The New Hampshire Health Care Quality Assurance Commission has released its annual report detailing the fifth year of its important work to improve care across the state by enabling health care providers to share information about adverse outcomes and prevention strategies. The 26 acute care hospital and 17 ambulatory surgery center members continued to share best practices and improvement strategies as well as agree to adopt several evidence-based practices that have been proven to improve care and decrease adverse events.

The major accomplishment of the Commission in year 5 was the new focus on promoting the Science of High Reliability at all organizations and the statewide initiative to promote adoption of a surgical safety checklist in all New Hampshire hospitals and ASCs. New Hampshire is the only state in the country to have every hospital and participating ambulatory surgery center committed publicly and at the leadership level to adopting a surgical safety checklist in all procedure areas.

The Commission will begin Year 6 in July 2010 continuing its focus on decreasing preventable harm by promoting high reliability organizations, adopting evidence-based best practices, and working to establish Just Cultures within our institutions.