In December 2024, health care leaders and stakeholders gathered for the Leapfrog Annual Meeting, participating in an engaging session titled "Conversations to Transform Tomorrow." This interactive event explored critical questions about the future of patient safety and quality care, while also discussing how Leapfrog can further enhance its impact in these areas. Below, we highlight the key insights and innovative ideas shared during the session.
How to Involve Patients More Effectively in Their Own Care
A major focus of the 2024 discussions was finding ways to more effectively involve patients in their own care, thereby enhancing both safety and the overall quality of care. Several strategies were proposed:
- Translation and Communication Services: Ensuring that translation services, including sign language, are easily available so that all patients, regardless of language or communication needs, can actively participate in their care.
- Nurse Staffing: Adequate nurse staffing is essential for facilitating patient engagement, as it ensures nurses have the time to educate patients, facilitate shared decision-making, and provide personalized care.
- Shared Decision-Making: Encouraging health care providers and patients to collaborate on decisions, ensuring that patients feel empowered and well-informed about their treatment options.
- Bedside Handoffs: Implementing bedside handoffs during nursing shift changes to improve communication and allow patients and family members to ask questions directly.
- Clear and Simple Education: Providing patient education at a 5th-grade reading level, using user-friendly formats like videos and graphics on tablets to ensure that all patients can understand their care instructions.
- Involving Caregivers and Family Members: Actively including caregivers and family members in discussions and decisions to ensure patients have the necessary support.
- Encouraging Open Dialogue: Providers were encouraged to ask open-ended questions and encourage patients to ask questions, fostering a more collaborative environment where the patient’s voice is heard.
Changes in Health Care Post-COVID-19: The New Norms
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, several changes have become commonplace in health care, with a significant focus on flexibility, technology, and patient experience:
- Telehealth: Telehealth has become a central part of health care delivery, in various forms, allowing patients to access care remotely, including consultations and follow-up appointments.
- Remote Work: Many administrative roles, such as schedulers and office staff, have transitioned to remote work, reducing in-person interactions and increasing efficiency.
- Employee Wellness: A greater emphasis on employee wellness has emerged, although it was noted that more concrete actions may still be needed to address health care worker burnout.
- At-Home Care: There is a growing trend of patients managing more of their health care at home, from monitoring chronic conditions to using health apps, with an increase in patient self-management.
- Increased ER Visits: There has been a notable rise in patients seeking care at emergency rooms for a broader range of issues, often due to convenience or fear of missing critical care.
- Enhanced Doctor-Patient Communication: A critical focus was placed on improving communication, with doctors now spending more time with patients—whether to explain conditions more thoroughly or to listen actively to patient concerns. New tools like AI in MyChart were also introduced to help patients better understand their doctor’s notes in plain language.
- Family Presence: Efforts are being made to reverse restrictions on family members in hospitals, recognizing that trusted family members play an important role in supporting patients’ understanding and decision-making.
Building a Culture of Safety in Health Care
One of the most discussed topics in 2024 was what it takes for a health care facility to have a true culture of safety. Several characteristics were identified:
- Continuous Learning and Staff Support: Encouraging regular check-ins with staff, treating mistakes as learning opportunities, and providing ongoing training are critical to fostering a safety-first mindset.
- Leadership Commitment: Facility leadership and boards that prioritize patient safety set the tone for a culture of safety, ensuring it is embedded throughout the organization.
- Transparency and Reporting: A culture that values transparency, where staff and patients are encouraged to report mistakes or near misses, was seen as a fundamental aspect of patient safety. Facilities that report to Leapfrog were noted as demonstrating accountability and a commitment to improvement.
- Patient and Family Involvement: Including patients and their families in decision-making processes was emphasized as a key component of a safety culture. Empowering patients to ask questions and share concerns strengthens the safety and effectiveness of care.
Trends Shaping the Future of Outpatient Surgery
Looking ahead, the future of outpatient surgery was discussed, with several key trends emerging:
- Increased Use of AI: Artificial intelligence was identified as a key tool for improving both the efficiency and precision of outpatient surgeries. AI is expected to play a central role in preoperative planning, diagnostics, and postoperative care.
- Staffing Challenges: As outpatient surgery becomes more widespread, concerns were raised about potential staffing shortages. With many patients now being sent home the same day after surgery, additional support will be necessary, particularly for vulnerable groups such as the elderly who may require at-home care.
- Robotic Surgery: The use of robotic surgery continues to grow, offering patients minimally invasive options with faster recovery times and improved outcomes.
- Patient Experience Expectations: As outpatient procedures become more common, patients are increasingly focused on their experience. This includes not only the quality of the medical care but also the overall experience, from scheduling to post-operative follow-up.
- Surveys on Patient Experience: There is a growing trend toward using patient experience surveys to gather feedback and improve services. Ensuring that patients feel heard and their experiences are taken seriously is critical to ongoing improvement in outpatient care.
As we move forward into 2025, the discussions from Leapfrog’s 2024 Annual Meeting will continue to guide efforts to improve patient safety, care quality, and the overall health care experience. By focusing on patient involvement, effective communication, and leveraging new technologies, Leapfrog is helping to shape a health care system that is safer, more inclusive, and more responsive to the needs of all patients. Thank you to everyone who participated in this valuable discussion. We hope you’ll join us on December 16, 2025 for our next Annual Meeting.