From Framework to Action: How Inovalon Experts Are Helping Hospitals Build Safer Systems
By Inovalon
As healthcare organizations face growing pressure to reduce harm, meet regulatory expectations, and build more resilient systems, the need for structured, proactive safety strategies has never been greater.
In this interview, we spoke with three senior clinical experts from Inovalon’s Quality & Safety team: Karen Biesack, Bridget Evans, and Heather Nelson, who help hospitals turn the Patient Safety Structural Measures (PSSM) framework into real-world action. Drawing from decades of frontline and leadership experience in patient safety, risk management, and quality improvement, they shared what it takes to move beyond compliance and build safety systems that truly prevent harm.
Q: What structural measures can organizations rely on to evaluate their safety infrastructure from a risk management perspective?
Karen Biesack: “The PSSM framework is a strong starting point, and it gives organizations a structured lens to assess where they are and where they need to grow,” Karen explained. She emphasized the importance of five core domains: leadership commitment, strategic planning, safety culture, accountability and transparency, and patient and family engagement.
“When these five areas are supported by real-time data and technology, safety shifts from a checklist to a continuous improvement system,” she said. “It’s about identifying harm earlier, acting faster, and ultimately improving both patient outcomes and staff experience.”
Q: How can structural safety measures like surveillance and alerts help teams act before harm occurs?
Bridget Evans: “When near-real time surveillance and alerts are embedded in everyday workflows, safety becomes proactive,” said Bridget. “You’re not waiting for an incident report, you’re detecting deterioration, infection trends, or medication risks in near-real time and acting immediately.”
She added that culture is just as important as technology. “The best systems fall flat without trust, ownership, and clear reporting structures. But when those are in place, surveillance becomes a powerful tool for driving real-time learning and response.”
Q: What structural elements are essential for an effective clinical surveillance program?
Heather Nelson: “It starts with leadership buy-in and ends with a strong safety culture,” Heather shared. She outlined five essentials: executive alignment, integrated real-time data, workflow-friendly alerts, defined accountability, and a culture where people trust and act on what the system reveals.
“When the right systems are in place, it turns insight into prevention” she said.
Q: How can customizable safety action plans help manage regulatory risk?
Karen Biesack: “Customizable action plans have helped us move from reactive responses to targeted, proactive improvement,” Karen noted. “We can tailor plans based on root causes, specific event types, or known compliance gaps.”
That flexibility, she said, enables faster alignment with CMS and Joint Commission expectations. “More importantly, it creates accountability. Regulators want to see that we’re learning from events and doing something about them.”
Q: What structural gaps have you encountered when expanding surveillance capabilities?
Bridget Evans: “Data fragmentation is a major hurdle. When clinical, operational, and ancillary systems don’t connect, you’re only seeing part of the picture,” Bridget explained.
She also pointed to workflow alignment as a common gap. “Surveillance tools can generate insights, but if alerts aren’t timed or delivered effectively, they get ignored or cause alert fatigue.”
To address these issues, the team has focused on improving integration and building closed-loop workflows. “We’ve seen major gains in our ability to intervene faster and standardize responses, especially when accountability is built into the system,” she added.
Q: How can the PSSM framework help organizations evolve their safety strategy in the years ahead?
Heather Nelson: “The real value of the PSSM framework is that it’s future-facing,” said Heather. “It helps organizations move beyond regulatory checkboxes to build a resilient, high-reliability safety culture.”
She noted that each domain, from leadership to family engagement, encourages deeper integration and adaptability. “It’s not just about today’s standards, it’s about building the structure to respond to whatever comes next, whether that’s new CMS requirements or emerging patient safety risks.”
Together, Karen, Bridget, and Heather show how the PSSM framework, when supported by near-real time data, frontline insight, and leadership commitment, can help organizations create systems that not only meet expectations but exceed them.
Learn more on how the PSSM framework can elevate your safety program. Visit www.inovalon.com