Karen Feinstein Shares Overview of NPSB at the Northwest Patient Safety Conference

Jewish Healthcare Foundation President and CEO Karen Wolk Feinstein, PhD was a panelist at the 20th Annual Northwest Patient Safety Conference "Bringing Patient Safety to Life, What's Worked, What Hasn't and What To Do About It," which was held virtually Oct. 17-18.

The breakout panel discussion "The Landmark Federal Legislation That Would Establish a National Patient Safety Board," was moderated by Karen Brigham, JD, MPH, research coordinator at University of Washington and attended by over 100 conference attendees. The panel also included Marty Hatlie, JD, CEO of Project Patient Care, and founding member of Patients for Patient Safety US; Lisa McGiffert, President of the Patient Safety Action Network; and Helen Haskell, founder of Mothers Against Medical Error and president of Consumers Advancing Patient Safety.

The breakout provided the opportunity for attendees to learn about the ongoing efforts to establish a National Patient Safety Board (NPSB). The discussion centered on important considerations for federal action on creating a home for patient safety at the national level. The proposed NPSB would be focused on preventing and reducing patient safety events in healthcare settings, and it would complement existing agencies in monitoring and anticipating patient safety events with artificial intelligence, provide expertise to study the causes of errors, create recommendations and solutions to prevent future harms, and leverage existing systems to bring key learnings into practice.

Now in its 20th year, the Northwest Patient Safety Conference is the only event of its kind in the Western US, uniting healthcare professionals, providers, patients, families, and caregivers from all care settings for networking and engaging in sessions with industry thought leaders invested in improving the patient experience. This year's conference was held for the second year in collaboration between the Washington Patient Safety Coalition, the Oregon Patient Safety Commission, and the Health Quality BC.