Houston, Texas—Simulation Center at Texas Children's Hospital has begun providing Pediatric Simulation Training for Emergency Pre-hospital Providers (Pedi-STEPPs) to members of the Houston Fire Department (HFD) EMS. A grant from the Cullen Trust for Healthcare, as well as a community benefit donation from Texas Children's Hospital will allow this innovative training to be offered free of charge to the City for 500 firefighters over the next two years.

Barrington, Illinois—GE Healthcare Performance Solutions, a unit of GE Healthcare announced the launch of a 90-day evaluation for its Global Patient Safety Network (GPSN), an online community for hospitals to collaborate with peers around the world with the goal of improving patient safety.

The National Quality Forum (NQF) Board of Directors has announced that NQF’s President and CEO Janet Corrigan has submitted her resignation, effective late June 2012.  Corrigan has served as NQF’s President and CEO for more than six years.

Encouraging patients and their families to take an active role in their health care by becoming involved and informed is critical. In celebration of Patient Safety Awareness Week, March 4-10, a unique patient safety education program will be released to provide patients and their families with instant access to current patient safety videos at their bedside and while receiving care. The 2012 SAFE CARE Patient Safety Education Program, is a free offering developed to assist health care organizations in educating patients to help prevent medical errors.

HIMSS is pleased that the Department of Health and Human Services’ Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have published their proposed rule for Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record Incentive Program Stage 2 (Meaningful Use Stage 2); the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) also published the associated Standards, Implementation Specifications, and Certification Criteria.