The Triad That Defines High-Quality Care: Quality, Safety, and Patient Experience

J.R. Labbe, CEC
Co-Founder, CCO, Executive Coach
CSE Leadership, LLC

Nicole Kirchhoffer DNP, MS, RN, CEN, CPXP, FPCC, NEA-BC
Patient Experience Officer / Assistant Vice President
Maimonides Medical Center

Sharif Abdelhamid, MA, CPXP
Chief Patient Experience Officer
Denver Health

Lara Burnside, MHA, CEC
Co-Founder, CXO, Executive Coach
CSE Leadership

When you think about high-quality care, what comes to mind first? Clinical outcomes? Infection rates? Readmissions?

Or is it something more personal? How care feels; whether it’s safe, compassionate, and centered on you? 

Ask patients and care partners, and you’ll hear the same truth: outcomes and experience aren’t separate. The best care is both effective and compassionate and grounded in safety and human connection.  

In publicly supported healthcare systems, the triad of quality, safety, and patient experience isn’t a luxury – it’s a mandate. Each element reinforces the others, shaping the equity, trust, and sustainability of care that society invests in and patients depend upon. 

Quality reflects equitable access and evidence-based treatment plans that lead to meaningful outcomes for every population served.  

Safety demands that we strive for zero harm in every interaction and intervention.  

Patient experience captures how care feels and how systems, teams, and processes effectively translate into human connection and trust. 

At the 2025 CIHQ Accreditation & Regulatory Summit, healthcare leaders from across the country were asked a simple question:  

When you think about what defines high-quality care, what matters most—to you as a patient or a professional? 

Nearly 70% said clinical outcomes and patient experience carry equal weight. 

That finding underscores a powerful truth: high-quality care cannot exist without both safety and the patient’s lived experience.  

It’s why healthcare has evolved beyond “patient satisfaction” to something far more meaningful: patient perception of care. Assessment tools like CAHPS, PROMs (Patient-Reported Outcome Measures), and PREMs (Patient-Reported Experience Measures) aren’t just data points; they’re roadmaps guiding care teams to deliver deeply human experiences through clinically sound, safety-first practices.  

In public health systems, accountability isn’t abstract, it’s shared and visible. Measuring all three dimensions ensures care is not only effective, but also equitable and trustworthy.  

Including the patient’s voice in every stage of care isn’t just “nice to have,” it’s essential. When patients understand and participate in their care, outcomes improve. Yet, too often, our communication gets lost in translation. 

With 54% of U.S. adults reading below a sixth-grade level and 21% classified as illiterate (National Literacy Institute, 2024), simplifying and humanizing our communication is a clinical and moral imperative. 

One step many organizations still miss is helping clinicians understand what the scores mean and how they can influence them.  

As authors highlight in the PXJ article, “Current PROM and PREM use in health system performance measurement: Still a way to go” adoption is increasing, but integration remains inconsistent. The research highlights three key lessons:

1. PROMs and PREMs provide a voice to the patient and a bridge between system performance and patient experience. 
2. Implementation takes intention. Feedback loops, workflow integration, and clinician education must be built, not assumed. 
3. These measures connect the triad. PROMs and PREMs tell us what was done (quality), how safely it was done (safety), and how it was perceived (experience). 

Yet, emailing dashboards filled with “poor” scores and negative comments rarely inspires improvement. Instead, we should leverage these insights to recognize what’s working, fuel meaningful change, and embed learning into everyday clinical practice.  

 Spotlight story: A clinical care example of when the triad of safety, quality and safety are present. 

A 25-year-old woman is admitted to the labor and delivery unit in the hospital in active labor. The obstetrician communicates clearly and respectfully to the patient and her family, while supporting her birth plan—enhancing the patient experience.  

The team employs evidence-based clinical guidelines for labor management, applying a fetal heart rate monitor to the patient—supporting quality care.  

The care team works collaboratively to identify risk factors that can contribute to any potential complications, such as postpartum hemorrhage, maintaining proper infection control, and verifying medications—ensuring patient safety. 

The patient delivers the baby safely, feeling involved throughout her birthing experience and fully informed throughout her care journey—demonstrating how patient experience, quality, and safety work together in obstetric care. 

When we measure all three aspects of care, the conversation shifts – from criticism to curiosity, from frustration to progress. 

In the end, what we’re measuring isn’t, “Is this doctor better than that one?” It’s something far more meaningful: Did this organization make me feel seen, heard, respected, cared for, and listened to? 

That’s the foundation of trust.  

That’s the essence of safety.  

That’s the true measure of quality – and the birthplace of every great patient experience.  

About the Essential Hospitals Workgroup of the Community Council

The Community Council convenes the diverse segments of the Institute community to engage in strategic review and feedback, address and plan for specific segment needs, and identify opportunities for expanded connection and collaboration. The Essential Hospitals Workgroup was launched to explore and tackle the challenges unique to safety net hospitals and share perspectives that can be applied in most other hospital settings.