Member Organizations

 The Massachusetts Coalition

The Massachusetts Coalition for the Prevention of Medical Errors is a public-private partnership whose mission is to improve patient safety and eliminate medical errors in Massachusetts.

The Coalition's membership includes consumer organizations, state agencies, hospitals, professional associations for physicians, nurses, pharmacists, long-term care, as well as health plans, employers, policymakers, and researchers. The Coalition leverages the efforts of all of these organizations to accomplish the shared goal of improving patient safety. The Coalition promotes a systems-oriented approach to improving patient safety, identifying the causes of medical errors, and developing and supporting implementation of strategies for prevention.

A History of the Massachusetts Coalition for the Prevention of Medical Errors.

News

Audio Conference Series
Patient and Family Advisory Councils (PFAC)
Call #1 – What are PFACs and how do I get started?
July 21, 2009: 9:00 am 10:30 am EDT
For more information

Report of Serious Reportable Events in Massachusetts Hospitals
On April 8, 2009, the Department of Public Health released a hospital-specific report of the Serious Reportable Events that were submitted by hospitals to the Department in Calendar Year 2008, as well as aggregate data on hospital acquired infections from reporting which began in July 2008. Hospitals had the opportunity to provide comments related to their Serious Reportable Events which the Department is making available to the public. Hospitals may provide or update their comments by April 15th for the next upload of this information to the MA Department of Public Health website.
To access the Serious Reportable Events Report, click here.

Why does this report matter to patients and families?
This information is important for patients and their families seeking medical care because everyone wants to know that they will get the very best care. Serious adverse events are rare and the odds of them happening to you are very small. It is still good to know about them and where theyve happened. This information can be used to ask hospitals what they are doing to prevent these adverse events from happening again.

How is this making health care safer?
It is not useful to compare hospitals using these numbers. You might see more events at one facility because it is working hard to find problems and fix them. A bigger number might mean that a facility is safer. Additionally, the more procedures a hospital performs the more adverse events may be reported based on sheer volume, but, the rate of events is the same as a hospital with fewer reported adverse events. Whats most important is what each hospital is learning about why these events happened. Learning what caused the events is the only way to keep them from happening again. Hospitals are making changes in how they provide care and this will make health care safer for all patients.

Questions adapted from the Consumer Guide to Adverse Health Events in Minnesota, January 2008 which may be viewed here.

Infection Prevention is Coalition's Top Priority
Based on the CDC estimates of infections nationally, patients in the commonwealth of Massachusetts are suffering more than 45,000 hospital-acquired infections each year, and nearly 2,000 deaths as a result of these infections. Successful implementation of safe practices to prevent these infections might save up to an estimated 200-400 million dollars annually in healthcare costs, and more importantly reduce the human suffering of patients and families from the death and disability resulting from these infections.

The Coalition is working with Massachusetts hospitals to eliminate hospital-acquired infections in acute care hospitals. The Coalition's goal is elimination of the most common, fatal and costly hospital-acquired infections in hospitals throughout Massachusetts. The Coalition has 100 percent participation in this initiative from hospitals in Massachusetts. The initiatiave includes eliminating ventilator-associated pneumonia and central line-associated blood stream infections and to reduce hospital-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, a hazardous drug resistant form of this infection known as MRSA.

Click to learn more.

Medication Safety
To promote patient safety statewide, the Massachusetts Coalition for the Prevention of Medical Errors, in cooperation with the Massachusetts Medical Society and with support from the Commonwealth’s Betsy Lehman Center, has created a patient medication list (the Med List) that patients and their families should carry to medical visits and share with their healthcare provider.  Patients on warfarin will find this tool particularly helpful in tracking medications.

Click here for more information and to download a free Med List (print to complete with pencil or download, save, and update electronically as needed).

Coalition's Consumer Brochure

English Online Version

Consumer Guide The Massachusetts Coalition for the Prevention of Medical Errors has developed a consumer guide that encourages patients to become "part of the health care team" along with their physicians, nurses, and pharmacists, to prevent medication mistakes. The guide was developed in conjunction with the Washington, D.C.-based Institute for Family-Centered Care and is based on input solicited from patients, families, and health care professionals. The brochure is also available in Spanish. For more information, contact: MA Coalition Phone:  781-262-6080 Email: macoalition@macoalition.org Click here to download the brochure order form

Spanish OnlineVersion

Coalition Initiatives

Listed below are links to the Coalition's Initiatives in the prevention of medical errors:

• Elimination Of Hospital-Acquired Infections In Acute Care Hospitals
• Anticoagulation Medication Safety
• Medication List
• Reconciling Medications
• Inpatient and Consumer Medication Safety
• Reducing Medication Errors in Long Term Care Facilities - Best Practices
• Communicating Critical Test Results
• Treatment and Prophylaxis of DVT and VTE
• Defining Accountability in Patient Safety
• Reducing Restraint & Seclusion Use
• Reporting Requirements
• Educational Programs