Betsy Lehman Center seeks permanent trust authority, interagency data‑sharing clarification

BOSTON — Barbara Fain, director of the Betsy Lehman Center for Patient Safety, told the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing that the center supports technical statutory changes in House Bill 11408 and Senate Bill 843 to codify a permanent trust account and clarify interagency data‑sharing authorities.

Fain said the Betsy Lehman Center — an independent state agency affiliated with the Center for Health Information and Analysis (CHIA) — leads efforts to reduce preventable medical harm. She described the bills as streamlined technical amendments: clarifying authority to facilitate appropriate interagency sharing of data related to health‑care safety and authorizing a permanent trust account so the center can more readily accept federal and private funding that supports its mission.

Fain said the center has periodically used a temporary trust established by the Executive Office for Administration and Finance but A&F requested statutory authority to make the trust permanent. "Enactment of the bills before you would do just that, and really only that," she said, adding the ability to accept private foundation funding has special significance in the current climate.

Committee members thanked her for the testimony and had no questions; no vote was taken at the hearing.