IRVINE, Calif., Dec. 3, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- President Bill Clinton, leading healthcare professionals and industry executives will convene at the first-ever Patient Safety, Science & Technology Summit, January 13-14, 2013, at the Ritz-Carlton, in Laguna Niguel, Calif.

Each year, more than 200,000 patients die preventable deaths in U.S. hospitals.1,2 At the inaugural Patient Safety, Science & Technology Summit, leading physicians, hospital administrators, medical technology manufacturers and patient advocates will collaborate, commit, and pledge to improve patient safety by taking action on three key areas in 2013:

"Far too many patients suffer preventable harm including receiving care that is disrespectful and undignified," said Dr. Peter Pronovost, MD, Sr. Vice President for Patient Safety and Quality at Johns Hopkins Medicine, and Director of the Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality. "Too often the safety of patients relies on the heroism of clinicians rather than the design of systems.We need to design a healthcare system that eliminates all types of preventable harm; and to do so,clinicians must partner with patients, their families, and technology companies."

In any given hospital room, up to 15 medical devices, including monitors, ventilators and infusion pumps, are connected to a patient, but they don't communicate with each other. For example, patient controlled analgesic pumps that deliver powerful narcotic painkillers where a known side effect is respiratory depression aren't linked to other devices that monitor breathing, leaving patients at potential risk.

This Summit is not just about information, it is about action.

The Patient Safety, Science & Technology Summit will confront large problems with actionable ideas and innovations that can transform the process of care for dramatic improvements in patient safety and cost of care. Some of the best minds in healthcare will engage and collaborate on high-impact patient safety challenges through monitoring and feedback, predicting risk, therapeutic advances, decision support, interoperability, automating and integrating quality measures.

Joe Kiani, Chairman of the Masimo Foundation for Ethics, Innovation & Competition in Healthcare, stated: "We are excited to help gather some of the most passionate advocates of humanity to focus on tangible, actionable recipes for advancing patient safety. The goal is to have zero preventable deaths in hospitals. Attendees will leave with action plans to tackle and eliminate the three challenges discussed above. In addition, we hope through President Clinton's challenge, and encouragement of the world-renowned speakers from Dr. Joshua Adler to World Health Organization special envoy Thomas Zeltner, the health care industry will begin a new level of cooperation to help every patient go home safely after their hospital procedure is over."

In addition to President Clinton, other luminaries participating in the Patient Safety, Science & Technology Summit include:

Joshua Adler, MD, Chief Medical Officer of UCSF Medical Center, UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital, and Medical Director of UCSF Ambulatory Care;

Richard Afable, MD, President and CEO of Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian;

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President Bill Clinton to Address Health Care Leaders at Inaugural Patient Safety, Science & Technology Summit -- a ...