Partnership for Patients

Find the official homepage of the Partnership for Patients initiative at partnershipforpatients.cms.gov.

The Partnership for Patients initiative is a public-private partnership working to improve the quality, safety and affordability of health care for all Americans. Physicians, nurses, hospitals, employers, patients and their advocates, and the federal and State governments have joined together to form the Partnership for Patients.

Initiative Details

The Partnership for Patients and its participating hospitals are focused on making hospital care safer, more reliable, and less costly through the achievement of two goals:

Making Care Safer. Keep patients from getting injured or sicker. Decrease preventable hospital-acquired conditions by 40 percent compared to 2010.
Improving Care Transitions. Help patients heal without complication. Decrease preventable complications during a transition from one care setting to another so that hospital readmissions would be reduced by 20 percent compared to 2010

The preliminary evaluation report (PDF) and appendix (PDF) provides insights on progress towards achieving these goals.

Key Elements of the Partnership

The Hospital Engagement Networks. Hospitals across the country are critical partners in this work. Through the Partnership for Patients, 17 State, regional, national and hospital system organizations serve as Hospital Engagement Networks. These organizations help identify solutions already working to reduce hospital-acquired conditions, and work to spread them to other hospitals and health care providers. Learn more about the 17 Hospital Engagement Networks.

On February 11, 2015 the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) posted a request for proposals for Hospital Engagement Network contracts to continue the success achieved in improving patient safety.

On September 25, 2015 the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) awarded contracts to 17 Hospital Engagement Networks as Round 2 of the Partnership for Patients begins.

The Community-Based Care Transitions Program. Another major Partnership for Patients network includes sites awarded to participate in the Community-Based Care Transitions Program. These sites each constitute a collaborative community effort including community-based organizations such as social service providers or Area Agencies on Aging, multiple hospital partners, nursing homes, home health agencies, pharmacies, primary care practices, and other types of health and social service providers serving patients in that community. Through the program, these sites are testing models for improving care transitions from the hospital to other settings and for reducing readmissions for high-risk Medicare beneficiaries. Learn more about the CCTP.

Patient and Family Engagement. The relationship between health care professionals and their patients and families is critically important to the Partnership. It is a key part of keeping patients from getting injured or sicker in the hospital and helping patients heal without complication through improved transitions across health care settings and reduced readmissions. Learn more about the importance of patient engagement to the Partnership.

Additional information about the Partnership for Patients can be found via the interim update on 2013 Annual Hospital-Acquired Condition Rate and Estimates of Cost Savings and Deaths Averted from 2010 to 2013.

Learn more about the Partnership for Patients at partnershipforpatients.cms.gov.