The National Action Alliance for Patient and Workforce Safety officially launched in September 2024, representing a major step in the federal government's renewed commitment to improving patient safety and workforce well-being industrywide.
Becker's recently spoke with Craig Umscheid, MD, director of the Center for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, to understand the alliance's goals, the resources available for hospital leaders and the alliance's critical role in mitigating preventable harm within healthcare settings.
Here's what leaders should know:
What is the alliance?
The National Action Alliance for Patient and Workforce Safety is a collective of federal agencies, heath systems, medical associations, policymakers and patient groups that will work together to enhance patient safety and workforce well-being across the healthcare landscape. The alliance will help organizations apply evidence-based harm-reduction strategies across all populations and settings, starting with hospitals, according to AHRQ.
When did it launch?
AHRQ officially launched the alliance Sept. 17 on World Patient Safety Day. The alliance was among various public and private efforts announced by HHS to reduce preventable harm and improve care quality industrywide.
What was the motivation behind the effort?
Several factors are behind the national federal patient safety push, including the alarming increase in adverse events seen during the pandemic and amplified discussions about preexisting workforce safety and patient engagement, according to Dr. Umscheid. The alliance seeks to advance the National Action Plan for Patient Safety, which was introduced in mid-2020 but faced challenges gaining momentum due to the public health emergency. These factors inspired HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra to hold a recommitment to patient safety listening session in November 2022, which led to AHRQ's soft launch of the National Action Alliance for Patient and Workforce Safety in April 2023.
What is the alliance's primary mission and goal? The alliance's mission is "safe care everywhere and zero preventable harm for all," emphasizing that this initiative includes all healthcare settings, and all healthcare stakeholders, including patients and healthcare workers, according to Dr. Umscheid. The overarching goal is to reduce patient and workforce harm by 50% by 2026, a target set forth in a series of recommendations from a subcommittee of AHRQ's National Advisory Council, aimed at informing the new National Action Alliance. To achieve this target, the alliance will rely on a coordinated, total-systems approach to support safety initiatives at healthcare organizations that align with the NAP. The alliance's five main aims to improve patient and workforce safety outcomes industrywide are:
- Promote healthcare organizations' use of safety self-assessments based on NAP's foundational elements and support efforts to close identified gaps.
- Ensure the voice of the patient is incorporated into organizations' safety strategy.
- Design healthcare environments to be safer for healthcare staff.
- Strengthen healthcare safety competencies among all staff members, ranking from administrators to clinical and nonclinical staff.
- Develop a learning and research network to identify and share best practices.
How can health systems participate?
The first step for health systems looking to align with the National Action Alliance's aims is to commit to completing a safety self-assessment by World Patient Safety Day 2025. Healthcare systems can visit the National Action Alliance's website to understand the commitment process, which involves having an executive leader in safety pledge on behalf of the organization. Organizations may formalize their commitment by submitting it via email to NationalActionAlliance@hhs.gov.
How will the alliance track progress?
AHRQ will launch a public-facing dashboard Nov. 1 to track patient safety improvements. The dashboard will include standard safety measures gathered from CMS, AHRQ and other federal partners, ensuring hospitals are not subject to additional reporting requirements. These will include CMS safety measures, AHRQ's patient safety indicators, adverse-event data measured by AHRQ's Quality and Safety Review System and hospital survey data on safety culture. The dashboard will initially focus on acute care hospitals but may expand to other settings such as ambulatory care, nursing homes and home care in the future, Dr. Umscheid said.
What synergies does the alliance have with other federal safety efforts?
The National Action Alliance closely aligns with other federal safety initiatives. One key synergy is that health systems committed to the alliance meet the requirements of CMS' new patient safety structural measure by conducting safety self-assessments and joining a patient safety learning network.
"Historically, there's been a lot asked of healthcare systems from different federal agencies," Dr. Umscheid said. "One of the things that makes this alliance unique, besides focusing on healthcare settings more broadly, is that healthcare agencies, particularly within HHS, but also the VA and Department of Defense, are working very closely together to align our safety initiatives to best support safety and healthcare systems," Dr. Umscheid added.
What resources are available for health systems?
The alliance's website includes resources categorized by type of harm and by the NAP's four foundational elements of safety: culture, leadership and governance; patient and family engagement; workforce safety; and learning health system development.
These resources include toolkits and implementation opportunities. For example, AHRQ is currently recruiting organizations nationwide to pilot new diagnostic safety tools it's developed, Dr. Umscheid said. Organizations interested in participating can email IDEASproject@rand.org. AHRQ also supports various research grants, including a newer grant focused on enhancing patient safety by improving healthcare workforce safety and well-being. This marks the first time AHRQ has supported investigator-initiated research specifically in this area.
Leaders can also sign up for the National Action Alliance listserv, a monthly newsletter about new safety resources, events and implementation support opportunities.
Editor's note: This article was updated Oct. 4 at 5:08 p.m. CT.