ECRI has published a collection of resources that can help healthcare leaders safely integrate artificial intelligence (AI) solutions into care delivery.

Healthcare organizations are increasingly looking to AI to streamline workflows and cut costs, but AI can pose significant risks to patient safety if not properly assessed and managed. 

AI-enabled tools offer wide-ranging benefits, and predictive AI is already being tested and used in care delivery with its scope set to expand into even more applications. These systems depend on high-quality data, robust clinical validation, and a clear understanding of their intended use. Inadequate training data, poor integration,and lack of transparency can lead to inappropriate outputs and degraded care.

ECRI’s new AI Resource Hub provides free, publicly accessible tools designed to help organizations thoughtfully procure, implement, and oversee AI technologies while addressing these critical safety and performance concerns.

The hub includes position papers, webinars, expert-authored articles, and regulatory insights. Among the key materials is ECRI’s seven-point position paper, which offers recommendations for assessing functionality, mitigating bias, and ensuring clinical validation. The paper also answers critical questions around regulatory clearance and post-deployment monitoring.

Additional resources cover ECRI’s recent submission to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, ethical frameworks for AI use, and guidance for managing machine learning updates in AI-enabled medical devices.

The resource hub also features materials previously available only to ECRI members, reflecting what the organization calls an “unmet need” for industry-wide support in responsible AI integration.

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ECRI has expanded offerings in its clinical evidence assessments (CEAs) to give healthcare providers, researchers, and payors a clearer, at-a-glance view of the safety and effectiveness of healthcare interventions and treatments.

Using a process based in the GRADE (Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation) methodology, ECRI researchers are continually evaluating a variety of emerging and trending topics in healthcare—from new wound care products and obesity treatments to AI-enabled medical devices and digital health innovations.

ECRI CEAs are unbiased reports that guide healthcare providers and payors to the most clinically superior options. The reports inform clinical quality improvement and patient safety initiatives. They also support evidence-based practice decisions by identifying the best available evidence to align with clinician expertise and patient preferences. The assessments include a one-page summary that is meant to quickly inform decision makers of the state of the evidence around a product or intervention. 

‘Separate Fact from Fiction’

This summary was recently expanded to add data visualization features, including patient-oriented outcomes that are color-coded to align with ECRI’s top-line evidence rating. This illustrates ECRI’s confidence levels in the available clinical studies based on how they were designed and used to collect the pertinent outcomes data.

“Healthcare decision makers are inundated daily with new technologies making bold claims of clinical superiority and outcome improvement. They have very limited time to separate fact from fiction and make informed decisions,” says ECRI’s director of clinical evidence, Evan LeGault, in a release. “Right up front, our expanded assessments show the strength and quality of the evidence so our partners know right away whether they can trust the results. These reports help decision makers feel confident in their choices with a new level of transparency in the findings. They also help value analysis teams make the best purchasing decisions.” 

ECRI CEA reports outline the potential impact of the intervention on the health system in terms of cost, infrastructure, and care. They also transparently appraise each study and calculate the risk of bias, a critical component for clinicians and payors who seek to understand if the results of a controlled trial can be replicated in a real-world treatment environment. In addition, a new section on equity considerations describes the extent to which the technology or intervention may exacerbate, mitigate, or have no effect on health disparities in terms of patient representation in clinical trials, burden of care, patient-level barriers, and implementation barriers. 

Recent CEAs conducted by ECRI cover:

• Video-based patient monitoring for preventing falls
• Female external catheters for reducing urinary tract infections
• Reducing hospital-acquired infections
• Pulsed field ablation for treating atrial fibrillation
• Skin substitutes for treating pressure injuries
• Comparative effectiveness of sleep apnea treatments
• Pulse oximeter accuracy

“Medical misinformation abounds right now. We named it one of our top 10 patient safety concerns this year,” says Shannon Davila, MSN, RN, CIC, CPHQ, FAPIC, executive director of ECRI’s Total Systems Safety, in a release. “Our expanded assessments are especially critical in today’s healthcare environment to help our partners avoid unnecessary risk and make the best decisions for their patients and institutions. Our goal is to expedite the time-consuming and labor-intensive research needed to reach a safe conclusion.”

Photo caption: Evidence bar for ECRI clinical evidence assessments

Photo credit: ECRI

ECRI launched a new country of origin data insights tool to provide transparency and decision support for eligible clients navigating the impacts of tariffs. The Supply Chain Navigator is designed to equip healthcare leaders to make strategic purchasing decisions to achieve continuity of care in an uncertain market.

