SIDM Board Member Ron Wyatt Leads Elevation of Healthcare Equity Standard to National Patient Safety Goal

The Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine (SIDM) congratulates Ronald Wyatt, MD, MHA, and SIDM board member for successfully advocating for healthcare disparities to become a quality and safety priority and a new National Patient Safety Goal (NPSG).

The National Patient Safety Goals (NPSGs) are a set of guidelines and recommendations developed by The Joint Commission, an independent, not-for-profit organization that accredits and certifies more than 22,000 healthcare organizations and programs in the United States. The NPSGs aim to improve the quality and safety of health care by setting specific, measurable goals for healthcare organizations to achieve.

This new NPSG increases the focus on improving healthcare equity and will work to ensure that all individuals have equal access to high-quality care regardless of their race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, or other factors. SIDM CEO Dr. Jennie Ward Robinson celebrates this achievement in health equity progress, “Equity must be core and must be fundamental,” she said.

The new goal is effective July 1, 2023, and will apply to the following Joint Commission–accredited organizations:

  • All critical access hospitals and hospitals
  • Ambulatory healthcare organizations providing primary care within the “Medical Centers” service in the ambulatory healthcare program (the requirements are not applicable to organizations providing episodic care, dental services, or surgical services)
  • Behavioral health care and human services organizations providing “Addictions Services,” “Eating Disorders Treatment,” “Intellectual Disabilities/Developmental Delays,” “Mental Health Services,” and “Primary Physical Health Care” services

Ron Wyatt, who thanks Ana McKee, CMO of The Joint Commission for the successful elevation of the equity standard, is nationally recognized as an expert in patient safety and was named several times by Becker’s as one of the “Top 50 Patient Safety Experts” in the U.S.  Dr. Wyatt also served as the first patient safety officer at The Joint Commission and recalls “it was my belief that an Equity NPSG was imperative if disparities were to be eliminated.”  According to Dr. Wyatt, “there is no safety or quality without equity, and no equity without safety and quality. This NPSG, with a focus on leadership commitment, is a monumental step forward, and says to the world that all people matter and deserve reliable, safe, and high-quality care.”

###

About the Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine (SIDM): SIDM is a nonprofit organization whose members include clinicians and other healthcare professionals, patients, and every stakeholder in the diagnostic process. In 2015, SIDM established the Coalition to Improve Diagnosis, a collaboration of more than 75 leading healthcare organizations. Visit www.improvediagnosis.org to learn more. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.