The committee received the 2024 annual report from the New Hampshire Health Care Quality and Patient Safety Commission. Chris Herring, vice president of quality improvement at the Foundation for Healthy Communities and administrator for the commission, and Marie Dawes Diamond, outgoing commission chair, summarized the year's findings.

Herring said the commission — established in 2005 and made permanent in 2019 to provide confidential review of adverse events — saw an increase in adverse events as hospitals returned to normal operations after the federal public‑health emergency but then a quarter‑by‑quarter decline through 2023. "As the hospitals and AHCs returned to normal operations... the number of adverse events decreased quarter over quarter throughout the year," Herring said.

The commission identified pressure injuries as the most frequently reported adverse event and patient falls with injury as the second most common. Commissioners reviewed root‑cause analyses and demographic trends and plan to convene a work group focused on pressure‑injury prevention and best practices.

The report highlighted other quality concerns, including episodes of wrong‑site surgery and the need for rapid‑cycle improvement in hospitals that reported higher rates. Commission members also described engagement with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and a visit from the CMS chief medical officer to discuss federal quality‑measurement priorities.

Committee members asked whether long‑term care is included in the report; associate commissioner Chris Antonello said reporting and licensing for long‑term care facilities are driven by different statutes (referencing licensing under RSA 151) and that the department's certification and licensing unit handles nursing facilities’ oversight. Members asked for benchmarking against similar states and clearer executive‑summary flags for serious concerns.

The commission said it will continue quarterly updates to the committee and work with hospitals and partners to reduce adverse events further.