ECRI Supports CMS Patient Safety Structural Measure
Statement from ECRI President and CEO Dr. Marcus Schabacker
On behalf of ECRI, I would like to applaud the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for approving the new Patient Safety Structural Measure as part of the update to the hospital quality reporting program. This represents a tremendous step forward in emphasizing the importance of patient and workforce safety by creating a standardized framework that will guide hospitals to practice a systems-based approach.
Preventable medical errors kill an estimated 100,000 Americans a year. The healthcare industry has become alarmingly complacent about avoidable fatalities and adverse events that put patients in harm’s way.
Most adverse events are caused by system failures. Healthcare providers struggle to make progress – and sustain it – when they troubleshoot safety hazards in silos, reactively.
At ECRI, we know this from decades of experience leading research, event data analysis, and accident investigations for our healthcare partners around the world. That is the basis of ECRI’s Total Systems Safety (TSS) framework, which takes a comprehensive approach that redesigns elements of the system utilizing clinically informed human factor engineering to improve patient and workforce safety programmatically.
This CMS structural measure could be a catalyst for healthcare institutions to revisit their approach to safety, assess where they stand, and commit to address longstanding issues with a heightened level of transparency and urgency. This brings safety to the forefront in a way that calls for systemic, cultural change and resilient, continuous learning systems.
We commend CMS for adopting the new measure – and we stand with health systems striving to achieve zero preventable harm in the delivery of patient care.
Marcus Schabacker, MD, PhD
President and CEO, ECRI
Resources for Healthcare Providers
The ECRI and ISMP Patient Safety Organization (PSO) is supporting its members in their efforts to prepare to align with all five domains of the new safety measure through Total Systems Safety (TSS), ISMP (ECRI’s affiliate and the global leader in medication safety), human factors engineering, and other solutions. Explore how ECRI is preparing providers for January 2025, when the new measures take effect.
ECRI Engagement
The new CMS safety measure aligns with the National Action Plan to Advance Patient Safety and the work of the National Action Alliance. ECRI is a member of the National Steering Committee for Patient Safety and has led efforts to implement the National Action Plan to Advance Patient Safety in hospitals and other healthcare settings across the country. ECRI provided recommendations and feedback on the proposed CMS measure during the public comment period in 2023.
For media inquiries, contact Yvonne Rhodes, ECRI Associate Director of Strategic Communications, at YRhodes@ECRI.org.
About ECRI
ECRI is an independent, nonprofit organization improving the safety, quality, and cost-effectiveness of care across all healthcare settings. ECRI is the only organization worldwide to conduct independent medical device evaluations, with labs located in North America and Asia Pacific. ECRI is designated an Evidence-based Practice Center by the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. ECRI and the Institute for Safe Medication Practices PSO is a federally certified Patient Safety Organization as designated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.