Scaling Communication and Resolution Programs: Achieving the Potential, Avoiding the Pitfalls

On-Demand

Communication and Resolution Programs (CRPs) are comprehensive, principled, and systematic initiatives to prevent and respond to patient harm. An effectively implemented CRP can support patients, families, and providers after harm and facilitate learning. CRP implementation has dramatically accelerated, with over 300 health care organizations pursuing this model. Yet the CRP field is challenged by inconsistent implementation, which means that fewer patients, families, and providers benefit from CRPs. Inconsistent implementation also fuels skepticism that organizations may be using CRPs to manage liability claims rather than improve patient safety and promote transparency. A core set of CRP metrics, coupled with novel implementation and improvement strategies for streamlining the CRP process, are critical to achieving the promise of CRPs while avoiding common pitfalls. A national project funded by three patient advocates has sought to address this problem by using a multi-step process to develop, refine, and implement CRP metrics. First, an extensive literature review was coupled with an expert panel assessment to develop a robust set of CRP metrics, which was followed by an initial pilot test. Next, an Implementation and Improvement Guide is being created so that organizations can use these metrics and other new tools in support of highly reliable CRPs. The project’s leaders will describe its rationale, share the metrics to augment the spread of CRPs, present the CRP Implementation and Improvement Guide, and discuss intended use of these tools. They will also introduce a national CRP Action Network being formed to accelerate high-fidelity CRP implementation at committed organizations.

Learning Objectives:

1. Describe the root causes and consequences of inconsistent implementation of CRPs and the role that metrics and an Implementation and Improvement Guide could play in addressing this problem 
2. List the key metrics related to CRP structure, process, and outcomes recently developed by a national panel of experts
3. Explore how health systems can improve the implementation of a CRP using CRP metrics and an Implementation and Improvement Guide

Speakers:

Thomas H. Gallagher, M.D., is a general internist who is Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Washington, where he is Associate Chair for Patient Care Quality, Safety, and Value.  Dr. Gallagher has published over 120 articles and book chapters on patient safety and error disclosure, which have appeared in leading journals. He is also Executive Director of the Collaborative for Accountability and Improvement, an organization dedicated to advancing the spread of Communication and Resolution Programs.  In 2017, his work advancing Communication and Resolution Programs was recognized with the receipt of the John M. Eisenberg Patient Safety and Quality Award for Individual Achievement, presented by the National Quality Forum and The Joint Commission.

As the Chief Medical Officer at Ariadne Labs, Evan Benjamin, MD, MS, FACP, provides oversight, guidance, and support to Ariadne Labs research faculty, ensuring that Ariadne’s findings are supported by rigorous evidence and result in clinically meaningful change. Evan mentors faculty and research scientists and works with individuals to enhance faculty research. In addition, Evan works in close collaboration with Ariadne’s founder, Dr. Atul Gawande, to develop and expand Ariadne’s strategic partnerships, and to raise the Ariadne Labs profile as a global leader in health systems innovation.

Prior to becoming CMO at Ariadne Labs, Evan was Senior Vice President for Population Health and Quality, Baystate Health, a $2B revenue integrated delivery system in Massachusetts where he oversaw clinical quality, patient safety, population health, infection control, a 100 physician primary care practice, and Information Technology for the 5 hospital system. He was responsible for bringing reliability and efficiency to the health system using modern tools of improvement science.

He is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School with a secondary appointment at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and is also an Adjunct Professor of Medicine at Tufts University. He is active in scholarly research in healthcare delivery and speaks and consults nationally on issues related to improving healthcare delivery. Evan is faculty for the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) where he teaches leadership and improvement and sits on numerous national boards and healthcare panels including the National Academy of Medicine, the American Hospital Association, CMS and others. He currently serves as a board member for the UMass Memorial Health Care System.

Evan received a BA in Chemistry from Williams College, an MD from Case Western Reserve University, and an MS in Healthcare Delivery Science from Dartmouth College. He completed an internal medicine residency at Yale-New Haven Hospital.

Member: $39.00
Non-Member: $99.00