The Collaborative
The Southern California Patient Safety Collaborative (SCPSC) is a partnership of the Hospital Association of Southern California (HASC), National Health Foundation (NHF), Health Services Advisory Group (HSAG) and Convergence Health Consulting, Inc. (CHC). The work is supported by funding from the Blue Shield of California Foundation. NHF, HASC and HSAG provide the operational and meeting infrastructure, communications and coordination with the participating hospitals. CHC, HASC and HSAG provide the clinical content and meeting facilitation using nationally accepted evidence based practices.
Convergence Health Consulting (CHC) is an independent consulting firm with senior clinical leaders that has been working with learning collaboratives since 2000. CHC has successfully led similar programs for several years in Washington State and the Bay Area and is nationally recognized as an expert in quality improvement and change management. The clinical team for SCPSC includes Bruce Spurlock, M.D., Rocky Fredrickson, M.D., Pat Teske and Pat Vasko all senior clinicians who have worked at the national, regional and state level.
Health Services Advisory Group, Inc. (HSAG),founded in 1979, is the Medicare Quality Improvement Organization (QIO) for California. Through its contract with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), HSAG is charged with providing direct quality improvement support to nursing homes, hospitals, and physicians’ offices and with assisting Medicare beneficiaries and their advocates to resolve complaints or appeals regarding the quality of care they receive from Medicare providers. Hospital-specific quality improvement projects that HSAG undertakes on behalf of CMS include improving surgical care and reducing pressure ulcers and drug-resistant staph infections (such as MRSA).
The Hospital Association of Southern California (HASC), founded in 1923, is a not-for-profit 501(c)(6) regional trade association. Its mission is to serve the political, economic, informational and educational needs of hospitals and to help improve the quality and accessibility of health services. Over the years, HASC has profoundly influenced the way health care is organized, financed and delivered. HASC consists of more than 170 hospitals (public, private, not-for-profit and for-profit). The region covers six counties: Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Santa Barbara and Ventura.
The National Health Foundation (NHF) is an independent, charitable, tax-exempt 501(c)(3) corporation dedicated to improving and enhancing the healthcare of the underserved by developing and supporting innovative programs that 1) can become independently viable, 2) provide systemic solutions to gaps in healthcare access and delivery and that 3) have the potential to be replicated nationally. This is being achieved through strategic program initiatives such as Improving Healthcare Delivery Systems, Uninsured Families, and Chronic Disease Prevention & Management.