Over the last decade, Franklin, Tenn.-based Community Health Systems has significantly reduced the incidence of serious patient safety events across its member hospitals.
In 2012, CHS became one of the first healthcare organizations in the country to create a federally-listed patient safety organization. This effort kicked off the organization's journey to zero preventable harm, with 2012 data serving as a safety baseline.
Since then, CHS has deployed specific high-reliability leadership methods, human error prevention behaviors and a structured cause analysis approach to prevent harm.
The healthcare organization's serious safety event rate has fallen 89% since 2013, with reductions seen in events related to medication errors, patient falls and healthcare-associated infections, among other areas.
Researchers highlighted their approach in a case study published Nov. 15 in NEJM Catalyst Innovations in Care Delivery.