Each year, the National Quality Forum (NQF) and The Joint Commission recognize the best examples of individual, local, and national initiatives to improve patient safety and quality of care through the prestigious John M. Eisenberg Patient Safety and Quality Awards. Submissions for the 2018 Eisenberg Awards (presented in 2019) are now open through October 29.
The awards honor groundbreaking initiatives that are consistent with the aims of the National Quality Strategy: better care, healthy people and communities, and smarter spending. They are presented in three categories:
- Individual Achievement: Individuals who have demonstrated exceptional leadership and scholarship in patient safety and health care quality through a substantive lifetime body of work that recognizes an individual’s lifetime achievement.
- National Level Innovation in Patient Safety and Quality: The focus of a project or initiative extends beyond local areas to being implemented across the country to achieve national impact. Original projects or initiatives involving successful system changes or interventions that make the environment of care safer, or that advocate on the patient’s behalf. These innovative projects or initiatives may address new technologies, protocols and procedures, education, organization culture, legislation, the media, patient advocacy, systems theory, etc.
- Local Level Innovation in Patient Safety and Quality: A project or initiative focuses on effecting impact at the local community, organization or regional level (e.g., statewide). Original projects or initiatives involving successful system changes or interventions that make the environment of care safer, or that advocate on the patient’s behalf. These innovative projects or initiatives may address new technologies, protocols and procedures, education, organization culture, legislation, the media, patient advocacy, and systems theory, etc.
Past award winners have implemented highly effective programs to advance patient safety and quality of care, including initiatives to improve care coordination and substantially reduce hospital readmission rates, achieve significant decreases in hospital-acquired infections, and create robust cultures and systems of safety.
Submit your nomination online today or visit the John M. Eisenberg webpage for more information. Awardees will be notified and announced in January 2019, and honored at NQF’s Annual Conference in Washington, D.C., next March.