On December 9, 2016, the journal Patient Safety & Quality in Healthcare published an article by Susan Carr, reflecting on the 40 years CRICO has served as malpractice insurance provider for Harvard medical institutions and their affiliate programs. (Full article: https://www.rmf.harvard.edu/About-CRICO/Media/In-the-News/News/2016/December/CRICO-Celebrates-40-Years-in-Patient-Safety)

On February 27, 2017, Jeff Cooper, Executive Director Emeritus of the Center for Medical Simulation, submitted a letter to the editors of Patient Safety & Quality in Healthcare, to address some critical pieces of the history of CRICO’s leadership in patient safety, which he felt were missing from the original article.

Thank you for giving visibility to the story of CRICO’s story of leadership in patient safety. It is worthy of praise and emulation. Yet, I think there are critical pieces of the story that perhaps space didn’t permit telling, although I think they are among the most important. Then again, I have a bias because I was there . . .

The other aspects of the CRICO patient safety story are important examples of how a forward-thinking insurance company can achieve a win-win-win-win (patient, provider, hospital, insurer). But, I believe it was the leadership of the HMS anesthesia Executive Committee that led to one of CRICO’s earliest and greatest successes, and that enabled the continued concentration on patient safety.

Dr. Cooper’s full letter, along with references, can be found at the Patient Safety & Quality in Healthcare website: http://www.psqh.com/analysis/letter-to-the-editor-cricos-patient-safety-leadership-a-missing-piece/