Chief Quality Officers: Preparing the Healthcare Workforce to Lead

Layers of standards and measures, mostly rooted in compliance, have mounted for decades -- all in the name of advancing quality and safety. The result is an overburdened workforce that is tired of checking boxes and jumping through hoops and whose been left to believe that quality ‘didn’t work’ or is a ‘waste of time’.   

NAHQ data shows that 41% of those responding to the NAHQ Professional Assessment do not consider themselves responsible for integrating ethical standards into healthcare quality practice. This statistic is unexpected considering professionals who work in quality and safety have a responsibility to report and share data, even if it does not reflect their organization’s best work. Furthermore, this statistic creates a barrier to create a psychological safe space to deliver quality care. Achieving zero errors is complex and the hierarchy in medicine makes it challenging to effectively speak up, even when it's the ethical thing to do. This session will focus on how to approach creating a psychologically safe organization that leads with ethical practices to deliver quality care. Takeaways will include strategies that you can immediately implement in your organization.

Data shows that regular primary care visits align to healthier patients and lower costs, making it a key factor to success in the healthcare eco-system. Founder and President of NCQA, Margaret O’Kane, Vice President of Enterprise Clinical Quality at Highmark Health, Kelly Glass and Chief Quality Officer at Allegheny Health Network, Brian Parker, will take a deep dive on measuring performance as it relates to primary care and the downstream impact on healthcare. Actionable takeaways will include the current state of primary care, how it impacts a patients journey through the healthcare system, the effect on reducing readmissions and care transitions, how patient reported outcomes are used as quality measures in the primary care space, and HEDIS. Expect a hard-hitting session with experts in the field