In late November 2021, NCPS and the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) CAPTURE Falls program entered into a collaborative agreement. What is UNMC CAPTURE Falls? Collaboration and Proactive Teamwork Used to Reduce (CAPTURE) Falls program is a quality improvement and research initiative to improve inpatient fall risk reduction programs in Nebraska Critical Access Hospitals. It began in 2012 under the leadership of Katherine Jones, PT, PhD, current President of the NCPS Board of Directors, while she was on faculty in the UNMC College of Allied Health Professions. It has continued since her retirement from UNMC under the guidance of Dawn Venema, PT, PhD, Victoria Kennel, PhD, and Anne Skinner, MS, RHIA, also faculty within the UNMC College of Allied Health Professions. The CAPTURE Falls program has been funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (2012-2017) and the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services Office of Rural Health Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility Program (2015-present). To date, over 30 Nebraska Critical Access Hospitals have participated in the CAPTURE Falls program. Why is this new relationship between NCPS and UNMC important? There are several important benefits of this new relationship: 1) It extends protections of the Federal Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005 to CAPTURE Falls and the hospitals involved in that program. Under the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act, federal confidentiality and privilege protections apply to certain information (defined as “Patient Safety Work Product”) developed when a provider works with a Patient Safety Organization (PSO). With certain exceptions, Patient Safety Work Product is confidential and not subject to Federal, State, or local subpoena or discovery; may not be admitted as evidence in criminal, civil, administrative, or disciplinary proceedings; and is not subject to the Federal Freedom of Information Act or similar State and local laws. Patient Safety Work Product includes information developed by providers or PSOs when they work together to improve quality and patient safety. Under this new agreement, UNMC CAPTURE Falls will function as a component of NCPS PSO, extending the federal privilege and confidentiality protections to the Patient Safety Work Product that is developed through hospitals’ participation in the CAPTURE Falls program. 2) It will reduce reporting burden for hospitals who report both to CAPTURE Falls and NCPS, because fall events submitted to CAPTURE Falls can be considered submitted to NCPS. 3) It will enhance knowledge about fall events reported to CAPTURE Falls and/or NCPS as the organizations work together to support providers in their efforts to reduce harm from falls. What are the next steps? Hospitals who are involved in CAPTURE Falls will receive additional communication from UNMC about this collaboration soon
