The recipients of this year’s John M. Eisenberg Patient Safety and Quality Awards include a network of children’s hospitals that has saved an estimated 10,000 children from harm and a large health system that has achieved a more than 60% decrease in hospital-acquired patient harms.

The Joint Commission and the National Quality Forum (NQF) presented these awards on Monday, March 12, during NQF’s 2018 Annual Conference in Washington, D.C.

The honorees for individual, national and local recognition for their work in the field of patient safety and quality of care are:

  • Individual Achievement: Thomas H. Gallagher, MD, professor and associate chair, department of medicine, and professor, department of bioethics and humanities, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle.
  • Innovation in Patient Safety and Quality at the National Level: Children’s Hospitals’ Solutions for Patient Safety, a network of more than 130 children’s hospitals in the United States and Canada.
  • Innovation in Patient Safety and Quality at the Local Level: LifePoint Health’s National Quality Program in Brentwood, Tenn.

Children’s Hospitals’ Solutions for Patient Safety, honored for its focus on advancing the culture of safety across a network of more than 130 children’s hospitals, spares an estimated nearly 10,000 children from harm while hospitalized. Members of the network share data about 11 types of patient harm such as surgical site infections, catheter-associated urinary tract infections, adverse drug events, and pressure injuries and falls.

The members also hold more than 100 virtual learning events annually and host two conferences each year as part of their commitment to education. In addition to working with senior leadership in their hospitals, they engage patients’ families in their work to identify leading practices. Participants have reported sustainable change in their organizations through the collective efforts of the network, including an improved safety culture at the organizational level.

Further, LifePoint Health’s National Quality Program is honored for its system-wide learning laboratory that consists of a data-driven program to improve the safety culture in its hospitals and decrease hospital-associated patient harm across more than 70 facilities in 22 states. Through these efforts, aggregate patient harm has decreased 62%.

Successes include 12 months of zero central-line infections at 73% of the company’s hospitals from January to December 2017 (National Healthcare Safety Network-reported measure). From 2010 to 2017, hospital-acquired infections decreased by 78% for urinary tract infections, 58% for sepsis infection, and 73% for pneumonia (based on administrative claims data).

“Congratulations to Dr. Gallagher, LifePoint Health and Children’s Hospitals’ Solutions for Patient Safety for their achievements in the relentless pursuit of patient safety and quality improvement,” says Mark R. Chassin, MD, FACP, MPP, MPH, president and CEO, The Joint Commission. “All three recipients are committed to providing highly reliable health care—care that is consistently excellent and safe across all services and settings. It is through innovative work like theirs that we can make great strides in achieving zero patient harm.”

“The 2017 Eisenberg Award winners inspire all of us to continue our collective efforts to make health care better and safer for every patient,” adds Shantanu Agrawal, MD, MPhil, president and CEO, NQF. “Through data, collaboration, transparency, education, and patient engagement, the Eisenberg winners’ innovative approaches move us closer toward our universal goal to eliminate patient harm.”