First National Summit on Medical Errors and Patient Safety Research To Be Held September 11 in Washington, DC

Press Release Date: July 13, 2000

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), and its partners on the Quality Interagency Coordination (QuIC) Task Force, will sponsor a national summit on medical errors and patient safety research September 11, 2000, in Washington, DC. Nominations of potential witnesses are presently being sought by AHRQ and the other QuIC agencies. This initiative is part of the Federal response to the Institute of Medicine's landmark November, 1999 report, To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System.

The summit, which will be open to the public and members of the press, will review the information needs of those people and organizations attempting to improve patient safety, assess the current state of medical errors and patient safety research, and develop a coordinated research agenda. The format for the meeting will feature approximately five groups of experts, users of research, and/or other stakeholders, from a broad range of perspectives, who will present short statements to a committee comprised of public- and private-sector funders of research. These presentations will focus on the key research questions that need to be answered to foster improvements in patient safety throughout the nation's health care system, and their ideas about the approaches that should be taken to answer those questions.

Individuals interested in presenting statements should contact AHRQ before Friday, August 4, by submitting a one-page, single-spaced summary of their testimony, including their name, contact information, the name of the organization that they represent, key points that they will make about patient safety, and research questions that need to be addressed. AHRQ and its partners will select approximately 20 individuals to testify and will notify them in mid-August. All confirmed witnesses will be asked to submit copies of their full testimony in advance. Those individuals not selected to testify will be invited to contribute a written statement for the committee's review.

Nominations should be sent to:

Nancy Foster, Coordinator, AHRQ Quality Activities
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
2101 E. Jefferson St.
Rockville, MD 20852

For more information, contact AHRQ Public Affairs (301) 427-1364.

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Internet Citation:

First National Summit on Medical Errors and Patient Safety Research to be Held September 11 in Washington, DC. Press Release, July 13, 2000. Agency for Healthcare and Research Quality, Rockville MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/news/press/pr2000/summitpr.htm

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