President Clinton To Deliver Keynote Remarks at the 4th Annual World Patient Safety, Science & Technology Summit

The Patient Safety Movement Foundation announced today that President Bill Clinton, Founder of the Clinton Foundation & 42nd President of the United States, will deliver the keynote address at the 4th annual World Patient Safety, Science & Technology Summit, January 22-23, 2016 at Laguna Cliffs Marriott Resort and Spa, Dana Point, California. This is the 4th year that President Clinton has participated in the Summit. 

“Our Patient Safety Movement began as a commitment to zero preventable deaths by 2020 at the Clinton Global Initiative meeting in 2012.,” stated Joe Kiani, Founder of the Patient Safety Movement Foundation. “This summit is not just about information - it’s about commitment and action. We confront the biggest patient safety challenges and co-develop and share tested solutions that can dramatically improve patient safety and significantly reduce cost of care. We are honored to have leading institutions from many countries join the movement including Brazil, England, Germany, Mexico, Scotland, and Spain. The exciting part is that this global movement has saved many lives in a relatively short amount of time and we are just beginning to see the results of many of the commitments.” 

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), approximately one in ten patients are harmed while receiving hospital care in a developed country. Hundreds of millions of patients are affected worldwide each year. Medical errors are the 3rd leading cause of death in the United States. WHO notes that 20%-40% of all health spending is wasted due to poor-quality care. Safety studies show that additional hospitalization, litigation costs, infection acquired in hospitals, disability, lost productivity and medical expenses cost some countries as much as $19 billion annually, and in the US, a whopping one trillion dollars. Industries with a perceived higher risk such as aviation have a much better safety record than health care – 1 in 1 million chance of a traveler being harmed while in an aircraft compared to 1 in 300 chance of a patient being harmed during health care. 

To date, healthcare professionals and hospital administrators that represent over 1,400 healthcare organizations have made public commitments through the Patient Safety Movement Foundation. More than 40 health technology companies have made a public pledge to share their data in the pursuit of good business practices and patient safety. For more information on the organizations that have provided commitments or pledges, please visit www.patientsafetymovement.org/commitments. 

At the 2016 Summit in January 22, and 23, attendees will announce commitments and review the latest Actionable Patient Safety Solutions (APSS). Two new patient safety challenges will be addressed: airway safety and optimizing obstetric safety. Emergent emergency department (ED) and intensive care unit (ICU) hospital airway intubations are high-risk procedures in which failure can result in preventable death or permanent disability impacting children, adults and seniors. The incidence of failed airways can be as high as 1 in 50 in the ED and ICU setting and the occurrence of death or brain damage have been reported to be 38 fold (ED) to 58 fold (ICU) higher than OR settings. In addition, inadvertent or premature extubations can also lead to death or severe disability. The second challenge, according to the Centers for Disease Control, kills approximately 650 women each year during or shortly after giving birth. The rate of maternal mortality in the US has nearly doubled in the last 20 years. The most common preventable conditions resulting in severe maternal morbidity or mortality are obstetric hemorrhage, severe hypertension, and infection. 

This year the Patient Safety Movement, in addition to the Humanitarian Awards, will also present three winners of the 2015 Patient Safety Movement Innovation Award. The winners will receive prizes totaling $85,000 for process or product innovations that will make significant strides toward eliminating preventable deaths in hospitals.