About This Session
This session will examine the critical role of patient and family peer support programs as a core component of a comprehensive patient safety strategy following harm events. While structured support systems have been established for healthcare providers, less attention has been given to sustainable models that support patients and families after adverse events. We will explore how implementing a patient- and family-centered peer support program strengthens transparency, promotes healing, reinforces a culture of safety, and advances organizational learning. The session will also address anticipated barriers to implementation and practical strategies to overcome them.
Learning Objectives
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Analyze the role of patient and family peer support programs in advancing patient safety efforts following harm events.
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Evaluate the impact of structured peer support on transparency, healing, organizational learning, and the development of a culture of safety.
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Develop an implementation framework that addresses common barriers and incorporates patient safety principles into a sustainable patient and family peer support program.
Speakers
Steve Meth, JD, MS
Vice President, Chief Patient Experience Officer, Johns Hopkins Health System, Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality
Steve Meth, JD, MS, joined Johns Hopkins Medicine (JHM) in June 2023 as vice president and chief patient experience officer. He leads patient and family-centered care across JHM.
In this role, Meth works directly with entity executive teams to assess and create change at all levels. He oversees the design, implementation, and evaluation of programs that facilitate continuous performance improvement informed by the lived experiences of patients, families, and front-line clinicians. Meth also partners with information technology leaders to ensure care meets and matches each patient's unique needs as they navigate increasingly complicated, personalized care.
Prior to joining JHM, Meth held progressive leadership roles that advanced patient and family-centered care in academic, community, and large multisite health systems. Skilled at building cross-functional coalitions to improve culture and decrease health disparities, he served as chief experience officer for both Nuvance Health and Prime Healthcare.
Carole Hemmelgarn, MS
Co- Founder Patients for Patient Safety, US, Senior Director Education, MedStar Health, Program Director, Executive Master’s in Clinical Quality, Safety, and Leadership, Georgetown University
Carole Hemmelgarn, MS, MS, is the Program Director for the Executive Master’s program in Clinical Quality, Safety & Leadership at Georgetown University, and the Senior Director of Education at the MedStar Institute for Quality & Safety. Carole received a master’s degree in Patient Safety Leadership from the University of Illinois at Chicago and a second master’s degree in Health Care Ethics from Creighton University. She sits on the Board of Directors for Leapfrog, the Board of Directors of Children’s Hospital Solutions for Patient Safety, the Board of Quality, Safety, and Experience at Children’s Hospital Colorado, and the National Quality Forum Stakeholder Advisory Council. She is also a founding member of Patients for Patient Safety US.
Kayla J. Sutton, MHA
Executive Director, Patient Safety & Quality, Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital
Kayla Sutton, MHA, is the executive director of patient safety and quality at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital, leading the patient safety and quality, infection prevention, and performance excellence teams in working towards achieving zero harm to patients and staff and fostering a culture of continuous learning and improvement. Previously, Kayla served as chief of staff for administration, leading high-level projects that involved cross-departmental collaboration supporting organizational excellence and governance. She served as the hospital's executive liaison to the Board of Trustees and as a key team member for numerous regulatory activities. Kayla joined JHACH in 2018 as program manager for the Maternal, Fetal, and Neonatal Institute. Prior to that, she was the senior planning and business development consultant at St. Louis Children’s Hospital and a practice manager for BJC Healthcare Medical Group. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Health Information Management and a Master of Health Administration from St. Louis University.
Dr. Guttman is the principal architect of Jefferson Health’s Safety Management System, a pioneering framework that integrates resiliency engineering, applied human factors, and modern safety science into clinical operations. This system earned the ECRI Safety Excellence Award and serves as a foundational piece of the model for the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s (IHI) careOS redesign service line. His work translating human factors and resiliency engineering in healthcare, as a new paradigm to advance patient safety, has been featured in major media outlets, including the New England Journal of Medicine Catalyst in Dec 2025, The Wall Street Journal, Becker’s Hospital Review, and Healthcare Tech Outlook.
