148 unit 2 | Working Within the Organization
describes the work of the International Center for
Patient Safety. These tools developed by the Joint
Commission offer health-care organizations goals
and strategies to prevent harm and death based on
what has been learned from sentinel events.
Organizations, Agencies, and Initiatives
Supporting Quality and Safety in the
Health-Care System
The ongoing movement to improve quality and
safety has led to the development of governmental
and private organizations (see Box 10-9) in addition
to those mentioned in the historical perspective
at the beginning of this chapter. These organiza-
tions and agencies currently monitor, evaluate,
accredit, influence, research, finance, and advocate
for quality within the health delivery system. Each
organization works inside and outside the system
to drive change leading to improved health out-
comes and improved system quality. Each organi-
zation works within its mission to address various
characteristics of the health-care system or to
address patient needs. Some organizations serve
multiple roles beyond their primary mission.
Government Agencies
Federal and state-level government agencies pro-
vide tools and resources for improving quality and
safety within the U.S. health-care system.
Government agencies also oversee regulation,
licensure, and mandatory and voluntary reporting
programs.
Within the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services (HHS) reside multiple agencies
that support quality and safety. HHS is the U. S.
government’s principal agency for protecting the
health of all Americans and providing essential
human services, including health care (HHS, 2008).
HHS works closely with state and local govern-
ments to meet the nation’s health and human needs.
In addition to administering Medicare and
Medicaid, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid
(CMS) administers quality initiatives intended “to
assure quality health care for all Americans through
accountability and public exposure” (CMS, 2008).
Initiatives include:
■MedQIC. This initiative aims to ensure each
Medicare recipient receives the appropriate level
of care. MedQIC is a community-based QI
program that provides tools and resources to
box 10-9
Organizations and Agencies Supporting
Quality and Safety
Government Agencies- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
http://www.hhs.gov/ - Food and Drug Administratoin (FDA) http://www.fda.gov/
- Initiatives: Medwatch and Sentinel Initiative
- Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)
http://www.hrsa.gov/ - Initiatives: Health Information Technology and National
Practitioner Database - Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) http://
http://www.cms.hhs.gov/ - Initiatives: Hospital Quality Initiative, MedQIC, American
Health Quality Association (AHQA), - Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
http://www.ahrq.gov/ - Initiatives: Health IT, Improving Health Care Quality,
Medical Errors and Patient Safety, Measuring Quality - VA National Center for Patient Safety http://www.
va.gov/ncps/
Health-Care Provider Professional Organizations - American Nurses Association http://nursingworld.org/
- Initiative: National Database of Nursing Quality
Indicators (NDNQI) - Association of Perioperative Registered Nurses (AORN)
https://www.aorn.org/ - Initiative: Patient Safety First and AORN Toolkits
- American Hospital Association (AHA)
http://www.aha.org/ - Initiative: AHA Quality Center
- Association of Academic Health Centers
http://www.aahcdc.org/index.php - Priorities: Health Profession Workforce and Health Care
Reform
Non-Profit Organizations, Foundations, and Research - The Leapfrog Group http://www.leapfroggroup.org/
- Kaiser Family Foundation http://www.kff.org/
- Markel Foundation-Connecting for Health http://www.
connectingforhealth.org/aboutus/index.html# - Robert Wood Johnson Foundation-Quality Equality in
Healthcare http://www.rwjf.org/qualityequality/
index.jsp - National Patient Safety Foundation http://www.
npsf.org/ - The Commonwealth Fund http://www.commonwealthfund.
org/aboutus/
Quality Organizations - Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) http://
http://www.ihi.org/ihi - The Joint Commission http://www.jointcommission.org/
- National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) http://
web.ncqa.org/ - National Quality Forum http://www.qualityforum.org/