The Partnership for Patients, launched in April 2011, is a national quality improvement initiative from the Department of Health and Human Services that has set ambitious goals for U.S. providers to improve patient safety and care transitions.

In a recent paper, authors outlined the initiative’s measurement strategy, describing four measurement-related objectives: (a) to track national progress toward the program goals that U.S. hospitals reduce preventable adverse events by 40% and re-admissions by 20%; (b) to support local quality improvement measurement in participating hospitals by providing the appropriate tools, training, and programmatic structure; (c) to obtain feedback on hospital and contractor progress, in close to real time, so the project can be managed effectively; and (d) to evaluate the program’s impact on adverse event and re-admission rates.

To learn more, see Hackbarth et al. (2014). An overview of measurement activities in the partnership for patients. Journal of Patient Safety, 10(3), 124-132. doi:10.1097/PTS.0000000000000071