More than 4,000 health system supply chain teams leverage ECRI’s datasets. Many of those teams reported to ECRI they’re concerned about how tariffs will impact pricing and availability of critical personal protection equipment (PPE) from China, like face masks, gloves, and isolation gowns. ECRI’s new insights are designed to alleviate that concern and pave the way for other targeted insights as additional supply disruptions emerge.

“Together we are ensuring health systems can continue securing supplies that are critical for their patients and workforce without interruption and without paying needlessly high prices or compromising on safety,” says Stuart Morris-Hipkins, chief solutions officer at ECRI, in a release. “Our datasets allow us to pinpoint where clients’ current products are manufactured and isolate those impacted by tariffs to identify safe alternatives that are functionally equivalent.”

Pinpointing Where Supplies and Devices are Manufactured

Historically it has been a challenge to pinpoint, at scale, exactly where medical supplies and devices are manufactured, since it’s common for individual parts to originate from plants around the world and to be assembled at different locations. That is known as “country of origin” data, which hasn’t been readily available in the past, adding another layer of complexity to navigating tariffs. The new insights tackle this perennial problem in supply chain management by providing a curated view of country of origin, customized to certain origin sources and product categories with an emphasis on PPE.

“We’re now able to show our partners their level of risk and exposure in key product categories based on the tariffs,” says Alison Maguire, ECRI’s vice president of sales, Americas, in a release. “We also flag supplies that have been identified as hazardous or subject to a recall or lengthy backorders. We then create a mitigation plan that shifts their procurement strategies in real-time.”

Morris-Hipkins adds, “The tariffs are adding volatility to an already vulnerable healthcare supply chain. It’s not just a business issue—it’s a patient safety issue. History has proven, from the COVID-19 pandemic to natural disasters that disrupted the supply chain, instability often forces healthcare providers to turn to unvetted or unsafe sources for supplies. We are actively working with our partners to build greater resilience into their sourcing strategies to ensure uninterrupted, safe care.”

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ECRI released its 2025 report on the top 10 patient safety threats, naming the dismissal of patient, family, and caregiver concerns as the leading issue, followed by artificial intelligence (AI) governance, medical misinformation, and cybersecurity breaches.

ECRI underscores that the dismissal of patient, family, and caregiver concerns is a widespread patient safety issue, noting that time and resource constraints make it increasingly difficult for some clinicians to provide empathetic care that addresses patient and caregiver concerns, potentially leading to missed and delayed diagnoses.

More than 94% of patients reported instances when their symptoms were ignored or dismissed by a doctor, according to a survey from HealthCentral. ECRI says when concerns go unaddressed, patients and caregivers feel like they’re experiencing “medical gaslighting,” which the American Journal of Medicine defines as “an act that invalidates a patient’s genuine clinical concern without proper medical evaluation.” Unlike the popular usage of the term “gaslighting,” medical gaslighting is not considered intentional, and clinicians are often unaware they exhibit the behavior, ECRI experts say.

ECRI says medical gaslighting can happen when clinicians are rushed for time, have biases that reflexively attribute symptoms to issues like mental illness, age, or weight, or make cognitive errors like interpreting new information in a way that confirms a previous diagnosis. This can lead to a missed diagnosis, delayed treatment, and decreased trust between patients and their healthcare providers.

“Most clinicians have a deep commitment to healing and protecting their patients and would never intentionally make a patient feel unheard, but it nevertheless happens with alarming frequency,” says Marcus Schabacker, MD, PhD, president and chief executive officer of ECRI, in a release. “Providing high-quality healthcare starts with truly listening to patients. When we value their input, we gain critical insights that improve patient outcomes and build trust. A healthcare system that prioritizes patient voices is one that delivers safer, more efficient, and more compassionate care for all. Unfortunately, too many clinicians are operating under time and resource constraints that fuel substandard care.”

Elevating Patient Safety

ECRI experts say solutions require a holistic approach that considers how all aspects of a health system—including leadership and governance structures, patient engagement, workforce wellness, and training infrastructure—promote safety.

“Patient safety events are not isolated incidents. They are often products of the system that clinicians and patients operate within, and how that system supports the people it serves,” says Shannon Davila, MSN, RN, CPPS, CIC, CPHQ, FAPIC, executive director of total systems safety at ECRI, in a release. “Tackling threats to patient care requires rejecting the current fragmented approach and designing systems that promote a true culture of safety.”

