About SAFER California Healthcare

The purpose of SAFER California Healthcare

The Strategic Alliance For Error Reduction in California Healthcare (SAFER) grew out of a series of meetings held from 1999 to 2001 to address patient safety issues by the Medical Directors of the University of California system, i.e. San Francisco, Davis, Los Angeles, Irvine, and San Diego. The Directors recognized that quality improvement was universally agreed upon as being a serious and common concern of all five (5) campuses, and saw the appropriateness of a formal infrastructure to coordinate and share previously independent patient safety efforts. The Directors rightly foresaw that there was much that they could do collectively that they could not do as independently-acting sole institutions; SAFER California Healthcare was born of that consensus and is now charged with the following purposes:

To build a well-functioning, multidisciplinary team with broad representation of stakeholder groups, including patients and families served by the healthcare delivery system
To strengthen the Alliance's research capacity and collaborative relationships to conduct research, over time developing into a Center of Excellence
To develop, implement and disseminate model interdisciplinary health provider continuing education programs and graduate program curricula on patient safety
To provide technical assistance and expertise to community healthcare facilities throughout California
To develop and implement university-wide projects that promote the sharing of information systems resources and data on medical error
To translate into practice evidence-based recommendations for improving patient safety, including patient education strategies, and evaluate the impact of these interventions on patient health outcomes.

Who we are

The five University of California Medical Centers at San Francisco, Davis, Los Angeles, Irvine, and San Diego form the right arm of SAFER California Healthcare. Each University currently serves a diverse and complex patient population, provides undergraduate and graduate education for medical and allied health

professional students, has strong community outreach programs, and performs a broad spectrum of research, ranging from the very basic sciences to health services research. In addition to the five campuses, SAFER California Healthcare is also supported by the University of California Office of the President, which has helped to organize and prepare much of the initial work in setting up the infrastructure for the Alliance.

Besides these five medical centers, their affiliated professional schools, and the Office of the President, there is also a broad representation of partners holding seats on the SAFER California Healthcare Advisory Board. These organizations include:

California Medical Association
California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD)

Advisory Board Members PDF, Executive Committee PDF, Planning Leadership PDF

Complete History and Overview PDF