Patients for Patient Safety US Applauds the Biden-Harris Administration for Prioritizing Patient Safety
WASHINGTON, September 27, 2024 (Newswire.com) - On September 17th, World Patient Safety Day (WPSD), the Biden-Harris Administration announced new actions to improve patient and workforce safety during a White House Healthcare Safety Forum. These actions include commitments made by Patients for Patient Safety US (PFPS US) and others in government and private sector organizations, rounding out a year of federal leadership actions recognizing patient safety as a systemic, pervasive public health challenge. Earlier initiatives include transformative recommendations in a September 2023 report by the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) and the adoption of a Patient Safety Structural Measure by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) that goes into effect on October 1st.
“We established PFPS US in 2021 to call for federal leadership to prioritize patient safety,” said Carole Hemmelgarn, PFPS US Board Chair. "We are excited to see the Biden-Harris Administration do just that.”
Commemorating WPSD, PFPS US launched a commitment acknowledged by the White House: Project PIVOT (Patients Involved in deVeloping Outcomes Together) at our WPSD Summit. The launch convened diverse stakeholders in an immersive workshop hosted by Johns Hopkins University to begin a process of identifying and prioritizing patient-reported experience to address patient safety events such as missed or delayed diagnoses as well as bias and discrimination. “Measuring patient-reported harm, missed or delayed diagnoses, and experiences of bias and discrimination were a key recommendation by PCAST. We are excited to advance this patient-developed and patient-led initiative,” said Sue Sheridan, PFPS US President and CEO.
Alongside the White House event, PFPS US organized a march to the US Capitol and remembrance ceremony on the Capitol lawn highlighting patient safety as the third largest cause of preventable death in the United States, and a Leadership Briefing connecting federal agency leaders with patient safety advocates.
One in four patients in U.S. hospitals have experienced harm events and that rate isn’t improving, according to Office of the Inspector General reports highlighted at the Leadership Briefing. “Patients today face the same systemic risks of sepsis and inappropriate care that led to the death of my son, Josh, in 2006. Reduction in central line infections and urinary tract infections are an encouraging step, but not enough,” said Armando Nahum, PFPS US co-founder.
More than 40 PFPS US Champions – including sepsis survivors, persons who lost children, spouses or parents to medical error, patients who experienced missed or delayed diagnoses, and wrong site surgery victims – also visited their lawmakers at the US Capitol during the WPSD events. “We asked Congress to use its levers to track harm events: if we can’t see it, we can’t fix it. We also want Congress to expand patient reporting options, close loopholes that hide patient harm, and to stop paying for unsafe care,” said Beth Daley Ullem, PFPS US co-founder and Hill visit organizer.
About PFPS US
We work to make healthcare safer. Learn more: www.pfps.us.
Media contact: Martin Hatlie, mhatlie@pfps.us
Source: Patients for Patient Safety US
