CAMBRIDGE, Mass. & ORLANDO, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--“We have made tremendous gains over the last 27 years, but to get where we need to be with health and health care in the US and in other countries, there can be no let up. We still have lots to do, but together with our global community, I have never been more confident that we will achieve the Triple Aim of better care, better health, and lower costs.” Maureen Bisognano, President and CEO of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), kicked off the 27th Annual National Forum on Quality Improvement in Health Care with these remarks today, speaking to nearly 5,500 health care professionals, health leaders, and clinical improvers in Orlando.
A leading innovator in health and health care improvement worldwide, IHI’s four-day event (December 6-9, 2015) showcases how health professionals are applying fresh approaches to improve patient safety and deliver better care; working to reduce disparities and improve health equity; creating community partnerships that extend beyond the walls of the health care system to address the upstream determinants of health; and deepening their learning by engaging with students and patients from around the world.
Bisognano used her keynote to remind the audience that IHI was founded to take the responsibility for quality in health care out of its silo so it would become everyone’s responsibility. This vision, along with IHI’s mantra, “all teach, all learn” is as important today as it ever was. Bisognano pointed to the IHI Leadership Alliance, now in its second year with 41 members, as the latest example of improvers coming together to solve some of the most intractable problems today. “It’s up to us, the leaders in health care, to be the change we want to see in the world. We can’t wait for policy and payment changes.”
Town Hall Gathering with US Surgeon General
The Forum is a place for health care improvers to find new ways to lead their organizations through the multiplicity of new expectations and possibilities inherent in the journey to improve health and health care for individuals and whole populations.
On Monday evening, US Surgeon General, Vice Admiral Vivek H. Murthy, MD, MBA, and Donald Berwick, MD, MPP, FRCP, IHI President Emeritus and Senior Fellow, co-led a Town Hall discussion on population health and the critical need for health care systems to broaden their focus to include health promotion and strategies that encompass people’s underlying social and economic circumstances to support optimal health. Dr. Murthy also commented on how key priorities for his term – mental and emotional well-being and his National Prevention Strategy – as well as health equity, contribute to population health.
Additional speakers at this year’s Forum include Earvin “Magic” Johnson, two-time NBA hall of famer, entrepreneur, motivational speaker, and philanthropist; Robert Wachter, MD, Professor and Associate Chairman, Department of Medicine, University of California San Francisco; Craig Kielburger, Co-Founder of Free the Children and New York Times best-selling author; and Dr. Don Berwick.
Supporting Health Care in the US and Abroad
More than 800 international attendees, representing 54 countries are in attendance at this year’s event, demonstrating the global reach of the quality improvement movement. Amongst the global attendees are representatives from the Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein, which has partnered with IHI and the Brazilian Health Regulatory Agency to dramatically decrease the current high rate of C-sections in Brazil, improve the quality of care, and reduce per capita cost in 30 private and public sector hospitals in the country. Also in attendance this year are representatives from IHI’s partners in Malawi, Liberia, Nigeria, and Ghana, where the organization is engaged deeply in improving health outcomes, focusing on improving population outcomes at scale for HIV/AIDS, maternal and child health, mental health, and patient safety.
Over the course of the Forum, attendees will hear about other outstanding work to improve the quality and safety of health care in the US and abroad with more than 100 sessions covering everything from developing formalized strategies to increase cultural competency, to improving service in cancer care, to screening for and addressing the social determinants of health, to achieving large-scale Triple Aim improvement through a collective impact model. More than 600 improvement storyboards will also be on display, including a significant number that reflect improvement initiatives launched by students in the health professions who are active in IHI’s Open School.
Derek Feeley to Take the Helm
As announced in October, Derek Feeley, IHI’s Executive Vice President, will be taking over as CEO of the organization effective January 1, 2016, following Maureen Bisognano’s retirement. The former Director General for Health and Social Care and Chief Executive of the National Health Service (NHS) in Scotland, Feeley joined IHI in 2013 and has been responsible for guiding the organization’s improvement work involving communities, whole countries, and large systems, as well as expanding the global footprint of IHI and shared learning across continents.
“Health care systems and leaders across the globe understand we have a role to play in improving and contributing to health. We’re seeing more organizations embrace the progressive evolution toward population health and the new strategies and care delivery models required to truly impact and improve the health of whole communities,” said Feeley. “This is just one of the multitude of challenges facing organizations and leaders today. Despite the complexity of today’s global environment, opportunity lies in the commonality of many of the most vexing problems and the fact that promising solutions are emerging from all over the world. Our challenges are significant, but the opportunity to collaborate and learn from each other is what brings health care leaders, professionals, and clinical improvers to IHI’s Forum, to collectively determine how we can best move forward toward improved health and better, safer care.”
About the Institute for Healthcare Improvement
IHI is a leading innovator in health and health care improvement worldwide. For more than 25 years, we have partnered with visionaries, leaders, and front-line practitioners around the globe to spark bold, inventive ways to improve the health of individuals and populations. Recognized as an innovator, convener, trustworthy partner, and driver of results, we are the first place to turn for expertise, help, and encouragement for anyone, anywhere who wants to change health and health care profoundly for the better. To advance our mission, IHI’s work is focused in five key areas: Improvement Capability; Person- and Family-Centered Care; Patient Safety; Quality, Cost, and Value; and Triple Aim for Populations. Learn more at ihi.org.
