Shining a Light: Safer Health Care Through Transparency
This report offers recommendations for greater transparency — between clinicians and patients, among clinicians within an organization, between organizations, and between organizations and the public — that will lead to improved outcomes, fewer medical errors, more satisfied patients, and lowered costs of care.
Highlights
- Overarching barriers to transparency
- Four domains of transparency: Between clinicians and patients, among clinicians within an organization, between organizations, and between organizations and the public
- Recommendations for change
- Case studies of best practices in transparency
National Patient Safety Foundation’s Lucian Leape Institute. Shining a Light: Safer Health Care Through Transparency. Boston: National Patient Safety Foundation; 2015.
Defining transparency as “the free flow of information that is open to the scrutiny of others,” this report offers sweeping recommendations to bring greater transparency in four domains: between clinicians and patients; among clinicians within an organization; between organizations; and between organizations and the public.
The report, produced by the NPSF Lucian Leape Institute Roundtable on Transparency, makes the case that true transparency will result in improved outcomes, fewer medical errors, more satisfied patients, and lowered costs of care. Case studies are included to document how transparency is practiced in each of the domains.