ECRI experts offer systems-based recommendations to help clinicians actively involve patients in their care, including examining scheduling policies to ensure clinicians have enough time with patients, utilizing empathetic listening techniques, and providing education on conditions that are often misunderstood or minimized, like endometriosis.

Top 10 Concerns

The report provides similar systems-based solutions for each of the top 10 concerns. The 2025 concerns in ranked order are:

1. Dismissing patient, family, and caregiver concerns
2. Insufficient governance of artificial intelligence
3. Spread of medical misinformation
4. Cybersecurity breaches
5. Caring for veterans in non-military health settings
6. Substandard and falsified drugs
7. Diagnostic error in cancers, vascular events, and infections
8. Healthcare-associated infections in long-term care facilities
9. Inadequate coordination during patient discharge
10. Deteriorating working conditions in community pharmacies

ECRI’s 2025 report includes recommendations for healthcare organizations to create organizational resilience to navigate the identified threats and strive for total systems safety.

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Key Takeaways:

• Holistic Safety Framework: ECRI’s TSS integrates leadership, patient engagement, and Human Factors Engineering to tackle systemic healthcare risks proactively.
• Regulatory Alignment: The TSS framework aligns with CMS safety measures and leverages expertise to support compliance and enhance safety culture in healthcare organizations.

ECRI has launched expanded solutions in Total Systems Safety (TSS) and Human Factors Engineering (HFE) to help healthcare organizations prevent errors, reduce harm, improve staff well-being, and enhance the overall quality of care.

At the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) Forum on Dec. 10, ECRI will present “Total Systems Safety: Redesigning the System to Prevent Harm,” to share how healthcare organizations can co-design and implement a holistic and proactive safety system—supplanting the industry norm of reactive, disconnected safety interventions.

Leveraging Expertise and a Holistic Approach

ECRI has long offered systems safety advisory services and data-driven insights through the largest adverse event database of its kind. This recent launch expands on that history, leveraging an expanded team of experts in safety science, “just culture,” and human factors engineering, and a suite of resources to aid in the assessment, benchmarking, system-design, implementation, and measurement of sustainable safety systems.

ECRI’s TSS framework is based on principles of leadership and governance, engaging patients and families, continuous learning systems, and a “just culture” for the workforce. The recent acquisition of The Just Culture Company expands ECRI’s capabilities to lead the cultural transformation TSS requires, creating healthcare environments where errors and “near misses” are seen as learning opportunities rather than catalysts for isolated, punitive responses against staff.

RELATED: ECRI Acquires The Just Culture Company to Impact Workforce

Success in TSS Implementation

Several large health systems in the U.S. are undergoing the TSS assessment and implementation alongside ECRI. St. Joseph’s Health recently received the 2024 Safety Excellence Award for their work leveraging ECRI’s TSS assessment to align with the most recent CMS guidelines for patient safety and improve workforce culture.

“Despite tireless efforts, serious risks persist within our fragmented healthcare system, with rates of preventable harm alarmingly high,” said Dheerendra Kommala, MD, chief medical officer at ECRI. “Traditional safety methods often fail to uncover and address the root causes of preventable harm. A systems-based approach goes further, tackling these underlying issues. This represents a transformative, integrated strategy—one that includes human factors and a commitment to equity—to establish a better, safer healthcare landscape for patients and the workforce.”

The Role of Human Factors Engineering (HFE)

TSS is infused with the systems science of Human Factors Engineering (HFE), an applied discipline that combines psychology and engineering to create safer healthcare environments. HFE employs systems-based methods to ensure clinical workflows, care environments, organizational policies, training programs, tools, and processes support safe and effective healthcare delivery.

“ECRI’s team of independent, clinically informed human factors engineers has over 125 years of experience helping improve complex work systems,” said Patrice D. Tremoulet, PhD, HFE director. “We identify hidden barriers to healthcare quality and safety, resulting in workflows, technologies, care environments, and policies that support the work of healthcare providers, which results in enhanced patient outcomes and reduced provider burnout.”

With the CMS Patient Safety Structural Measure now requiring hospitals to adopt comprehensive, systems-based safety practices, the national regulatory focus is aligned with the TSS framework. ECRI served on the National Steering Committee for Patient Safety and helped shape the National Action Plan to Advance Patient Safety.

Summary: ECRI’s 2025 report names AI-enabled health technologies as the top healthcare hazard, citing risks like bias, false results, and safety concerns, while urging careful integration alongside other critical challenges such as home care support gaps, cybersecurity threats, and medical device safety.

