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Conference seeks to find common ground for improvement

Quality Improvement Monitor, October 28, 2005

The nation needs a set of common safety goals and treatment protocols to assist in reducing medical errors during routine treatments, attendees at an October 24 conference in Boston said.

"Organizations such as the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement have made safety a priority and taken action on a number of important initiatives, but more engagement and leadership is needed from all constituents within the healthcare community to ensure that the quality and safety movement produces significant change," Lucian Leape, MD, an adjunct professor at the Harvard School of Public Health, told attendees at the conference, sponsored by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts.

The conference sought to improve the quality of care and collaborate on the steps needed to improve patient safety. Adopting information technology such as electronic medical records and e-prescribing are a starting point, attendees said.

The federal government has a commitment to adopting information technology, said Senator Edward M. Kennedy, D-MA. Kennedy co-sponsored the Wired for Health Care Quality Act, which would help create uniform policies to speed the adoption of health information technology.

"We have immense challenges in many aspects of healthcare and public health, and I look forward very much to the recommendations of these outstanding professionals," Kennedy said of the conference attendees.
 

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