By Susan Carr

I have the pleasure of serving on the review board for Stories of Success, a program co-sponsored by HIMSS, ASQ, NCQA, and NPSF, which provides examples of health IT implementations that demonstrate safety and quality improvement in patient care.

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.

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.

The Electronic Health Records (EHR) Association recently released its Statement of Commitment to Patient Safety and a Learning Healthcare System in response to the Institute of Medicine’s report released last fall, Health IT and Patient Safety: Building Safer Systems for Better Care.

Ann Arbor, Michigan and London—Isabel Healthcare and BMJ Group recently introduced Isabel with Best Practice, a powerful diagnosis and treatment decision aid that combines the strengths of both companies’ existing systems to help clinicians diagnose and treat faster and more accurately at the point of care.

Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania—ECRI Institute Patient Safety Organization announces an agreement to provide patient safety services to the California Hospital Patient Safety Organization (CHPSO). ECRI Institute PSO will support CHPSO with a patient safety data collection and reporting system and by analyzing adverse events and other information from participating hospitals and health systems.

The Certification Board for Professionals in Patient Safety (CBPPS) has announced the official launch date for the highly-anticipated Certified Professional in Patient Safety (CPPS) exam. This credentialing process is designed to establish patient safety competency standards and elevate the professional stature of healthcare professionals who meet knowledge requirements in safety science, human factors engineering, and the practice of safe care.

In recognition of the advancement of patient safety as an acknowledged and critical discipline across the care continuum,  testing for the CPPS credential will be made available as Patient Safety Awareness Week kicks off globally on March 5, 2012.

The number of reportable adverse events in Minnesota hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers, and community behavioral health hospitals increased from 305 in 2010 to 316 in 2011, according to a report released by the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH). Despite the increase, the number of events resulting in serious injury or death to a patient decreased from 107 in 2010 to 89 in 2011.