Betsy Lehman Center: Roadmap to Health Care Safety for Massachusetts (April 2023)

Summary

The US Roadmap to Health Care Safety for Massachusetts sets five goals that will be reached through a sustained, collective state-wide effort among provider organisations, patients, payers, policymakers, regulators, and others.

Content

Strategies and action steps for advancing these goals adhere to seven guiding principles:

• Move the health care system toward a mindset of zero tolerance for defects that can result in physical or emotional harm to patients, families, and staff;
• Support approaches to continuous, proactive safety improvement that break down silos and enable all stakeholders to carry out their respective roles;
• Promote a “just culture” by adopting a fair and consistent approach to safety improvement that fosters psychological safety in the health care workforce and holds leadership accountable for breakdowns and shortfalls;
• Advance health equity through the elimination of disparities in safety and quality outcomes on the basis of race, ethnicity, age, disability, sex, gender, language, and economic factors;
• Encourage an approach to health care and safety that maximizes the benefits of co-production, recognizing that patients and families provide expertise essential to person-centered care;
• Reduce low-value administrative burdens; and
• Remove all forms of waste from work, making it easier to do the right thing.