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REMARKS BY: TOMMY G. THOMPSON, SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES PLACE: The National Summit on Patient Safety DATE: April 23, 2001
The work we will begin at this meeting will make it easier for the department to gather and use information critical to ensure we are providing safe, quality health care to the American people.
Top quality health care is a hallmark for America, and this Administration is committed to patient safety and a reduction of medical errors. President Bush's budget proposal for fiscal year 2002 includes $72 million for efforts to improve patient safety - an increase of $15 million over fiscal year 2001.
I was pleased when I arrived at HHS in the beginning of February to find that the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Health Care Financing Administration had been talking informally about collaborating on ways to improve patient safety.
I firmly believe that we all must work together to make sure we are providing high quality and safe health care services.
To that end, I have asked these four agencies to make their collaboration formal through the HHS Patient Safety Task Force, spearheaded by AHRQ, CDC, FDA, and HCFA.
This task force will be charged with creating the framework for a user-friendly internet-based patient safety reporting format that will reduce burden by eliminating duplication, increasing efficiency, and allowing more rapid learning from patient safety problems.
Right now, just in our department, we have several agencies collecting data on patient safety and medical errors. We need to make sure we're collecting this information as efficiently as we can, and then make it available as effectively as possible.
Instead of people at several divisions within the department working separately on this vital issue . not knowing what the other divisions are up to . we are making a cooperative, concentrated effort at improving the way we collect information at HHS.
We are not looking to collect new data; rather, the task force will focus on the information we are collecting now and how we can make that process more efficient.
We want this task force to collaborate with the states and private sector so they can help us develop the best system possible that serves the public's interest without creating greater burdens.
This new format will enhance the value of the reporting systems that already exist within HHS by allowing for faster cross-matching and electronic analysis of data. We then will be able to respond more quickly to patient safety problems and to learn to prevent medical errors in the first place.
The goal is to reduce the burden for states, providers, consumers and others who want to do the right thing to provide safe health care, but face hurdles that can make their efforts difficult, if not impossible at times.
To start this process, the task force will begin to develop a detailed plan on how to integrate the existing reporting systems in a way that minimizes burden, provides those who must submit reports an opportunity to learn, and improves the safety of health care services.
We have set some fundamental goals for this new reporting system:
One must be easy to use and feature a uniform way of reporting, so that those who must file reports are not frustrated by cumbersome and inconsistent formats.
Two, it must provide reliable, valid information. We must provide information to federal and state governments, as well as private organizations, that is accurate, complete or meets their needs to provide a comprehensive effort to improve patient safety.
And, three, we must maintain confidentiality of individual patients and providers in the information that is reported.
An important key to this collaboration is that it will be developed with input from states, providers, and others who will be submitting reports. As a former governor, I know how important it is for the federal government to reach out to these partners. We need to work together to solve this problem.
It was once said that, "if you are able to state a problem, then the problem can be solved."
We have identified the problem, and we are working together to solve that problem. That is the key: working together.
We must do more of this at HHS, and government as a whole. When I came in, I asked for the agencies within HHS to look for ways to collaborate.
And this task force is a perfect example of several agencies with overlapping objectives coming together to find ways we can better serve the public. Expect to see more collaboration in the future, especially as we tackle tough health issues.
Today, we are asking for your partnership as we address patient safety.
We look forward to your advice over the next two days in identifying key issues and barriers to be addressed. And we will continue to seek your wisdom and experience as the work of our new patient safety task force progresses. Thank you very much for welcoming me here today.