Ohio-Based International Children's Hospitals' Patient Safety Effort That is Saving Lives Celebrates 10 Years of Success, Looks Toward Future

News provided by

Children's Hospitals' Solutions for Patient Safety

Jan 16, 2019, 09:00 ET

COLUMBUS, Ohio, Jan. 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Ten years after launching a first-of-its-kind effort to eliminate patient harm in children's hospitals in partnership with Ohio business leaders, the eight founding children's hospitals gathered in the Ohio Statehouse Atrium, the very spot where the effort was launched as a collaboration in Ohio in 2009. The effort has now expanded to more than 135 children's hospitals across North America and has transformed pediatric healthcare through its work.

The eight Ohio children's hospitals – Akron Children's Hospital, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cleveland Clinic Children's, Dayton Children's, Mercy Health Children's Hospital, Nationwide Children's Hospital, ProMedica Toledo Children's Hospital and UH/Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital – took a risk 10 years ago in January of 2009, when their leaders decided to put aside competition, transparently share data and work together to eliminate serious safety events in their hospitals. The effort – now known across the globe as the Children's Hospitals' Solutions for Patient Safety – had never been done before – and was even described by Ohio hospital leaders as "herculean" in scope.

In fact, the effort was so unique that it required an act of the State of Ohio to protect the peer review process and allow the hospitals to share learning and data in ways that drive change quickly and effectively.

"It's highly likely that without the cooperation and support of the Ohio General Assembly, we would have been unable to overcome the legal barriers to transparently sharing our safety data," said Nick Lashutka, President and CEO, Children's Hospitals' Solutions for Patient Safety (SPS). "We are incredibly fortunate that Ohio leaders shared our vision, understood the barriers that needed removed and took swift and appropriate action to do so."

The SPS network's efforts have saved 10,206 children from serious harm and led to an estimated savings of more than $173 million, with consistent progress toward the goal of eliminating serious harm. The hospitals in the network share information and data regularly to learn best practices that are then spread across the network and shared publicly, along with results, on the network's website.

Early efforts were led by the Ohio Business Roundtable, with foundational support from the Cardinal Health Foundation. Additional supporters of SPS have included American Electric Power, AK Steel, The George Gund Foundation, Humana, Interact for Health and Medical Mutual of Ohio.

"SPS is about eliminating serious harm. Our goal is zero. Children's hospitals have a responsibility for the health and safety of all patients and employees, and SPS ensures we deliver on that commitment," said Michael Fisher, President & CEO, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and Chair of SPS. "While nearly every hospital in our country has a program to improve safety, our network is unique because we share goals, data, and processes – learning from each other every step of the way – and amplifying our work in a way that cannot happen in a singular hospital. We are proud of our accomplishments so far, but until we get to zero, our work is never done."

SPS is a network of more than 135 children's hospitals from the United States and Canada. SPS is funded in part by the federal Partnership for Patients program and the Cardinal Health Foundation.

SOURCE Children's Hospitals' Solutions for Patient Safety