Georgia's Partnership for Health and Accountability (PHA) recognizes patient safety as its top priority and describes the elements that support a culture of safety in health care organizations. Among these are a pervasive commitment to patient safety, open communication, a blame-free environment, and the importance of safety design in preventing future errors. Acknowledging that success in creating a culture of safety requires the commitment of both organizational leadership and front line health care workers, PHA stresses the critical role of physicians and employees in the process. PHA brings the health care field together with agencies and individuals to ensure quality and safety in healthy communities. PHA assists in strengthening collaboration between providers, community members, and other stakeholders by providing education and data-driven tools to facilitate improvement.

More than 180 health care professionals met in January in Greensboro for the popular Patient Safety and Quality Summit. Attendees heard from health care leaders on topics such as reducing maternal morbidity, technology, and eliminating accidental harm. Fairview Park Hospital CEO Don Avery, FACHE, also gave a presentation on how to ensure the success of a patient safety program. 

The 2020 Patient Safety and Quality Awards were also handed out. Congratulations to Emory University Hospital Midtown; The Medical Center, Navicent Health; and Redmond Regional Medical Center on winning Circle of Excellence Awards, which are earned when hospitals win three or more patient safety awards within the previous five years. See the complete list of winners. We applaud each of these hospitals for their efforts in advancing patient care.

The PHA Patient Safety and Quality Awards recognize health care organizations for their achievements in reducing the risk of medical errors and improving patient safety and medical outcome. Accepting 2021 Patient Safety and Quality Award Applications now!

Communities trust hospitals to provide quality care and education and use them as a resource for health, wellness, prevention and care.

FLEX, the Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility Program aims to improve access to preventive and emergency health care services for rural populations. Medicare Beneficiary Quality Improvement Project (MBQIP) is an initiative within the Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility Program funded through the Health Resources and Services Administration's Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP) and funded to state to support quality improvement (QI) work withing small rural hospitals.

Hospital Quality Improvement & Innovation Contract (HQIIC) – The Georgia Hospital Association serves as a contractor to Alliant Health Solutions who serves as a Hospital Quality Improvement Contractor to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) within its Network of Quality Improvement and Innovation Contractors.

Hospital Improvement Innovation Network (HIIN) works with regional, state, national and hospital system level to sustain and accelerate national progress and momentum towards continued harm reduction in the Medicare program, helping to identify solutions already working and disseminate them to other hospitals and providers. 

Small Rural Hospital Improvement Grant Program (SHIP) provides funding to more than 1,600 participating hospitals in 47 participating State Offices of Rural Health (SORH) to help small rural hospitals participate in various Affordable Care Act (ACA) delivery system reforms, such as value-based purchasing programs, accountable care organizations and payment bundling.

Team Strategies & Tools to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety (TeamSTEPPS) is to establish a systematic approach to all aspects of team training- assessment and readiness, planning, training and implementation, coaching and sustainment of teamwork behaviors. 

GHA Quality and Patient Safety Webinars 
2018-2019 SHIP ED HCAHPS Webinars

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