Member Organizations

 The Massachusetts Coalition

The Massachusetts Coalition for the Prevention of Medical Errors is a public-private partnership whose mission is to improve patient safety and eliminate medical errors in Massachusetts.

The Coalition's membership includes consumer organizations, state agencies, hospitals, professional associations for physicians, nurses, pharmacists, long-term care, as well as health plans, employers, policymakers, and researchers. The Coalition leverages the efforts of all of these organizations to accomplish the shared goal of improving patient safety. The Coalition promotes a systems-oriented approach to improving patient safety, identifying the causes of medical errors, and developing and supporting implementation of strategies for prevention. Click here for a history (Adobe Acrobat file)

News

Coalition’s 15th Year Anniversary

May 20, 2013
Burlington Marriott, Burlington MA

Forum on Effective Patients Safety Initiatives – 1:30 – 5:00pm

• Click here for more information about this program.
  See the Co-Chair Letter, Invitation, Coalition Accomplishments, Sponsorship Opportunities, Program Registration Form, and Sponsorship Pledge Form.

For more information, contact the Coalition at 781-262-6082.

• See a video by Lynn Nicholas speaking about the Coalition’s upcoming 15 year Anniversary.
• See a video developed by the Cooley Dickinson Hospital on End of Life Care Discussions and use of the Medical Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment (MOLST) Form

Massachusetts Alliance for Communication and Resolution following Medical Injury (MACRMI)
MACRMI is a Massachusetts alliance of patient advocacy groups, teaching hospitals and their insurers, statewide provider organizations, and other Massachusetts organizations committed to transparent communication, sincere apologies and fair compensation in cases of avoidable medical harm. This approach is called Communication, Apology, and Resolution (CARe) and MACRMI believes it is the right thing to do. It supports learning and improvement and leads to greater patient safety. By sharing what is learned from medical errors and near misses, patient safety is enhanced along with improving our health care system.

"Our work at the Coalition has highlighted the value of the CARe model in preserving healing relationships between patients and their clinicians after an adverse event. We have also seen the potential for deep learning from adverse events as a consequence of the change in the organizational culture related to those events. This can significantly accelerate the pace of improvements in patient safety."
Massachusetts Coalition for the Prevention of Medical Errors

More information is available at MACRMI.

Coalition Succeeds in Infection Prevention
Based on the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimates of infections nationally, patients in the commonwealth of Massachusetts are suffering more than 45,000 hospital-acquired infections each year, and nearly 2,000 deaths as a result of these infections. Successful implementation of safe practices to prevent these infections might save up to an estimated 200-400 million dollars annually in healthcare costs, and more importantly reduce the human suffering of patients and families from the death and disability resulting from these infections.

The CDC highlighted the work of the MA Coalition for its successful hospital C.difficile Prevention Collaborative which reduced these life-threatening infections by 25%. More information is available by clicking here.

Coalition's Consumer Brochure

English Online Version

Consumer Guide The Massachusetts Coalition for the Prevention of Medical Errors has developed a consumer guide that encourages patients to become "part of the health care team" along with their physicians, nurses, and pharmacists, to prevent medication mistakes. The guide was developed in conjunction with the Washington, D.C.-based Institute for Family-Centered Care and is based on input solicited from patients, families, and health care professionals. The brochure is also available in Spanish. For more information, contact: MA Coalition Phone:  781-262-6080 Email: macoalition@macoalition.org

Spanish OnlineVersion

Medication Safety

To promote patient safety statewide, the Massachusetts Coalition for the Prevention of Medical Errors, in cooperation with the Massachusetts Medical Society and with support from the Commonwealth’s Betsy Lehman Center, has created a patient medication list (the Med List) that patients and their families should carry to medical visits and share with their healthcare provider.  Patients on warfarin will find this tool particularly helpful in tracking medications.

Click here for more information and to download a free Med List (print to complete with pencil or download, save, and update electronically as needed).

Coalition Initiatives

Listed below are links to the Coalition's Initiatives in the prevention of medical errors:

• Elimination Of Hospital-Acquired Infections In Acute Care Hospitals
• Improving Care Transitions
• Patient and Family Advisory Councils
• Roadmap to Disclosure, Apology and Offer
• Reducing Medication Errors
  • Anticoagulation Medication Safety
  • Medication List
  • Reconciling Medications
  • Inpatient Processes
  • Reducing Medication Errors in Long Term Care Facilities - Best Practices
  • Consumer Medication Safety
• Communicating Critical Test Results
• Treatment and Prophylaxis of DVT and VTE
• Defining Accountability in Patient Safety
• Reducing Restraint & Seclusion Use
• Reporting Requirements
• Educational Programs

Coalition Recognition

Massachusetts Medical Law Reports 2008 RX for Excellence Award
Massachusetts Medical Law Reports Rx for Excellence Awards honor the people and organizations in Massachusetts health care that demonstrate the highest standards to ensure safety in the care or products they provide to patients, or to teach others what they can do to improve safety and manage risk in the health care profession. The Coalition received  a Leaders in Quality award in September 2008.

Joint Commission 2005 National Patient Safety Goals include Coalition initiatives:
The National Patient Safety Goals established by the Joint Commission for 2005 for hospitals nationally included  new standards for the two topics which were already the focus of statewide patient safety initiatives sponsored by the Coalition and Massachusetts Hospital Association - Reconciling Medications and Communicating Critical Test Results. The safe practices and toolkits for these topics may be found on the Initiatives page.