Patient Safety: A Moral Imperative and Smart Business Strategy

White Paper from ECRI’s C-Suite Roundtables

Despite decades of effort and the best intentions of leaders across the country, preventable patient harm remains a tragic, persistent and costly challenge in the US healthcare system.

ECRI convened 17 senior executives from across the healthcare landscape—including integrated health systems, children’s hospitals, rural community health centers, and national associations—for a series of candid roundtable discussions.

This white paper, the first in a multipart series, distills the core findings: prioritizing safety and quality isn’t just the “right thing to do” and a moral imperative – it’s inseparable from the organization’s financial stability. Key themes emerged:

• System Design & Standardization: Standardized, human-centered workflows make the right action an easy, reliable choice.
• Proactive Systems Prevent Harm: Shift from a reactive (Safety-I) to proactive (Safety-II) approach using systems thinking that designs out workarounds.
• Safety Is a Business Strategy: Reliable systems pay for themselves. Lower harm, shorter stays, fewer claims, and higher ratings or scores become a competitive advantage and source of margin.

Download the white paper