JHF Joins National Leaders at the White House for World Patient Safety Day Events, Pledging Action to Reduce Medical Error

In recognition of World Patient Safety Day (September 17), the Biden-Harris Administration convened health organization leaders, patient and workforce advocates, healthcare system executives, and Administration officials at the White House. They gathered for the Healthcare Safety Forum to discuss solutions to the systematic and pervasive challenges identified by the Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST).

Jewish Healthcare Foundation (JHF) and Pittsburgh Regional Health Initiative (PRHI) President and CEO Karen Wolk Feinstein, PhD served as a panelist representing leading patient safety organizations. She discussed the inherent challenge of believing harm as an inevitable byproduct of health care and emphasized the need for a fundamental commitment to safety. In her remarks, she highlighted the importance of real-time, undoctored data and ongoing research and innovation to improve safety.

Dr. Feinstein shared the success of JHF and PRHI in learning safety practices from other industries and how those practices can be applied to health care. She highlighted PRHI’s work in establishing the National Patient Safety Board Advocacy Coalition to model the transportation industry's efforts in safety and bring a data-driven, scalable approach to preventing and reducing harms in health care. She also elevated the work JHF and PRHI’s commitment to advancing patient safety through its Patient Safety Technology Challenge, which inspires and engages young innovators and researchers to use technology to solve patient safety problems. The Challenge will offer a $25,000 prize pool to finalists at its Grand Awards at the CES 2025.

In health care, there is a fear of technology, and much time is spent being skeptical and pointing out how dangerous it can be. We should open our minds to the possibility of AI and other technologies to enable frontline staff to provide safe care,” Dr. Feinstein said, encouraging the audience to join the National Patient Safety Board Advocacy Coalition and to support the PCAST recommendations moving forward.

Also on World Patient Safety Day, JHF staffers Carolyn Byrnes, MPH, CPH, and Lisa George, MPH, CHES, joined patient safety advocates for a series of events in Washington, DC. Organized by Patients for Patient Safety US, a march for patient safety commenced at Freedom Plaza. There, participants wrote the names of individuals who have been harmed or killed by medical error on orange flags. Over 60 participants sported bright blue World Patient Safety Day and National Patient Safety Board t-shirts as they marched a mile toward the U.S. Capitol. There, the group participated in a remembrance ceremony. Participants planted orange flags in the lawn and marked a moment of silence.

Following the ceremony, participants convened at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg Center Theatre for a Leadership Briefing Event: “25 Years After To Err Is Human: A Time to Look Forward.” Leaders from several federal agencies shared about their progress on patient safety and their continued efforts to address systemic issues that harm patients and providers. Panelists included Ruth Ann Dorrill, assistant inspector general in the Office of the Inspector General; Preeta Ketty, MD, MS, deputy assistant director for Science in the Division of Healthcare Quality and Promotion at CDC; Michelle Schreiber, MD, deputy director of the Center for Clinical Standards and Quality and director of the Quality Measurement and Value-Based Incentives Group at CMS; Robert Otto Valdez, MD, MHSA, director AHRQ; and Edward Yackel, DN, executive director of the National Center for Patient Safety at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The panel was moderated by Michael Millenson, president of Health Quality Advisors LLC, and Beth Daley Ullem, MBA, cofounder of Patients for Patient Safety U.S. and founder of Quality and Safety First.

In the run-up to World Patient Safety Day, a screening of The Pitch: Patient Safety’s Next Generation was held Monday at the Bloomberg Center Theatre. The event was followed by a panel discussion with members of The Light Collective, an advocacy group elevating the patient voice regarding health tech.

On September 18th, Dr. Feinstein gave opening remarks at a Congressional briefing, “Transforming Patient Safety: Policy Changes for a Safer Healthcare System,” hosted by AcademyHealth and funded by JHF. The briefing featured a panel moderated by former Pennsylvania Congresswoman Allyson Y. Schwartz and included national leaders in patient safety, David Bates, MD, MSc, medical director of Clinical and Quality Analysis at Mass General Brigham; David Classen, MD, professor of medicine, University of Utah; Paul Tang, MD, adjunct professor at the Clinical Excellence Research Center at Stanford University and practicing internist at the Palo Alto Medical Foundation; and Raj Ratwani, PhD, MPH, vice president of scientific affairs at MedStar Health.

Congressional staffers in attendance heard an overview of the state of patient safety in the United States, the potential of AI to identify and prevent medical errors, and the need to establish a central home for patient safety, such as proposed National Patient Safety Board.