Karen Wolk Feinstein and Value Capture CEO Ken Segel Discuss Why the U.S. Needs an NPSB

Mark Graban (left), Ken Segel (right), and Dr. Karen Wolk Feinstein discuss the National Patient Safety Board.

Jewish Healthcare Foundation President and CEO Karen Wolk Feinstein and Value Capture CEO and founding director of the Pittsburgh Regional Healthcare Initiative (PRHI) Ken Segel discussed why federal action is critical to address preventable medical harms during a January 25 Habitual Excellence webinar moderated by Mark Graban, director of strategic marketing at Value Capture.

Dr. Feinstein and Segel discussed how the failure can be traced, in part, to the lack of a single federal agency that studies medical errors and identifies ways to prevent them. They detailed how the PRHI has spearheaded a national coalition calling for a proposed federal independent agency, the National Patient Safety Board (NPSB), modeled in part after the National Transportation Safety Board and the Commercial Aviation Safety Team. The NPSB would identify and anticipate significant harm in health care; provide expertise to study the context and causes of harm and solutions; and create solutions to prevent patient safety events from occurring. In December, legislation was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives: H.R.9377 – the National Patient Safety Board Act.

The discussion covered topics including: The inspiration provided by the late Paul O'Neill; progress made on patient safety in the last two decades; best practices for sharing proven approaches for preventing harm; the creation of the NPSB, the coalition that has been formed to support it and how attendees can get involved.