MedStar Health Research Institute in Hyattsville, Md., is tapping machine learning to help guide patient safety efforts in Pennsylvania.
Through a contract with the state's Patient Safety Authority, MedStar researchers will use algorithms to analyze data on nearly 4 million patient safety events collected in a state database. They will look at all acute care events and nursing home infections recorded in the database on a quarterly basis.
Researchers will use this information to identify new improvements or processes hospitals can implement for safer, more effective care.
Pennsylvania is the only state that requires healthcare facilities to report events that could potentially harm patients, along with actual adverse events. PSA uses this information to identify and address patient safety issues that may not be visible at an individual facility level.