Trusted leader in caring for people & advancing health
MedStar Health has embraced an organization-wide culture of safety. We have invested heavily in developing expertise that is both collaborative and patient-centered. The MedStar Health Institute for Quality and Safety provides a mechanism for us to share what we are learning through education, training, research, and advocacy.
Established by MedStar Health, the largest healthcare provider in Maryland and the Washington, D.C., region, the MedStar Health Institute for Quality and Safety provides a global infrastructure for leaders, frontline caregivers, patients, and family members to jointly develop, educate, assess, and advocate for patient safety and clinical quality initiatives.
Our mission
To partner with patients, their families, and those who take care of them to improve patient care and outcomes and to reduce the global burden of preventable harm.
Utilizing more than 100 years of collective patient safety and quality experiences, our leadership team works with organizations across the globe to provide education and training solutions that help them improve patient care outcomes and reduce preventable harm.
Provider of Choice and Clinical Care
Providing an exceptional patient experience and outcomes includes focusing on health equity.
In spring of 2023, we formally established our Health Equity operational structure, which consists of a Health Equity Leaders Coordinating Council (HELCC) that leads the work within the entities, and Health Equity Workgroups that provide actionable intelligence to inform the identification of healthcare disparity reduction priorities in partnership with the HELCC. The MedStar Health Quality & Safety Steering Committee serves as the governing body to approve the system priorities and sponsors the health equity initiatives. Together, these groups will develop and implement data-driven and community informed health equity strategies to reduce disparities across the system.
Health Equity Leaders Coordinating Council members were appointed at each entity to oversee execution to generate health equity advances within their entities and contribute to the implementation of systemwide health care disparity priorities reduction.
Health Equity Workgroups consist of multidisciplinary subject matter experts and key stakeholders from across the system, including all 10 hospitals, Home Care and Ambulatory Care. The workgroup synthesizes recommendations for health equity initiatives that are data-driven and community-engaged and support entity action plans. They focus on investigating options to improve performance, address gaps in existing demographic and language data, increase cultural humility in patient demographic data collection, and eliminate any systemic bias that affects equitable care.
Social Needs Tool and Patient Data Optimization – As race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, and other factors can render a patient subject to disparate care, we are working to improve the completeness and accuracy of data needed to support health equity initiatives. We want to ensure our patient data reflects the way our patients identify themselves and want to be represented. Beyond mere data capture, this entails educating our frontline teams about interpersonal approaches and methods that ensure appropriate interactions with patients.
In January 2024, Acute Case Management, Nursing, and Community Health collaborated to generate a new protocol to expand screening for social drivers of health social needs screening. All adult patients admitted to medicine, surgery or critical care are screened for unmet social needs such as housing, food, safety or transportation. As of June 2024, this initiative had generated 41,387 screenings, with nearly 2,300 social needs identified. Of patients with identified needs, 98% received a bilingual postcard to the MedStar Health Social Needs Tool and an opportunity to connect with Community Health for linkage to support services. An additional 600 screenings were completed at MedStar National Rehabilitation Hospital since the program was implemented there in March.
Cultural Humility in Demographic Data Collection: A new training program nurtures an inclusive experience at registration as associates acquire patient demographic data, Added features in our registration system support more complete and accurate data collection. Our frontline teams learn about interpersonal approaches and methods that ensure appropriate interactions with patients during the intake process. Cultural Humility training is required of all associates in patient-facing roles that collect personal information. More than 600 associates completed training within the first month of rollout.
Education and training
- Executive Masters in Clinical Quality, Safety, and Leadership
- Graduate Certificates in Patient Safety and Leadership
- Academy for Emerging Leaders in Patient Safety
- Quality and Safety Physician Leadership Fellowship
Research programs
The MedStar Health Institute for Quality and Safety is a leader in science, innovation, and discovery of better care, quality experiences, and safety across the healthcare continuum. The Institute has a robust portfolio of research projects supported by federal and private institutions. One hallmark of the research program is its commitment to partnering with patients, family members, and caregivers in co-producing health innovations.
Advocacy
The MedStar Health Institute for Quality and Safety is led by some of the most experienced and visionary leaders in the nation who value innovative programs that drive lasting culture change and advocate for the safest, highest-quality healthcare. The Institute is a leader in patient and family engagement, CANDOR (Communication and Optimal Resolution), diagnosis improvement, bloodless medicine, and healthcare narratives.
Patient and Family Engagement (PFACQS®)
Patient and family advisory councils are a mechanism for embedding regular input and feedback into improvement work from the communities we serve. They advance community trust building and our national goal to ensure that care is truly patient centered. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and other payors are now driving patient and family engagement through advisory councils as a strategy to improve outcomes, reduce cost, promote transparency and reinforce the joy and meaningfulness of healthcare work.
MedStar Center for Diagnostic Systems Safety
The MedStar Health Center for Diagnostic Systems Safety addresses diagnostic error using structured, evidence-based systems-engineering approaches, which when applied to healthcare have brought about significant improvements in care quality, value, patient safety, patient experience, and overall health outcomes. We provide scientific, educational, programmatic, and administrative leadership for diagnostic safety efforts across the MedStar system, with a focus on research, education, and innovation.
Bloodless medicine
We offer free consulting services for administrators and physician leaders wishing to establish a bloodless medicine and surgery program.
Quality and safety tools
In the rapid-changing healthcare environment, quick and easy access to usable tools and resources is becoming imperative. This page provides open-source information related to quality metrics and programs, quality improvement tools, patient and family engagement in patient safety, and communication and resolution programs.
Quality and patient safety
At MedStar Health, our vision to be the trusted leader in caring for people and advancing health will only be achieved by our unwavering commitment to both quality and patient safety. You can count on that commitment when you seek care at any of the MedStar Health hospitals, ambulatory locations, and other care sites. Your safety is our number one focus, and we know that focus will also result in the highest quality of care throughout our healthcare care network.
Contact us
We welcome your questions about our mission to improve patient care and outcomes while also reducing the global burden of preventable harm. To learn more, please