drew on the deep expertise of the state’s health care community, convening more than 35 organizations to discuss, plan, and produce this groundbreaking strategic plan. Over 115 individuals contributed to this effort, aligning around these five overarching goals to drive measurable reductions in harm.
Leadership and CultureÂ
All leaders of health care provider organizations across the continuum of care make safety a core value and enduring priority, continuously act to advance safety culture and operations, and are accountable for safety performance.
Operations and Engagement
All provider organizations have systems in place that enable leaders, managers, clinicians, and staff to continuously identify safety issues, resolve problems, integrate their operations with safety strategy and plans, and engage patients and families as partners in the work.
Patient and Family SupportÂ
All patients and families are engaged and supported to avoid preventable harm in their own care, and receive timely, transparent, and continuing communication and support when things go wrong.
Workforce Well-being
All provider organizations strive to eliminate undue workplace stresses and conditions that impact patient safety and the safety and well-being of the workforce, and clinicians and staff have the psychological safety and support they need to continuously engage in safety improvement.
Measurement and TransparencyÂ
The state’s health care safety data systems are optimized and harmonized, and provide timely and useful information about providers’ safety performance for providers, policymakers, and the public.
Initial Roadmap action steps
Automated EHR adverse event monitoring
Piloting a technology-enabled approach to detecting and reducing patient harm events in Massachusetts
Health care safety education
Addressing the need for consistent, standard health care safety education in the Commonwealth
Patient and Family Advisory Councils
Expanding efforts to support patient and family engagement in health care safety through PFACs.