AHRQ Seeks to Tap Patients for Safety-Event Data

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality is seeking approval to design and test a system for collecting information from patients about healthcare safety events, according to a Federal Register filing (PDF).

Based on a growing body of evidence that many medical adverse events go unreported by providers, AHRQ is seeking to create a way for patients and their families to report healthcare safety events. “Most reporting systems do not presently accept or elicit reports from patients and their families,” AHRQ wrote, and “the unique perspective of healthcare consumers could reveal important information that is not reported by healthcare providers.”

AHRQ already has funded the development of a prototype Consumer Reporting System for Patient Safety, and the agency's current request to the Office of Management and Budget would test the prototype's effectiveness.

The project is being conducted by AHRQ through a contractor, Rand Corp., with Brigham and Women's Hospital, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, both in Boston, and ECRI Institute, Plymouth Meeting, PA.