Key Takeaways

• AI Risks in Healthcare: Artificial intelligence tops ECRI’s 2025 hazards list, with concerns about patient safety risks, bias, and false results that can disproportionately affect marginalized communities.
• Broader Technology Hazards: ECRI identifies additional risks, including unmet technology support for home care, cybersecurity vulnerabilities, and issues with medical devices and supplies.
• Call for Proactive Measures: ECRI emphasizes the need for healthcare stakeholders to critically evaluate AI integration and adopt strategies to mitigate risks outlined in its Top 10 Health Technology Hazards report.

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Artificial intelligence, now integral to healthcare, leads ECRI’s 2025 list of top health technology risks. While AI promises improved efficiency and outcomes, ECRI warns of significant patient safety risks if not carefully managed. Originally focused on medical imaging, AI now spans diagnostics, documentation, and scheduling. Even unregulated applications in ancillary systems can significantly impact patient care, ECRI emphasizes.

The Downside of AI

“The promise of artificial intelligence’s capabilities must not distract us from its risks or its ability to harm patients and providers,” says Marcus Schabacker, MD, PhD, president and CEO of ECRI. “Balancing innovation in AI with privacy and safety will be one of the most difficult, and most defining, endeavors of modern medicine.”

ECRI experts say AI systems can produce false or misleading results, or “hallucinations,” and the quality of their output can vary across different patient populations. AI models can perpetuate any bias built into them, posing significant risks for underrepresented and historically marginalized communities.

“AI is only as good as the data it is given and the guardrails that govern its use,” says Schabacker. “Healthcare stakeholders at all levels must think critically about the integration of AI, as they would with any new technology.”

The Top 10 Health Technology Hazards

Rounding out the list are technology hazards identified in home care and acute care settings, information security applications, and the medical device supply chain. ECRI’s Top 10 Health Technology Hazards for 2025, in rank order, are:

1. Risks with AI-enabled health technologies
2. Unmet technology support needs for home care patients
3. Vulnerable technology vendors and cybersecurity threats
4. Substandard or fraudulent medical devices and supplies
5. Fire risk from supplemental oxygen
6. Dangerously low default alarm limits on anesthesia units
7. Mishandled temporary holds on medication orders
8. Poorly managed infusion lines
9. Harmful medical adhesive products
10. Incomplete investigations of infusion system incidents

The full Top 10 Health Technology Hazards report, accessible to ECRI members, provides detailed steps that organizations and industry can proactively take to reduce risk and improve patient safety. An executive brief version is available for complimentary download at this link: Top 10 Health Technology Hazards for 2025 Executive Brief.

ECRI will host a live webcast about the top 10 hazards, open to the public, on December 5 at noon ET. A panel of medical device and healthcare safety experts will discuss the hazards’ consequences for patient safety, clinician efficiency, and operational effectiveness, plus strategies for mitigating these risks. Register for the webcast at this link: Top 10 Health Technology Hazards for 2025.

Key Takeaways:

• Proactive Safety Culture: ECRI’s integration of Just Culture aims to prevent harm through system design and fair accountability, moving away from “shame and blame.”
• Alignment with Industry Standards: Just Culture is essential for meeting the CMS Patient Safety Structural Measure, emphasizing cultural transformation in healthcare.

ECRI announced today it acquired The Just Culture Company, which specializes in transforming workforce culture in high-risk industries.

The Just Culture Company assists organizations in deploying a balanced system of accountability between the organization and employee that fosters a fair, learning culture – referred to as a “just culture” – by implementing its proprietary algorithm through advisory services, educational programs, and coaching.

Integrating Just Culture into ECRI’s Total System Safety Approach

ECRI says that “just culture” is an essential component of its Total System Safety (TSS) approach to drive efficiencies, improve healthcare, and reduce preventable patient harm by designing systems for impact and sustainability. Through the acquisition of The Just Culture Company, ECRI now operates an experienced cultural transformation organization.

“Alarming rates of preventable harm are inflicted on patients every day. By offering Just Culture programs throughout ECRI’s global network, we can prevent harm before it happens,” said Marcus Schabacker, PhD, president and CEO of ECRI. “To create lasting change and improve patient and workforce safety, we must shift from evaluating accidents and errors after they’ve taken place, to designing systems and cultures that prevent harm from happening in the first place.”

RELATED: St. Joseph’s Health Wins 2024 ECRI Safety Excellence Award

The Just Culture Model: A Systems-Based Approach

The Just Culture Company has partnered with healthcare providers, health departments, and insurers to assess and improve workforce culture, from C-Suite to frontline staff, through a holistic systems-based approach.

