In December 2022, the introduction of H.R.9377 – the National Patient Safety Board Act was announced. This legislation is meant to establish an independent federal agency dedicated to preventing and reducing healthcare-related harms. The establishment of such a bill would undoubtedly impact the field of healthcare simulation and future patient safety initiatives. This is because the bill would serve as landmark legislation, critical to improving safety for patients and healthcare providers. This HealthySimulation.com article shares updates provided since the legislation’s initial announcement, including a new NPSB video campaign and patient safety advocates’ responses.
HealthySimulation.com is a supporter of this initiative and asks that all U.S.-based healthcare simulation community members join in support by completing this short online form to contact your Congressional Representative!
New National Patient Safety Board Act Video:
Ultimately, the National Patient Safety Board Act is designed to improve upon existing coordination efforts within a single independent agency solely focused on addressing safety in healthcare through data-driven solutions. The bill would also establish a National Patient Safety Board (NPSB), “a nonpunitive, collaborative, independent agency modeled in part after the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the Commercial Aviation Safety Team (CAST) to address safety in health care.”
“Health care is moving to new venues, and the integration of technology is creating an army of new providers. Now more than ever, we need a national organization that looks broadly across the healthcare space and identifies ways that we can share experiences and insights that will make our systems of care safer for patients,” said Joanne M. Conroy, MD, chief executive officer and president of Dartmouth Health.
Related HealthySimulation.com Articles:
- Still Not Safe’ Book Details Patient Safety’s Failure to Take Off
- MUST DO: Contact Your U.S. House Rep to Support New Bill to Establish National Patient Safety Board
“As healthcare providers, our top priority and collective responsibility are to ensure the safety and well-being of our patients through highly reliable care that minimizes preventable harm. The establishment of a National Patient Safety Board would enable a collaborative, evidence-based, and scalable solution to optimize patient safety across our country’s healthcare system,” added Peter WT Pisters, MD, president of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.
HealthySimulation.com Patient Safety Webinars:
- How to Maintain Patient Safety During a Pandemic: Positive Lessons from the VA
- Imagining the Future of Healthcare and Patient Safety
- Improving Safe and Reliable Patient Care, Lessons & Tools from the Patient Safety Movement Foundation
In a press release on the establishment of H.R.9377, Carole Hemmelgarn, MS, MS, founding member of Patients for Patient Safety US shared that she is a mother who lost her child due to medical errors. From this experience, she wants to make sure there is learning from the events of her life so that medical error does not result in any additional deaths. She stressed that the United States needs a central agency like the National Patient Safety Board to gather data on these events, analyze them, share them, and develop solutions to mitigate them in the future.
All Actions (Except Amendments) To Date
12/01/2022 – Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on Veterans’ Affairs, and Education and Labor, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned. (Action By: House of Representatives)
12/01/2022 – Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on Veterans’ Affairs, and Education and Labor, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned. (Action By: House of Representatives)
12/01/2022 – Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on Veterans’ Affairs, and Education and Labor, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned. (Action By: House of Representatives)
12/01/2022 – Introduced in House (Action By: House of Representatives)
Upcoming Webinar: Why Does the U.S. Need a National Patient Safety Board? | January 25, 2023, 1 to 2 pm ET
A panel discussion with:
- Karen Wolk Feinstein, Ph.D., President and CEO of the Pittsburgh Regional Health Initiative
- Ken Segel, CEO of Value Capture
- Moderated by Mark Graban, Value Capture
HealthySimulation.com Continued Support
Prior to this announcement, HealthySimulation.com published the article “Should the Healthcare Simulation Industry Join Calls for a National Patient Safety Board?” In this article, the question was posed: “Is it time the healthcare simulation industry called for a National Patient Safety Board?” During a Champions of Simulation 1-Day Virtual Symposium panel discussion in early 2022, expert panelists Dr. Paul Phrampus, Dr. KT Waxman, and Dr. Pam Boyers attempted to provide an answer. The presentation provided an overview of the vision for a proposed NPSB and highlight how this agency would advance healthcare simulation technology in support of improving patient safety and reducing medical errors at a national scale. They also reflected on the impacts of COVID-19 and debated the need to encourage healthcare simulation champions to support a new NPSB.
More About the National Patient Safety Board
A coalition of leading healthcare organizations and experts is advancing the call to expeditiously form a new independent federal agency, the National Patient Safety Board (NPSB), to model aspects of the National Transportation Safety Board and the Commercial Aviation Safety Team within healthcare. The NPSB would improve and promote public health and welfare by monitoring and anticipating adverse events, creating recommendations and solutions to prevent medical errors, and bringing lessons into practice.
