Links to Other Healthcare Organizations
Pennsylvania Department of Health
Find out more about the hospital, ambulatory surgical center or nursing home near you. The links below will take you directly to the site that allows you to become a more informed consumer when searching for the right hospital, ambulatory surgical center or nursing home.
Pennsylvania Department of State
The Pennsylvania Department of State houses several licensing boards, particularly medicine boards. Below are more links for you to keep informed so you can choose the doctor or nurse that best fits your needs.
Pennsylvania Healthcare Cost Containment Council (PHC4)
The Pennsylvania Healthcare Cost Containment Council (PHC4) is an independent state agency that compares several areas of health care with in-depth reports. These report topics include but are not limited to: cardiac (heart) care, healthcare-associated infections, hospital performance, HMOs, and diabetes. Review these reports to become a more informed patient or family member.
Pennsylvania Health Care Quality Alliance
The Pennsylvania Health Care Quality Alliance (PHCQA) is a nonprofit coalition of Pennsylvania health care providers and insurers. Their mission: enables consumers to compare hospital performance, allows health care professionals to evaluate and improve the quality of their patient care and helps insurers to evaluate the performance of their provider networks.
Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care
The Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care, or AAAHC, has a mission to maintain its position as the preeminent leader in developing standards to advance and promote patient safety, qulaity, value and measurement of performance for ambulatory health care through peer-based accreditation processes, education and research.
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), a Public Health Service agency in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, sponsors and conducts research that provides evidence-based information on health care outcomes; quality; and cost, use, and access. Among its other mandates, it is charged by Congress to promote patient safety and reduce medical errors.
American Society for Healthcare Risk Management (ASHRM)
ASMRM promotes effective and innovative risk management strategies and professional leadership through education, recognition, advocacy, publications, networking and interactions wiht leading health care organizations and government agencies.
Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation
The APSF's mission is to improve continually the safety of patients during anesthesia care by encouraging and conducting: safety research and education, patient safety programs and campaigns and national and international exchange of information.
The Association of periOperative Registered Nurses
The Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN) is the national association committed to improving patient safety in the surgical setting.
Australian Patient Safety Foundation
The Australian Patient Safety Foundation Inc. (APSF) is a non-profit independent organization dedicated to the advancement of patient safety.
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)
CMS's mission is to ensure effective, up-to-date health care coverage and to promote quality care for beneficiaries.
For Comparing Hospitals (CMS)
This webpage developed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) allows you to compare hospitals.
For Comparing Nursing Homes (CMS
This webpage developed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) allows you to compare nursing homes.
Consumers Advancing Patient Safety (CAPS)
CAPS is a consumer-led nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote patient safety by building partnerships between patients and providers. It represents individuals, consumers and healthcare practitioners in promoting safe, patient-centered healthcare delivery.
ECRI Institute
For 40 years, the ECRI Institute has been dedicated to bringing the discipline of applied scientific research to discover which medical procedures, devices, drugs and processes are best. A prime contractor of the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority, ECRI Institute developed a page on its website for the consumer.
Healthgrades
Healthgrades provides ratings and profiles of hospitals, nursing homes and physicians to consumers, corporations, health plans and hospitals.
Health Research and Educational Trust (HRET)
HRET's goal is to advance ideas and practices beneficial to helath care practitioners, insitutions, consumers and society at large.
The Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania (HAP)
The Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania is a statewide membership services organization that advocates for nearly 250 Pennsylvania acute and specialty care, primary care, subacute care, long-term care, home health, and hospice providers, as well as the patients and communities they serve.
Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI)
IHI is a not-for-profit organization furthering the quality and value of healthcare. It offers a variety of programs, including education and training on quality improvement and change management, and is spearheading the "100,000 Lives Campaign," an outcomes-based initiative recommended to Pennsylvania healthcare facilities by the Patient Safety Authority.
Institute of Medicine (IOM)
The IOM, a component of the National Academy of Sciences, provides unbiased, evidence-based information and advice concerning health and science policy on matters related to biomedical science, medicine and health. Its 1999 report, To Err Is Human (commonly called "the IOM report"), brought the issue of medical errors to national attention.
Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP)
The Institute for Safe Medication Practices(ISMP) devotes its work entirely to medication error prevention and safe medication use. A subcontractor for the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority, ISMP has developed a website specifically for consumers to help prevent medical errors (consumermedsafety.org).
Joint Commission on Accrediation of Healthcare Organizations (JACHO)
The Joint Commission is a national accrediting organization for many types of healthcare facilities, among them hospitals, ambulatory surgical facilities, assisted living and long-term care facilities. JCAHO has a strong focus on patient safety that includes its annual National Patient Safety Goals and the Speak Up! program designed for consumers.
Leapfrog Group for Patient Safety
Leapfrog is a voluntary program made up of 160 companies and organizations that buy healthcare. Its focus is on reducing costs by preventing medical mistakes and improving quality of care.
National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP)
NASHP is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to helping states improve health policy and practice. NASHP has published numerous reports, including several on patient safety.
The National Committee for Quality Assurance
The National Committe for Quality Assurance develops programs and provides services that reflect a straightforward formula for improvement: Measure. Analyze. Improve. Repeat.
National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention
NCC MERP is dedicated to reducing and preventing medication errors through error reporting. The Council represents a broad coalition of stakeholders, including the pharmaceutical industry, physician and hospital associations, AARP, pharmacists, government and non-profit accrediting agencies. The site includes a segment for consumers on using medications safely and links to many other patient safety organizations.
National Patient Safety Agency (England)
The National Patient Safety Agency of England leads and contributes to improved, safe patient care by informing, supporting and influencing the health sector.
National Patient Safety Foundation (NPSF)
NPSF, representing healthcare institutions, professional practitioner associations, government agencies, consumers, and other health promotion, quality improvement and patient safety organizations, is dedicated solely to patient safety. The website includes resources for all components of the healthcare industry, including consumers, and provides links to many other websites.
National Quality Forum (NQF)
NQF is a private, non-profit organization that develops national strategies for measuring healthcare quality and reporting. Through its "Consensus Reports," NQF has been influential in helping establish national standards and guidelines on many issues, including those related to patient safety.
The Patnership for Healthcare Excellence
The Partnership for Healthcare Excellence is a new effort to help Massachusetts consumers improve the quality of their healthcare.
Partnership for Patient Safety
The Partnership for Patient Safety promotes a patient-centered systems approach to patient safety by emphasizing the importance of developing a culture of safety within healthcare institutions. The website also contains links to many other patient safety-related organizations.
Pennsylvania Medical Society
The Pennsylvania Medical Society provides its members with the latest information in healthcare. CME credits may also be obtained through the website.
Pittsburgh Regional Healthcare Initiative (PRHI)
PRHI is a regional coalition of hospitals, insurers, businesses, healthcare providers, and corporate and civic leaders committed to promoting patient safety and quality of care. Its focus is on enhancing patient outcomes by identifying and solving problems at the point of care.
VA National Center for Patient Safety (NCPS)
NCPS is a patient safety program with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs committed to reducing and preventing adverse medical events within VA facilities. The website contains many resources, including patient safety alerts and information about creating a culture of safety, conducting root cause analyses and other patient safety topics.
World Health Organization (WHO)
WHO is the directing and coordinating authority for health within the United Nations system. It is responsible for providing leadership on global health matters, shaping the health research agenda, setting norms and standards, articulating evidence-based policy options, providing technical support to countries and monitoring and assessing health trends.