The GHA 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, including a pervasive commitment to patient safety, open communication, a blame-free environment, and safety designs that prevent future errors. PHA supports health equity and social determinants of health by providing education and resources to hospitals. PHA strengthens collaboration among providers, community members, and other stakeholders by providing education and data-driven tools to facilitate improvement.

Congratulations to the 2023 Award Winners!

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 outcomes.

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

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

The Hospital Quality Improvement Contract (HQIC) – 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.

The 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.

The Team Strategies & Tools to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety (TeamSTEPPS™) establishes 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

Infection Preventionist Resource Book (Login Required)

Project Firstline

The Georgia Hospital Association partners with the Georgia Department of Public Health to provide educational resources as well as a professional network of infection prevention professionals through an initiative, Project Firstline. Project Firstline aims to equip infection prevention (IP) professionals with resources to provide education to frontline clinical and non-clinical staff members. Resources and assistance to acquire a Certification in Infection Control (CIC) may also be made available. For additional information, please contact Peggy McGee at pmcgee@gha.org .

Healthcare Georgia Foundation, Maternal and Child Health Initiative

The Georgia Hospital Association partners with Healthcare Georgia Foundation to provide resources and education to hospitals and health care providers who desire to improve maternal and child health in Georgia. Due to well-documented disparities in minority maternal and child health outcomes, our program is primarily aimed at improving outcomes among minority populations.

To achieve this goal, GHA is encouraging all hospitals to consider the following:

• Implement perinatal care bundles, including reduction of peripartum disparities AIM bundle.
• Pursue maternal & neonatal designation ( “levels of care” or “LOC I, II, III” ).
• Pursue Georgia’s 5-Star Initiative to support healthy breastfeeding.
• Join the Georgia Perinatal Quality Collaborative “GaPQC”
  (for additional information or assistance with any of the above, contact Lynne Hall at lhall@gha.org)
• Participate, and encourage others to participate, in GHA four-part Maternal & Child Health Outcomes education series. (for additional information see the GHA Calendar of Events page linked here or contact Andy Cobb at acobb@gha.org)