WASHINGTON, Nov. 28 The state of Vermont joins a number of other states in requiring reporting of NQF-endorsed (TM) serious reportable events. By adopting a new rule that goes into effect on January 1, 2008, the state will receive reports from its licensed hospitals which it and the individual facilities can use to plan and make healthcare improvement. The Patient Safety Surveillance and Improvement System was enacted for the purpose of improving patient safety, eliminating adverse events and supporting quality improvement efforts by hospitals. It specifies reporting requirements and establishes standards for hospital policies and procedures relating to internal reporting systems for identification, tracking and analyzing all adverse events and near misses and external reporting to the Vermont Patient Safety Program following an occurrence of an NQF-endorsed (TM) Serious Reportable Event. To assure each facility has access to the most current serious reportable events and their specifications, the Vermont Department of Health will post a link from its website to the serious reportable events and specifications on the NQF website.
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"The more partners like the state of Vermont we have in the pursuit of improving the quality of healthcare in this country, the safer hospitals and care provider environments will be and that in turn will save lives", said Janet M. Corrigan, PhD, MBA, president and CEO of the National Quality Forum.
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Adverse healthcare events are a leading cause of death and injury in the United States. The 28 serious reportable events address surgical events, care management, patient protection, products and devices as well as environmental and criminal events. While the serious reportable events do not capture all events that might be useful to report, they do comprise events that are: of concern to both the public and healthcare professionals and providers; clearly identifiable and measurable (and thus feasible to include in a reporting system); and of a nature such that the risk of occurrence is significantly influenced by the policies and procedures of the healthcare organization.
In promulgating the Patient Safety Surveillance and Improvement System rule, Vermont included requirements related to submission of causal analyses and corrective action plans to the Patient Safety Program following an NQF serious reportable event as well as disclosures to patients of adverse events that result in patient death or serious bodily injury. These provisions are consonant with NQF-endorsed Safe Practices for Better Healthcare and, like the requirement for reporting adverse events, are aimed at healthcare improvement.
About the National Quality Forum
The mission of the National Quality Forum is to improve the quality of American health care by setting national priorities and goals for performance improvement, endorsing national consensus standards for measuring and publicly reporting on performance, and promoting the attainment of national goals through education and outreach programs. NQF, a non-profit organization (www.qualityforum.org) with diverse stakeholders across the public and private health sectors, was established in 1999 and is based in Washington, DC.
SOURCE National Quality Forum
