Three healthcare organizations have developed a Web-based tool to help physicians assess patient safety procedures, with an eye toward reducing practices’ liability exposure.
The Physician Practice Patient Safety Assessment was announced last week by the Medical Group Management Association; the Health Research and Education Trust of the American Hospital Association; and the Institute for Safe Medication Practices.
Development of the tool and a related study of patient safety in medical groups has been supported financially by a grant from The Commonwealth Fund.
Using the tool, accessible on the Internet, enables medical practices to evalulate their daily processes that could have an impact on patient safety.
The Physician Practice Patient Safety Assessment helps physicians gauge their practice effectiveness and workflow practices to see if they help promote safe practices, said Terry Hammons, MD, senior fellow for MGMA.
“Many errors are preventable if proper patient safety-centered procedures are used throughout the continuum of care,” he said.
The tool helps practices assess their risk-minimizing procedures involving medications; handoffs and transitions of patients between clinicians and locations; surgery and invasive procedures; personnel qualifications and competency; patient education and communication; and practice management and culture.
For example, the Web site tool asks users to drill down and respond to the extent to which they use various practices. For example, in the area of handoffs, physician practices are asked whether they have systems in place to track diagnostic tests and act on communicating results in a timely manner. In the self-assessment of communication, practices measure their ability to respond to patients who speak English as a second language.
Improving practices in these areas are likely to improve patient safety and patient satisfaction, Hammons said.
“Doing these ‘little’ things to make sure that nothing falls through the cracks is just so valuable,” he said. “It also increases the quality of the experience and what patients think about the care they’re getting.”
Additionally, practices might see financial benefit by reducing their liability exposure, Hammons said. Malpractice insurance companies recognize many of the steps suggested by the Web tool as ways to reduce liability exposure, and some insurers are giving preferential rates to practices that can prove they’re proactive in reducing liability, he said.
Practices that complete the analysis on the Web site will receive a workbook that can help identify problem areas and how to improve them. Data analysis and benchmarking information will be available for $200, Hammons said.
A second phase of this project will offer structured educational resources and tools to help practices improve systems that reduce medical errors and enhance the quality of patient care.