The National Quality Forum (NQF) and The Joint Commission have announced the recipients of the 2013 John M. Eisenberg Patient Safety and Quality Awards. Four winners will be recognized on February 13, 2014, at the 2014 NQF Annual Conference and Membership Meeting in Washington, DC.

The awards originated in 2002 to honor John M. Eisenberg, the former administrator of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and a founding board member for NQF. The honorees at the national, local, and individual levels for achievements related to patient safety and health care quality include:

Innovation in Patient Safety and Quality at the National Level:
Institute for Clinical Systems Improvement, Bloomington, Minn
Minnesota Hospital Association, St Paul, Minn
Stratis Health, Bloomington, Minn

The Institute for Clinical Systems Improvement founded the Reducing Avoidable Readmissions Effectively (RARE) Campaign to prevent 6,000 avoidable readmissions and safe healthcare costs. Over a 2-year period, 82 participating hospitals collectively prevented 5,441 readmissions.

Innovation in Patient Safety and Quality at the National Level:
Anthem Blue Cross, Woodland Hills, Calif
National Health Foundation, Los Angeles
Hospital Association of Southern California, Los Angeles
Hospital Association of San Diego & Imperial Counties, San Diego
Hospital Council of Northern & Central California, Sacramento, Calif

The member organizations of the “Patient Safety First…a California Partnership for Health” initiative committed to goals of zero avoidable medical errors and driving improvement in perinatal care, sepsis, and hospital acquired infections. In phase one, 182 participating hospitals saved more than 3,500 lives and $63 million.

Innovation in Patient Safety and Quality at the Local Level:
Vidant Health, Greenville, NC

Following a serious blood event in 2006 that resulted in a patient death, Vidant Health implemented a series of interventions to improve patient safety, including board literacy in quality, an aggressive transparency policy, patient-family partnerships, and leader and physician engagement. As a result, the hospital system experienced an 83% reduction in serious safety events and 62% reduction in hospital-acquired infections.

Individual Achievement:
Gail L. Warden, President Emeritus of Henry Ford Health System, Detroit, Mich

As president and CEO of the Henry Ford Health System, Warden oversaw the now second largest health system in Michigan and helped issue two significant reports that led to healthcare organizations nationwide identifying and fixing medical errors to improve patient safety. Modern Healthcare named him one of the 100 Most Powerful People in Healthcare in 2001 and 2002.

The full release and descriptions of winners can be viewed at National Quality Forum.