About the Betsy Lehman Center
A state agency dedicated to advancing health care safety in Massachusetts
Our inspiration
Betsy Lehman, a reporter and mother of two young girls, was battling breast cancer. While in the hospital, her care team made a series of fatal mistakes, giving her four times the intended dose of a powerful chemotherapy drug. Her death at age 39 in 1994 catalyzed a national movement to improve patient safety.
While progress has been made, studies show that 20 to 25 percent of Massachusetts residents have experienced a medical error. In honor of Betsy and every patient, we are working to improve the safety of health care in the Commonwealth and beyond.
What we do
Convene & Coordinate
We harness patient safety expertise across Massachusetts to drive effective, new approaches to programs and policy.
Research & Analyze
Our researchers conduct quantitative and qualitative safety research and data analysis, often in collaboration with other state agencies.
Educate & Support
We direct programs that expand health care providers’ capacity to deliver safe and reliable care, and to support patients, families, clinicians and staff when things go wrong.
Disseminate & Advocate
The Center is a trusted source of useful information and tools to help patients, providers, policymakers and others advance health care safety.
Key milestones
The Betsy Lehman Center has evolved, but our mission remains the same: Improving health care safety and quality for all in the Commonwealth.
The Consortium publishes the Roadmap to Health Care Safety for Massachusetts, a strategic plan that details short- and long-term safety goals for the state and guides the Center’s work.
The Center releases groundbreaking research on the financial and human cost of medical error and establishes the Massachusetts Health Care Safety and Quality Consortium to coordinate safety improvement work statewide.
Peer support is the first program offered. In the ensuing years, the Center will add two additional programs: Communication, Apology and Resolution (CARe) and Patient and Family Advisory Councils (PFACs).
The Center releases its first expert panel recommendations on cataract surgery. This leads to work developing best practices for sepsis and emergency medicine.
Original research defining the problem of medical error in Massachusetts is published.
The Center is reestablished under Chapter 224 as an independent entity within the Center for Health Information and Analysis.
The legislature establishes the Betsy Lehman Center within the state’s Executive Office of Health and Human Services.
Learn what’s happening now
We are moving forward on key action steps to advance the Roadmap to Health Care Safety.