2025 SAFER-8 Clinician Communication

A Resource Developed by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology

The Clinician Communication SAFER Guide identifies recommended safety practices for communication among clinicians, care teams, and patients. This guide focuses on ensuring reliable electronic communication using EHR related messaging systems (e.g., SMS text messages, secure text messages, and EHR-based clinician-to-clinician messages) to facilitate care transitions such as discharges and referrals, and patient portal-related communication (such as appointment requests, result reporting to patients, and clinician-to-patient communication). Additionally, this guide covers the implementation of monitoring systems to identify opportunities for communication improvement.

Communication breakdowns are a common contributing factor in preventable adverse events. Optimal design, implementation, and use of EHR communication functionality can help ensure safe, transparent, and efficient information exchange among clinicians, support staff, ancillary services, patients, and their healthcare proxies.