“Our just culture model is founded on the principle that workforce learning, holistic system design, mentoring, and coaching are stronger interventions than the ‘shame and blame’ culture that’s so prolific in healthcare,” said David Marx, CEO of The Just Culture Company. “Errors must be recognized and addressed in a way that becomes learning opportunities for all the people in the system.”

Just Culture and the 2025 CMS Patient Safety Measure

The significance of just culture in the healthcare workforce was highlighted in the CMS Patient Safety Structural Measure taking effect in 2025. The measure requires hospitals to demonstrate they have established a culture and structure that prioritizes patient safety, specifically referencing just culture in the domain of strategic planning and organizational policy.

“Too many healthcare staff, through no fault of their own, are operating in poorly designed systems, with hierarchical cultures that prevent staff from speaking up about safety hazards and ‘near misses,’” said Schabacker. “Not only does this lead to more incidents of patient harm, but it fuels high rates of burnout and stress among overworked healthcare personnel. We can’t train our way to improved safety and quality. Only through a cultural transformation can we adopt a completely new way of supporting and collaborating with our healthcare workforce.”

Key Takeaways:

• St. Joseph’s Health improved safety through collaborative planning, transparency, and systemic change, setting a new standard in patient-centered care.
• Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health and Hackensack Meridian Health received honorable mentions for their notable safety initiatives.

ECRI has named St. Joseph’s Health the winner of the 2024 Safety Excellence Award, in recognition of numerous safety initiatives they successfully executed across two facilities in northern New Jersey.

The annual Safety Excellence Award from the ECRI and ISMP Patient Safety Organization (PSO) recognizes outstanding patient safety initiatives and evidence-based strategies that improve safety-related outcomes.

Total Systems Safety Assessment

St. Joseph’s Health aligned executive leaders and frontline staff to proactively complete the ECRI Total Systems Safety Assessment to capture a candid, comprehensive snapshot of the institution’s safety status, identify areas for improvement, fuel targeted action plans, and measure progress over time.

“Our entire team has taken a hands-on approach to patient safety,” said Pam Upadya, MD, patient safety officer and interim vice president, physician services, St. Joseph’s Health. “Our partnership with ECRI and their encouragement for us to undergo the safety assessment has aligned our institution completely with the most recent CMS guidelines for patient safety. We’re thrilled for the recognition of our vast efforts around safety excellence, which represents the heart of what we do.”

RELATED: ECRI Announces 2024 Healthcare Supply Chain Award Winners

Action Plans and Culture Shift

St. Joseph’s Health created core working groups to address each of the four principles in the Total Systems Safety Assessment: Culture Leadership, and Governance; Workplace Safety; Learning System; and Patient and Family Engagement. Multiple targeted action plans were developed for each category.

Inspired by the TSS assessment results, St. Joseph’s began holding quarterly institutional patient safety symposiums which focus on successful patient safety initiatives that can be celebrated as a learning opportunity throughout the healthcare system.

The action plans included other changes, such as a new Just Culture policy and education, safety improvement education plans, expanding the Patient and Family Advocacy Council, unit-based huddles, safety coaches, and engaging in learning systems and networks.

The safety team also began introducing “safety stories” into all leadership and board meetings to highlight staff’s positive actions related to safety and incident reporting. These efforts helped to shift the culture towards a focus on safety, transparency, communication across expert teams, and overall brought tangible safety actions to the forefront for senior leaders.

Additional Awards and Honorable Mentions

St. Joseph’s Health also won ECRI’s 2024 Healthcare Supply Chain Excellence Award for excellence in overall spend management and adopting best practice solutions into their supply chain processes. St. Joseph’s Health was recognized for their safety award during the ECRI and ISMP PSO Annual Meeting.

“We are proud of the team at St. Joseph’s Health for embracing many of the principles that are foundational for a holistic approach to patient safety, like the Total Systems Safety framework and just culture for the workforce,” said Dheerendra Kommala, MD, ECRI chief medical officer. “Their commitment to involving leadership at all levels has been instrumental in driving impactful change that’s sustainable. This proactive, patient-centered approach sets a new standard that is grounded in transparency and successfully reduces preventable harm.”

Two additional ECRI partners were recognized with honorable mentions in the Safety Excellence Award.

• Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health won ECRI’s Honorable Mention recognition for their work improving the Root Cause Analysis process for clinical safety events. This work led to faster response and investigation times, enhanced staff emotional wellbeing, and a reduction in safety events.
• Hackensack Meridian Health won ECRI’s Honorable Mention for improving safety event reporting and quality processes across ten acute care hospitals.

