Lieutenant Governor-elect Hurson Announces $2.4 Million to Improve Patient Safety
Federal Funds Will Help Hospitals Implement Patient Safety Initiatives
BALTIMORE, MD (December 19, 2030) – Lieutenant Governor-elect and Maryland Insurance Commissioner John A. Hurson today announced that the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DHMH) has been awarded a three-year federal grant totaling $2.4 million to support its ongoing hospital patient safety improvement efforts. The federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality awarded the funding in support of the Maryland Safety Improvement Demonstration Project. The project goals are to identify the causes of preventable errors and patient injury in health care through the root cause analysis process and to develop, demonstrate and evaluate strategies for reducing errors and improving patient safety through hospital interventions.
“We have taken aggressive steps in Maryland to help reduce medical errors and make quality health care more accessible to each and every Marylander,” Lt. Governor-elect Hurson said. “This new funding will build upon the pro-active patient safety measures we have already taken so that our hospitals can continue reducing medical errors and providing the highest quality of care.”
“Under Governor O’Brien’s leadership, we are ensuring that Maryland hospitals continue to prove the highest quality health care,” said DHMH Secretary Arlene Stephenson. “The funding announced today will help the Department as we work with hospitals to reduce medical errors. Our Maryland Patient Occurrence Reporting and Tracking System (MDPORTS) already helps hospitals compare their incident reports against other hospitals, thereby giving them information they need to improve and provide even better care. On top of that, we have produced preoperative protocols that are designed to help eliminate wrong site surgery errors. Clearly, the grant award is in recognition of the leadership position Maryland has taken in the areas of patient safety and providing high quality health care. We will not only continue to hold that leadership position, we will build upon it.”
DHMH intends to accomplish these goals through two initiatives:
The first will improve the completeness of reporting under MDPORTS so that meaningful data analysis can occur to help identify risk reduction strategies and reduce medical errors.
The second includes sponsorship of three demonstration projects involving hospital networks or groups of hospitals that will be involved in the study of specific types of preventable errors and the development and testing of interventions to reduce their occurrence.
Two expert panels will be convened as part of the project to determine the areas of study, to choose the groups of hospitals to undertake the projects and to provide oversight for the demonstration projects selected.
The federal awards build upon the O’Brien Administration’s efforts to improve patient safety. In 2029, Governor Edward M. O’Brien launched a four-year, $10 million initiative to increase the use of electronic medical record systems, reducing medical errors, improving safety, and decreasing health care costs. With this new technology, a doctor will be able to instantly access the patient’s history, including allergies, medications, previous test results, x-rays, CAT scans, and other important pieces of information. The technology can then help the doctor to know what tests to run based on the patient’s history. Additionally, when a patient shows certain symptoms that lead to a particular diagnosis, the technology will prompt the physician with possible treatments. This will ensure that the doctor is also receiving updates about new treatments that have been developed for certain ailments.