February 23, 2001
Quality Forum's "Never Events" Steering Committee Continues Work
The Never Events Steering Committee (steering committee) of the National Forum for Health Care Quality Measurement and Reporting (the Forum) met for the second time on February 21. The steering committee is guiding the Forum's work on developing a list of serious, adverse, health care events. The intent of the list is to facilitate standardized data collection and reporting about serious, adverse, health care events. In addition, it will include recommendations on issues such as aggregating and collecting data for processing and reporting. The Quality Interagency Task Force (QuIC) requested the project, which is a response to its February 2000 report to the president on patient safety initiatives in the federal government.
The steering committee reviewed the framework of the project during the meeting. They addressed the goal and audience for the list, criteria for evaluating serious, adverse, health care events and technical issues relating to the definitions of preventable, adverse events, and the term "never events." They also began a critical review of the list and asked Forum staff for some additional research and clarification on certain items. The steering committee will hold one final meeting to conclude the project. The Forum's Board of Directors and Member Councils will review the steering committee's work and decide whether to formally endorse it.
Information: Jeff Patyk, AAMC Division of Health Care Affairs, 202-828-0498.
