A region addresses patient safety

The Pittsburgh Regional Healthcare Initiative (PRHI) is a coalition of 35 hospitals, 4 major insurers, more than 30 major and small-business health care purchasers, dozens of corporate and civic leaders, organized labor, and partnerships with state and federal government all working together to deliver perfect patient care throughout Southwestern Pennsylvania. PRHI believes that in pursuing perfection, many of the challenges facing today's health care delivery system (eg, waste and error in the delivery of care, rising costs, frustration and shortage among clinicians and workers, financial distress, overcapacity, and lack of access to care) will be addressed. PRHI has identified patient safety (nosocomial infections and medication errors) and 5 clinical areas (obstetrics, orthopedic surgery, cardiac surgery, depression, and diabetes) as ideal starting points. In each of these areas of work, PRHI partners have assembled multifacility/multidisciplinary groups charged with defining perfection, establishing region-wide reporting systems, and devising and implementing recommended improvement strategies and interventions. Many design and conceptual elements of the PRHI strategy are adapted from the Toyota Production System and its Pittsburgh derivative, the Alcoa Business System. PRHI is in the proof-of-concept phase of development.