title: Advancing Medication Safety: Establishing a National Action Plan for Adverse Drug Event Prevention.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Adverse drug events (ADEs) are important contributors to preventable morbidity and mortality, comprising one third of all hospital adverse events. In response to growing evidence detailing the high prevalence of ADEs, particularly among vulnerable older adults, Congress requested that the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) convene a Federal Interagency Steering Committee to establish a National Action Plan to focus on ADE prevention. In August 2014, the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion released the final version of the National Action Plan for Adverse Drug Event Prevention. The Action Plan directly supports the goals of the HHS Strategic Plan and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act by providing guidance on tracking and preventing ADEs, as well as describing evidence-based tools and resources to enhance medication safety. ADE ACTION PLAN CONTENT: The Federal Interagency Steering Committee focused the Action Plan on ADEs that are clinically significant, account for the greatest number of measurable harms as identified by using existing surveillance tools, and are largely preventable. As such, the decision was made to target three medication classes: anticoagulants, diabetes agents (insulin and oral hypoglycemic agents), and opioids. The Action Plan is organized around four key areas: surveillance; evidence-based prevention; payment, policy incentives, and oversight; and research opportunities to advance medication safety.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  One measure of the ADE Action Plan's success will be the wider dissemination of information and educational resources to providers and patients (or consumers) regarding the risks associated with medications. Future Action Plan iterations are likely to consider other high-priority medication classes and update the recommendations.
authors.affiliation: Division of Health Care Quality, Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Washington, DC, USA.
authors.forename: Yael
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Harris
authors.forename: Dale J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Mishale
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mistry
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: York
authors.forename: Tisha K
authors.initials: TK
authors.lastname: Johnson
mesh_terms: D016907:Adverse Drug Reaction Reporting Systems / Q000458:organization & administration; D014487:Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, U.S. / Q000458:organization & administration; D003266:Continuity of Patient Care / Q000458:organization & administration; D064420:Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006266:Health Education / Q000458:organization & administration; D006801:Humans; D007256:Information Systems / Q000458:organization & administration; D007373:Interinstitutional Relations; D008508:Medication Errors / Q000517:prevention & control; D062486:Public Health Surveillance / Q000379:methods; D014481:United States; D014483:United States Dept. of Health and Human Services / Q000458:organization & administration*