Harkness Project Title: Patient Safety in Primary Care
Placement: Kaiser Permanente
Mentor: Murray N. Ross, Ph.D., Vice President, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, and Director, Kaiser Permanente Institute for Health Policy
Biography at time of Harkness Fellowship: Antoinette De Bont, Ph.D., a 2010-11 Harkness Fellow in Health Care Policy and Practice, is associate professor at the Institute of Health Policy and Management, Erasmus University Rotterdam. Her research has included work on the use of comparative effectiveness/cost-effectiveness research to shape the benefit basket, integration of health networks to deliver seamless care, the use of registries and databases, and the role of insurers in health governance. Additionally, in this position, she has led a project to develop a research agenda for a new program on patient safety for the Netherlands Organization of Health Research and Innovation. At the university, De Bont is also board member of the Department of Health Care Government and chair of the Bachelor and Master of Health Sciences programs. Previously, she served as policy officer in the Inspectorate of Social Affaires (Zoetermeer), where she led projects on: the use of guidelines for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and other illnesses that cannot be objectively diagnosed; the way in which people are assessed for disability pension eligibility; and an ethnographic study of occupational physicians. De Bont is author of 20 peer-reviewed publications, including articles in the journals Health Policy and the European Journal of Public Health. She holds a Ph.D. and M.A. from the University of Maastricht.
Project: De Bont’s project aimed to explore the concept of patient safety in primary care, with a focus on how it is being defined, institutionalized, and regulated. She conducted a case study on patient safety in primary care at a large integrated delivery system, combining analysis of dominant discourses and organizational settings with detailed study of specific projects and tools. Interviews were conducted with persons at different levels of the organization, and key meetings observed. De Bont also undertook secondary analysis of transcripts from focus groups with patients about their experience with safety risks in ambulatory care.
Career Activity since Fellowship
- Associate Professor, Institute for Health Policy and Management, Erasmus University Rotterdam (Updated July 2013)
Current Position: (updated 7/2017)
- Endowed Professor, Institute for Health Policy and Management, Erasmus University Rotterdam
Email: [email protected]