Patient Safety Advisory Committee 

Access the Final Report: Patient Safety Advisory Committee Final Report

The Opportunity

Improving the safety of healthcare delivery saves lives, helps avoid unnecessary complications, and increases the confidence that receiving medical care actually makes patients better not worse. Unfortunately, nearly 10 years after the Institute of Medicine’s report To Err is Human issued a call to action, uniformly reliable safety in healthcare has not yet been achieved. Every day, patients are still harmed, or nearly harmed, in healthcare institutions across the country. This harm is not intentional; however, it can usually be avoided.

NQF initially released the Serious Reportable Events in 2002 and updated the program in 2006; a second update is scheduled for late 2009. NQF Safe Practices, initially released in 2003, has been updated twice, most recently in March 2009. NQF's future efforts will create stronger synergies between these two programs as well as to have them dovetail more closely with other new and evolving patient safety initiatives.

About the Committee

This NQF effort began in June 2009.

Objectives 

NQF is forming a Patient Safety Advisory Committee (PSAC) to aid NQF in its new and ongoing efforts in patient safety. The Committee will also provide similar advice for the development of future initiatives so that a cohesive patient safety strategy evolves that complements other NQF activities.

Process 

The PSAC, as with steering committees for all NQF projects, will work with NQF staff and steering committees to develop specific project plans, provide advice about the subject, ensure input is obtained from relevant stakeholders, review draft products, and recommend specific measures and research priorities to NQF members for consideration under the Consensus Development Process  (CDP, version 1.9).

Advisory Committee 

The advisory committee, comprising 10-15 individuals, will represent the range of stakeholder perspectives, including consumers, purchasers, quality improvement professionals, researchers, and healthcare system professionals possessing strong insights related to patient safety issues at the local, regional, national and international levels. The committee members will also provide broad-based perspectives for how patient safety relates to other elements of healthcare and the evolving reform processes.

Potential members should have significant background experience with patient safety as well as knowledge for health policy and the interplay among the numerous healthcare entities with patient safety and quality interests.

Advisory Committee members should not have a vested interest in candidate measures. This includes employees or contractors of measure owners/developers; members of workgroups that developed the measures; and members of committees that approve measures, or direct or set policy for measure development. Please see the NQF website for additional information about the conflict of interest policy. All potential Advisory Committee members must disclose any current and past activities during the nomination process.

Funding for this effort has been provided by the Department of Health and Human Services.

Eric Colchamiro, MPA, at 202-783-1300 x480 or patientsafety@qualityforum.org.