Amended January 21, 2021

THE PROBLEM:

Preventable medical harm is pervasive in our health care system and is a leading cause of death in the US. Numerous studies looking at the entire range of medical harm (minor to serious) estimated approximately one in four hospital patients is harmed during their stay and that 44% to 63% of this harm is preventable. Nationally, the number of patients who are harmed in hospitals is estimated at 8.8 million per year. Another study estimated that each year from 210,000 to 400,000 patients lose their lives prematurely due to medical harm. However, no one really knows the numbers because no one keeps track of these harmful events.

Preventable medical harm causes death, disability, physical, emotional and financial impact to individuals and families, and our communities, states, and country. Estimates indicate the financial burden to the US economy could be more than $150 billion a year.

Medical harm affects people of all political affiliations and has always been a bipartisan issue. It affects the rich and the poor, the old and the young, the sick and the well. Regulations and policies can potentially enhance or threaten patient safety and strengthen or compromise transparency and accountability.

Patient Safety Flag, created by Ilene Corina

PURPOSE:

We are united to eliminate preventable medical harm and to save lives. Our perspective in this work comes from our first-hand experience with medical harm and its impact on individuals and their families. These experiences give us a unique voice in changing policies addressing patient safety issues.

VISION:

Our advocacy will lead to a healthcare system in which every effort is made to prevent patient harm, every harm event becomes a learning event, transparency and accountability with both patients and the public are routine, and patients are recognized as individuals with autonomy and dignity who are engaged in their medical decisions.

MISSION:

We are a coalition of individuals and organizations consisting of patients who have been medically harmed, their loved ones, and concerned advocates. We focus solely on and with patients. We hold the healthcare system accountable by advocating for and supporting policies that promote patient safety. We raise awareness that medical harm can be prevented through safer health care practices and we aim to create accountability through public transparency and full disclosure to patients following harm. We believe that harm events must be documented through both institutional reporting and patient reporting, and that public transparency around these reports is necessary for building accountability and engaging the public and policymakers in reducing patient harm.