HARRISBURG: The Patient Safety Authority has selected ECRI as the successful vendor in response to its Request for Proposal (RFP) for the design, development and implementation of a statewide reporting system related to patient safety. The ECRI proposal includes partnerships with EDS and the Institute for Safe Medication Practices.

The Patient Safety Authority, an independent state agency established under Act 13 of 2002, the Medical Care Availability and Reduction of Error --"Mcare"-- Act, is charged with taking steps to reduce and eliminate medical errors by identifying problems and recommending solutions that promote patient safety. Act 13 requires the Authority to contract with an outside vendor to perform data collection and analysis activity related to the reporting system.

“Pennsylvania has a unique opportunity to develop a system that will promote safety and quality,” said Dr. Robert Muscalus, Pennsylvania’s Physician General and chair of the Authority’s board of directors. “We are pleased to partner with these organizations which have an international reputation related to patient safety.”

Under Act 13, all Pennsylvania-licensed hospitals, birthing centers and ambulatory surgical facilities are required to report medical errors (called "serious events" in the Act) and near-misses (called "incidents" in the Act) to the Patient Safety Authority. There are approximately 355 such facilities in the Commonwealth. The Authority will analyze the collected data to identify trends or systems failures that can be corrected to prevent future serious events and incidents.

“Pennsylvania is in the forefront of efforts by the states to reduce medical errors and promote patient safety,” noted Muscalus. “By enacting Act 13, the General Assembly created the first state agency in the country whose mission is to analyze both medical errors and so-called “near misses” and make recommendations for preventing
future occurrences. We are unique and forging new ground.”

According to Dr. Jeffrey C. Lerner, ECRI President and CEO, “This program is perfectly aligned with ECRI’s core mission to improve the safety, quality, and cost-effectiveness of healthcare.

“By taking an approach that fosters learning and continuous improvement rather than blame and enforcement, the Authority has set the stage for Pennsylvania to be the national leader among the states,” Lerner added.

The Authority issued the RFP on April 23, 2003, and bids were opened on June 11, 2003. Following the bid review process as defined under the Commonwealth Procurement Code, the Patient Safety Authority notified ECRI of its selection and the Commonwealth’s intent to proceed with contract negotiations. The RFP calls for initiating a phase-in of the reporting system by September 29, 2003.

“ECRI welcomes this opportunity to work with the Authority to develop a reporting system that improves the safety of healthcare in the Commonwealth and serves as a model for other state reporting systems,” said Ronni P. Solomon, JD, ECRI Executive Vice President. “Along with our partners, we will help the Authority to make this program successful by providing meaningful and practical tools that are valued by the healthcare facilities using the system.”

ECRI is a Pennsylvania-based independent, non-profit health services research agency headquartered in Plymouth Meeting (Montgomery County). Its focus is healthcare technology, healthcare risk and quality management, and healthcare environmental management. ECRI is a Collaborating Center of the World Health Organization and is designated an Evidence-based Practice Center (EPC) by the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).

EDS is a leading international, information technology firm with 138,000 employees providing mainframe, data-center, help-desk and desktop services, application maintenance and development, and business process outsourcing and transformation services to more than 35,000 business and government clients around the world. They have worked closely with many Commonwealth agencies in the development and implementation of IT business solutions.

The Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP), based in Huntingdon Valley (Montgomery County), is a nonprofit organization that works closely with healthcare practitioners and institutions, regulatory agencies, professional organizations and the pharmaceutical industry to provide education about adverse drug events and their prevention. The Institute provides an independent review of medication errors that have been voluntarily submitted by practitioners to a national Medication Errors Reporting Program (MERP) operated by the United States Pharmacopeia (USP) in the USA.

For additional information about the Patient Safety Authority, visit its website at www.patientsafetyauthority.org. For more information about ECRI, visit www.ecri.org.

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