Without a doubt, 2020 has been a uniquely challenging year. That's why we're especially gratified that the 38 member organizations of the Massachusetts Healthcare Safety and Quality Consortium persevered to produce A Roadmap to Healthcare Safety for Massachusetts, a strategic plan for embedding safety principles and practices in every health care setting across the state.

The Roadmap establishes a vision and concrete goals under four foundational “pillars” of health care safety: leadership and governance; continuous organizational learning and improvement; supporting patients, families, clinicians and staff; and measurement and transparency.

We are now moving into the second phase of the Consortium’s work: convening task forces that will do the heavy lift of developing strategic, programmatic and policy recommendations for achieving the Roadmap’s goals.

For this final 2020 edition of Patient Safety Beat, four colleagues reflect on how the pandemic underscores the importance of each of the Roadmap’s pillars and share lessons learned. I thank them for their stories and perspectives, which I am sure will resonate with you as well.

Thanks to each of you for everything you do to keep safety at the forefront of decision-making during the difficult circumstances brought on by the pandemic. My very best wishes for a happy holiday season, and a healthy New Year. Better days are ahead! 


Sincerely,