Key Takeaways:

• ECRI’s report identifies alternative manufacturers for IV products affected by the Baxter facility shutdown due to hurricane damage.
• The strike by U.S. dockworkers could cause significant disruptions in the medical device supply chain, especially for imported goods and raw materials.

ECRI is closely monitoring the impact of Hurricane Helene and a union strike on the global healthcare supply chain market, and has released a resource for healthcare leaders to mitigate the risks of supply shortages.

Hurricane and Strike Threaten Healthcare Supply Chain

According to ECRI, the healthcare supply chain is at risk of shortages and inefficiencies due to destruction caused by Hurricane Helene along the southeast coast of the U.S., and the strike of the International Longshoremen’s Association. Since a Baxter International Inc. facility in North Carolina halted production due to hurricane damage, medical facilities may experience shortages of normal saline, dialysis solutions, and other IV products that are critical for patient care.

ECRI has published a market analysis and functional equivalents device report to help healthcare providers navigate shortages caused by the Baxter facility shutdown. The report from ECRI’s unique database and experts identifies up to three alternatives from other manufacturers to the affected IV and irrigation solutions.

“Our hearts are with those who experienced tragedy and loss from the devastating storm and flooding caused by Hurricane Helene,” said Tim Browne, vice president of ECRI’s global supply chain solutions. “We extend our gratitude to the healthcare staff and frontline workers tirelessly providing support and care in medical facilities in the hardest-hit communities along the southeast.”

Union Strike and Potential Supply Chain Disruptions

October 1 marks the beginning of a strike by U.S. dockworkers with the International Longshoremen’s Association. The strike will stop the flow of a wide variety of goods over the docks of almost all cargo ports from Maine to Texas. ECRI supply team experts expect significant disruptions in the medical device supply chain, particularly for imported goods and raw materials, if the situation persists.

“We are actively supporting our supply chain partners in their efforts to ensure patients receive the safest and most efficient care possible, especially during times of supply disruption,” added Browne. “By sharing ECRI’s insights, we hope to help keep more medical facilities stocked with the supplies their patients need for life-saving care.”

Key Takeaways:

• Healthcare leaders discussed the importance of patient feedback, leadership, and creating a “just culture” in improving patient safety and workforce wellbeing.
• The Biden-Harris Administration is taking action to address patient and workforce safety, encouraging healthcare organizations to collaborate with the National Action Alliance for continued progress.

ECRI president and CEO Marcus Schabacker, MD, PhD, moderated a panel at the White House, focusing on successful practices that improve patient safety, workforce wellbeing, and patient health.

White House Forum on Healthcare Safety

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) hosted the Healthcare Safety Forum on September 17, convening health organization leaders, patient advocates, healthcare executives, and Biden-Harris Administration officials. The forum aimed to highlight best practices and inspire public and private actions to reduce patient and workforce harm by 50% towards the goal of zero preventable harm.

Schabacker led a panel discussion with healthcare leaders on topics including patient empowerment, leadership in safety, workforce protection, and integrating safety by design in healthcare.

Cincinnati Children’s Hospital: Incorporating Patient Feedback

Panelists Stephen Muething, MD, and Pamela Wendel of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital shared strategies for systematically integrating feedback from patients, caregivers, and families into their safety practices.

MedStar Health: Addressing Adverse Events and Just Culture

MedStar Health’s Rollin J. “Terry” Fairbanks and Andrea Geraci, RN, discussed human factors engineering and the importance of fostering a psychologically safe “just culture” in responding to adverse events.

Prisma Health: Systems-Based Improvements in Patient Safety

Prisma Health’s Jonathan Gleason, MD, and Greta S. Harper, MD, MBA, shared how systems-based clinical operating models improve patient safety and care quality within their organization.

Biden-Harris Administration Announcements

Following the forum, the Biden-Harris Administration announced actions from key health organizations like the CDC, CMS, Department of Defense, and Veterans Health Administration to improve patient and workforce safety.

Healthcare organizations were encouraged to connect with the National Action Alliance for Patient and Workforce Safety to continue advancing these critical discussions and support the goals outlined in the PCAST Report and the five aims of the Alliance.

“By implementing an evidence-based total systems approach to safety, utilizing clinically informed human factors engineering, data-driven insights and patient-reported concerns, we will establish a truly person-centered approach that reduces preventable harm and advances health equity,” said Schabacker.