ECRI Institute PSO, Kentucky Institute enter agreement for patient safety services

ECRI Institute Patient Safety Organization announces an agreement to provide patient safety services to the Kentucky Institute for Patient Safety and Quality Patient Safety Organization, a new organization established by the Kentucky Hospital Association. This pioneering initiative will improve the quality and safety of healthcare services delivered to Kentuckians throughout the state.

ECRI Institute PSO will support the Kentucky PSO with a patient safety data collection and reporting system and by analyzing adverse events and other information from participating hospitals and health systems, long-term care facilities, ambulatory surgery centers, and home health and physician providers.

"Improving the quality of healthcare in Kentucky and across the region is our top priority," says Nancy Galvagni, Executive Director, Kentucky Institute for Patient Safety and Quality Patient Safety Organization. "We selected ECRI Institute PSO because of their extensive experience in analyzing patient safety data and for their development of practical information to help providers improve the process of delivering care," adds Galvagni.

"We commend the Kentucky Institute for Patient Safety and Quality for taking a strong leadership role in improving patient safety through the sharing of data. We look forward to providing the analyses and data to help them learn from and reduce adverse events," says Ronni Solomon, executive vice president and general counsel, ECRI Institute.

The Kentucky Institute for Patient Safety and Quality Patient Safety Organization will offer member education and training conferences beginning in October 2010.

The ECRI Institute patient safety analytics team, with experience handling more than 1 million adverse event reports, comprises an interdisciplinary patient safety staff of physicians, nurses, biomedical engineers, instructional designers, and quality, legal, and risk management professionals. In addition to the internal program team, the external advisory group includes physicians, lawyers, and senior executives at hospitals and health care associations.

ECRI Institute PSO uses a Web-based patient safety reporting system to capture patient safety data in a standardized manner compatible with the common data formats published by the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and National Quality Forum (NQF) serious reportable events

ECRI Institute PSO supports numerous state-based PSO programs as well as hospitals, health systems, and other provider organizations nationwide.