This morning in Washington, D.C., ProPublica is pleased to host a convening of doctors, nurses, patient safety advocates and other health care leaders to discuss the problem of patient harm and solutions for improving health care quality.

For those unable to join us in person, this event will be webcast live today starting at 10 a.m. Watch here, and follow the conversation online using #ProPubLive.

Entitled “ProPublica Live: A Conversation on Transparency and Patient Safety,” and held at the Kaiser Family Foundation’s Barbara Jordan Conference Center, this forum was prompted by the response to our Surgeon Scorecard database. The searchable tool reports the complication rates for surgeons nationwide, by name and by the hospital where they practice. For the first time, Surgeon Scorecard lets patients weigh the track records of doctors on common elective procedures – and it has sparked considerable debate.

Designed to bring together diverse stakeholders to hash out the causes of patient harm, whether greater transparency might improve patient safety, and the data that patients should be allowed to access, “A Conversation on Transparency on Patient Safety” will feature experts with a range of views. Participants include:

• Nancy Foster, American Hospital Association Vice President for Quality and Patient Safety
• Mark Friedberg, RAND senior natural scientist
• Ashish Jha, Harvard School of Public Health professor of health policy
• Martin Makary, Johns Hopkins University professor of surgery
• Olga Pierce, ProPublica deputy data editor
• Scott Hensley, writer/editor for NPR health blog Shots (moderator)

Tune in here, and join the conversation using #ProPubLive.