Joint Commission and National Quality Forum Announce Winners of 2002 John M. Eisenberg Patient Safety Awards

9/9/2002

From: Charlene D. Hill of JCAHO, 630-792-5175, e-mail: chill@jcaho.org or Robyn Y. Nishimi, PhD of NQF, 202-783-1300, e-mail: info@qualityforum.org

WASHINGTON, Sept. 9 -- The National Quality Forum (NQF) and the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) today announced the first recipients of the annual John M. Eisenberg Patient Safety Awards. For the 2002 year, winners were selected in each of the Award categories. The winners in the several categories are:

INDIVIDUAL LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT

-- Julianne Morath, R.N., M.S., Children's Hospitals and Clinics, Minneapolis, Minnesota -- For her tireless and successful work at Children's Hospitals to introduce a culture of patient safety that promotes the sharing of information about errors to improve safety in the care of patients.

SYSTEM INNOVATION (co-winners)

-- Concord Hospital, Concord, New Hampshire - For developing and implementing a structured communications protocol, adapted from human factors science, which broke down hierarchical role boundaries and improved the care of cardiac surgery patients.

-- Veterans Health Administration National Center for Patient Safety, Ann Arbor, Michigan - For innovation and leadership in developing and implementing a systems approach to error reduction within the VHA's 163 health care facilities.

ADVOCACY

-- Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Lexington, Kentucky - For its national leadership in openly, and voluntarily, disclosing health care errors to harmed individuals and/or their families.

RESEARCH

-- David W. Bates, M.D., M.Sc., Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts - For his cutting-edge research in using information technology to measure and improve patient safety, particularly in the area of medication safety.

The initial awards will be presented at the National Quality Forum's Third Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C., on October 1, 2002.

"We applaud each of the winners for their sustained achievements in improving patient safety," said Dennis S. O'Leary, M.D., president, JCAHO. "John Eisenberg would have been proud to be associated with their accomplishments."

"We are very pleased to recognize these outstanding leaders for the work they have done to improve patient safety," said Kenneth W. Kizer, M.D., M.Ph., president and chief executive officer, NQF. "These individuals and organizations exemplify John's passion for making health care better-both safer and of higher quality. Their work provides an enduring legacy to him."

The new patient safety awards program-announced earlier this year by NQF and JCAHO-honors John M. Eisenberg, M.D, M.B.A., who was administrator of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) at the time of his death in March of 2002. Eisenberg was also one of the founding leaders of the National Quality Forum and sat on its Board of Directors. In his roles both as AHRQ administrator and chair of the federal government's Quality Inter-Agency Council, he was a passionate advocate for patient safety and personally led AHRQ's new grant program to support patient safety research.

The categories established for the initial Eisenberg Awards were for:

-- Individual Lifetime Achievement - Individuals who have demonstrated exceptional leadership and scholarship in patient safety over their careers. -- Advocacy - Projects or initiatives involving safety-related interventions on behalf of patients. These efforts may be in areas such as legislation, media reporting, or patient advocacy, among others. -- System Innovation - Projects or initiatives involving successful system changes or interventions that make the environment of care safer. These efforts may involve technology, protocols/procedures, education, or organization culture, among others. -- Research - Projects that involve the scholarly exploration of patient safety-related issues. These efforts may involve systems theory, technology, or data analyses among others.

Awards may be given in each category in any year. However, an award need not be given in each category every year. Eighty-eight nominations were received for the 2002 inaugural awards.

Founded in 1951, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations seeks to continuously improve the safety and quality of care provided to the public through the provision of health care accreditation and related services that support performance improvement in health care organizations. The Joint Commission evaluates and accredits nearly 17,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States, including approximately 9,000 hospitals and home care organizations, and 8,000 other health care organizations that provide long term care, assisted living, behavioral health care, laboratory and ambulatory care services. The Joint Commission also accredits health plans, integrated delivery networks, and other managed care entities. An independent, not-for-profit organization, the Joint Commission is the nation's oldest and largest standards-setting and accrediting body in health care.

The NQF is a private, non-profit public benefit corporation created in 1999 to develop and implement a national strategy for healthcare quality measurement and reporting. Established as a unique public-private partnership, the NQF has broad participation from all parts of the healthcare industry. Dr. Eisenberg was one of the key architects in the establishment of the NQF and served on its Board of Directors.