A new vision for improving safety

The Roadmap to Health Care Safety sets five overarching goals for driving measurable reductions in harm.

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Leadership and Culture 

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.

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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.

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Patient and Family Support 

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.

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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.

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Measurement and Transparency 

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.

Related Press & News

Avoiding medical errors must become a priority

The Editorial Board, The Boston Globe

With small investment, medical errors can be prevented

Paul Hattis, CommonWealth Beacon

Broad support for new Roadmap to Health Care Safety voiced at MA Health Policy Forum

Patient Safety Beat

Related Resources

Automated EHR adverse event monitoring

Piloting a technology-enabled approach to detecting and reducing patient harm events in Massachusetts

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Health care safety education

Addressing the need for consistent, standard health care safety education in the Commonwealth

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Patient and Family Advisory Councils

Expanding efforts to support patient and family engagement in health care safety through PFACs.

Learn more