Patient Safety

The National Patient Safety Foundation defines patient safety as the avoidance, prevention, and amelioration of adverse outcomes or injuries stemming from the processes of healthcare. In January 2000, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) published the report To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System, which stimulated national efforts to improve the safety of the U.S. health care system. In FY 2001, the U.S. Congress identified patient safety as a national priority and appropriated funds for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to support work to identify threats to patient safety; identify and evaluate effective patient safety practices; disseminate and encourage the implementation of effective patient safety practices; and maintain vigilance. From 2002 until 2006, AHRQ contracted with RAND to perform an evaluation of its Patient Safety Initiative. Papers reporting findings from that work are included below, along with other RAND studies that address patient safety issues.