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

Roadmap to Disclosure, Apology and Offer
Led by Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and the Massachusetts Medical Society, six health care organizations have formed an alliance to improve the medical liability system and to improve patient safety in the Commonwealth .

Disclosure, Apology and Offer is a program in which clinicians and hospitals respond to an adverse event with clear facts, an appropriate apology and timely, and fair financial compensation if warranted. It is a proposed alternative to medical liability litigation that has the potential to improve patient safety and, according to preliminary findings of a federally funded study, to reduce health care costs in Massachusetts. Read more

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.

Improving Drug Use to Enhance Infection Prevention: Antibiotic Stewardship and Beyond
C. difficile Prevention Partnership Collaborative

1. April 25, 2012, Audio Conference Call
2. April 30, 2012, Regional Workshop – Newton, MA (April 30th and May 16th programs are the same – choose one):
3. May 16, 2012, Regional Workshop – Sturbridge, MA

Audience: Staff and consultants from facilities in the CDI Prevention Partnership Collaborative
Acute care: pharmacists, hospitalists, infectious disease specialists, infection preventionists, case managers responsible for care transitions.
Long term care: medical directors, nurse practitioners, consulting pharmacists, staff development coordinator or educator, social worker or staff in charge of transfers, infection prevention and front line nurses

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 Click here to download the brochure order form

Spanish OnlineVersion

Medication Safety

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
• Patient and Family Advisory Councils
• Anticoagulation Medication Safety
• Medication List
• Reconciling Medications
• Inpatient and Consumer Medication Safety
• Reducing Medication Errors in Long Term Care Facilities - Best Practices
• 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.