The websites below offer information about organizations and programs to improve the quality and safety of healthcare services in Massachusetts and beyond.
Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) is an independent not-for-profit organization helping to lead the improvement of healthcare throughout the world. IHI works to accelerate improvement by building the will for change, cultivating promising concepts for improving patient care, and helping healthcare systems put those ideas into action.
Massachusetts Coalition for the Prevention of Medical Errors is a public-private partnership whose mission is to improve patient safety and eliminate medical errors in Massachusetts. The Coalition's membership includes consumer organizations, state agencies, hospitals, professional associations for physicians, nurses, pharmacists, long-term care workers, as well as health plans, employers, policymakers, and researchers. The Coalition leverages the efforts of all of these organizations to accomplish the shared goal of improving patient safety. The Coalition promotes a systems-oriented approach to improving patient safety, identifying the causes of medical errors, and developing and supporting implementation of strategies for prevention.
Medically Induced Trauma Support Services (MITSS) is a non-profit organization whose mission is to support healing and restore hope to patients, families, and clinicians impacted by adverse medical events and medical errors. MITSS raises awareness about the emotional impact on everyone involved in these events; provides direct support services to patients, families, and clinicians; and consults with healthcare systems on the development of support systems for staff.
U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's (AHRQ) website includes access to clinical information, research findings, consumer/patient healthcare information, quality and patient safety information, data and surveys.
WhyNotTheBest was created and is maintained by the Commonwealth Fund, a private foundation working toward a high performance U.S. health system. It is a free resource for healthcare professionals interested in tracking performance on various measures of healthcare quality. The site enables organizations to compare their performance against that of peer organizations, against a range of benchmarks, and over time. Case studies and improvement tools spotlight successful improvement strategies of the nation's top performers.