Betsy Lehman Center for Patient Safety

08/20/2026

Providing safe, patient-centered care starts with having the right information at the right time.

This article from the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority explores how documentation and communication practices can affect care for transgender and gender-diverse patients. It offers important insights on reducing risk, improving clinical decision-making, and building a more inclusive healthcare experience.

Read more: https://buff.ly/tudvj1Y

07/29/2026

Understanding all the factors that may lead to maternal death requires more than medical records alone.

Brooke LaMere, MPH of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health discusses how family interviews provide critical context, helping the Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Review Committee develop more accurate findings and targeted recommendations to improve maternal health outcomes.

Read more: https://buff.ly/PRzGgft

06/24/2026

Access to mental health support remains a challenge for many healthcare workers.

The The Emotional PPE Project was founded to reduce barriers healthcare workers face in seeking, accessing, or receiving emotional and mental health support. Since 2020, the organization has supported thousands of healthcare professionals while advocating for change across the system.

In addition to its advocacy efforts, the Emotional PPE Project curates practical training resources focused on burnout, well-being, and creating supportive work environments.

Explore the training resources: https://buff.ly/dsnKZIL

06/18/2026

Simple shifts, like using gender-neutral terms, avoiding assumptions about relationships, and reflecting diverse identities, can help ensure more people see themselves in the materials designed to support their care.

The goal is not to create separate resources, but to make existing ones more inclusive and accessible for all.

Read more about making patient-facing resources more inclusive for LGBTQ+ communities in this blog from Institute for Healthcare Improvement - IHI: https://buff.ly/pEywnP1

06/05/2026

The Betsy Lehman Center’s peer support team is hosting a virtual session with Daniel Saddawi-Konefka, M.D., anesthesiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital and co-founder of The Emotional PPE Project

Dr. Saddawi-Konefka will examine why many clinicians delay or avoid seeking support and discuss practical approaches organizations can use to reduce stigma and improve access to peer and professional support.

Date and time: June 16, 2026 | 12 – 1 PM
Location: Virtual

Register here: https://buff.ly/NicCDAv

05/26/2026

The Support Report is the Betsy Lehman Center’s email newsletter with featured stories and resources aimed at strengthening peer support across Massachusetts.

In the latest issue, read about how Care Dimensions is partnering with the Virtual Peer Support Network, see upcoming events and training, and access featured literature from our peer support research library.

Read the full newsletter here: https://buff.ly/DGeXszu

05/14/2026

Care Dimensions is the first hospice and palliative care organization to partner with the Virtual Peer Support Network. By investing in peer support, Care Dimensions is helping ensure their clinicians and staff have meaningful resources to connect, reflect, and care for one another.

Read more about how they’re building a culture of support: https://buff.ly/86HEiPC

05/11/2026

The Betsy Lehman Center was pleased to join the recent Massachusetts Association of Healthy Plans Policy Forum to talk about our pilot of Automated Adverse Event Monitoring – a technology-enabled approach to reducing preventable patient harm and driving down health care costs.

Experts from the Betsy Lehman Center, Pascal Metrics Inc., and the Office of the Inspector General talked about the need for timely, reliable statewide patient safety data. Senator Paul Feeney, Representative Meghan Kilcoyne, patient advocate Michelle Anderson and Dana Siegal from Coverys discussed the impact on patients and families across the Commonwealth, and the opportunity for our state’s hospitals to lead on health care safety.

With nearly 180,000 patient harm events annually in Massachusetts, this approach could prevent thousands of incidents and save hundreds of millions in health care costs.

Read more in State HouseNews Service: https://buff.ly/hM90bjm

A new endeavor to better track patient safety issues and overlooked medical errors at Massachusetts hospitals could lead to hundreds of millions of dollars in savings, including for MassHealth that

04/10/2026

Birth doulas play an important role in supporting parents and improving maternal health outcomes. In 2022, the Betsy Lehman Center released a report on the impact of doulas that helped inform the state’s decision to cover doula support services under MassHealth.

Now, Massachusetts is developing a certification process that could pave the way for more private insurers to begin covering doula services, too – helping to expand access and reduce maternal health disparities statewide.

Learn more about the certification process that launches this spring: https://buff.ly/GNYxR9s

And read the Center’s report: https://buff.ly/VQoAR61

04/06/2026

Registration is now open for the Betsy Lehman Center’s 12th Annual CARe Forum.

This year’s forum will feature presentations, case simulations, and panel discussions focused on communication and resolution programs. The program includes a keynote address by Leilani Schweitzer, Founder of Comms Corps and co‑creator of the Certified Medical Harm Communicator (CMHC) training, on building systems grounded in compassion and care after harm. The agenda also includes expert‑led discussions on navigating uncertainty and learning following adverse events.

Date: Friday, May 29, 2026 | 9:30 a.m.
Location: 501 Boylston Street, 5th Floor, Boston, MA (in person) or Zoom (virtual)

Register to attend in person or online:
https://buff.ly/40z5RQI