Meet Three New Coalition to Improve Diagnosis Members

What follows is a brief interview with three leading healthcare organizations, Colorado Hospital Association, MHA Keystone Center and National Association for Healthcare Quality (NAHQ). These organizations have committed to take action to improve diagnostic quality and safety by recently joining the Coalition to Improve Diagnosis, which already includes more than 60 of the most prominent organizations in health care and patient advocacy.

Briefly describe your organization’s current diagnostic quality and safety work.

Colorado Hospital Association: Colorado Hospital Association engages and empowers member hospitals and their employees to continue improving health care quality, safety, access and value for Colorado patients, families and communities through ongoing education, collaboration and innovation. “A few of our core projects include opioid safety, maternal health, infection prevention, health equity, and patient and family engagement,” Darlene Tad-y, MD, SFHM, Vice President of Clinical Affairs.

MHA Keystone Center: The MHA Keystone Center has identified person and family engagement in its adverse event reporting data as an area of opportunity to reduce diagnostic errors. “As a result, we are engaging with the MHA Person and Family Engagement Council to better direct our approach to designing actionable steps our member hospitals can take. We are in the beginning stages of our program but hope to report early successes in the near future,” Adam Novak, MA, CPPS, Director of Safety Initiatives.

NAHQ: As the U.S. health system rapidly shifts to business models designed to reward cost-efficient, quality care that improves patient outcomes, healthcare quality professionals are playing an increasingly central role in this transformation.  NAHQ has published the twice-validated, industry-standard Healthcare Quality Competency Framework. The Framework categorizes healthcare quality work into eight dimensions, which are comprised of 29 competencies and 486 skills statements, stratified by Foundational, Proficient, and Advanced levels. NAHQ has also developed a Professional Assessment and competency-based training to support the professional development of healthcare quality professionals and frontline clinical staff. NAHQ's efforts are designed to achieve healthcare quality by enhancing workforce readiness to deliver on quality, safety, and value. “Healthcare quality professionals operating at the proficient and advanced levels of the Competency Framework have the skill set to collaborate and integrate with clinical care teams driving changes needed to improve diagnosis in medicine using data and established quality tools and processes,” Michael Friedman, MD CPHQ, Board Member.

Why did your organization decide to join the Coalition?

Colorado Hospital Association: “We joined to expand our network, hear about other initiatives happening throughout the country, participate in new initiatives, and to share the work we have been doing so that other organizations can implement this work in their areas,” Darlene Tad-y, MD, SFHM, Vice President of Clinical Affairs.

MHA Keystone Center: Improving diagnostic safety has been an area that the MHA Keystone Center has wanted to formally address for years. This Coalition presents a unique opportunity for us to share the progress of our journey to address diagnostic safety, as well as draw upon the support and expertise of like-minded organizations,” Adam Novak, MA, CPPS, Director of Safety Initiatives.

NAHQ: “We believe in the shared principles of the Coalition, especially that every participant in health care, including providers and the extended team of healthcare professionals, payor and educators are key to the success of our healthcare system including and improve the quality of care patients receive,” Michael Friedman, MD CPHQ, Board Member.

“Every improvement initiative benefits from a competent healthcare quality workforce whose efforts and contributions can assist in improving diagnosis in medicine,” Michael Friedman, MD CPHQ, Board Member. “NAHQ has worked with healthcare organizations undertaking major improvement initiatives, these organizations have adopted the NAHQ Competency Framework and offered the NAHQ competency-based training widely to both quality professionals and clinicians. This training was the 'secret sauce' to preparing their workforce to be successful in both implementing and sustaining their change initiatives,” Friedman added.

What do you hope to get out of it? Or what are you the most excited about?

Colorado Hospital Association: “We are looking for ways to collaborate with and support SIDM and other organizations on this important work. We are most excited to identify areas of opportunity to spread this work to Colorado hospitals and health systems,” Darlene Tad-y, MD, SFHM, Vice President of Clinical Affairs.

MHA Keystone Center: “We are most excited to learn about what creative solutions other organizations are employing to improve diagnosis in medicine. Specifically, the opportunity to hear from those who have had measurable success and how they achieved this progress,” Adam Novak, MA, CPPS, Director of Safety Initiatives.

NAHQ: “NAHQ is looking forward to learning from our peers in the Coalition and working together to enhance diagnostic quality and safety. We know that our contribution, a qualified, competent quality and safety workforce is a key element to reach the Coalition’s goal, and we look forward to working with others to increase awareness,” Michael Friedman, MD CPHQ, Board Member.

Full Bios:

Colorado Hospital Association:

Darlene Tad-y, MD, SFHM
Vice President, Clinical Affairs

Dr. Tad-y is the Vice President of Clinical Affairs for the Colorado Hospital Association. She is responsible for leading the statewide quality and safety initiatives in Colorado hospitals, oversees workforce development including physician engagement, hospital emergency preparedness and innovation. She is also an Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine where she is an academic hospitalist and the Director for GME Quality and Safety Programs.

MHA Keystone Center:

Adam Novak, MA, CPPS
Director, Safety Initiatives

Adam is currently serving as director of safety initiatives at the MHA Keystone Center. He manages all aspects of the MHA Keystone Center Patient Safety Organization (PSO), and oversees the development and deployment of patient safety culture-improvement efforts across all departmental projects under the umbrella of high reliability. Adam currently serves as an editorial review board member for two peer reviewed journals; Patient Safety and Journal of Healthcare Risk Management.

NAHQ:

Michael R. Friedman, MD CPHQ

Dr. Michael Friedman is a board-certified anesthesiologist at Hospital for Special Surgery. Dr. Friedman serves on the board of directors for the National Association for Healthcare Quality and has been an active Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality (CPHQ) since 2016. In 2004, he completed his residency training in anesthesiology at Weill Cornell Medical Center, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and Hospital for Special Surgery, where he focused on anesthesiology in various clinical settings, including orthopedics. Dr. Friedman is involved in quality assurance and performance improvement initiatives within the Department of Anesthesiology, Critical Care & Pain Management, concentrating on improving patient care through technology advancements. Dr. Friedman is completing a Master’s in Patient Safety and Healthcare Quality with an anticipated graduation date of May 2021.

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