Just a few days ago, we completed the 11th Annual Quality Colloquium at Harvard University, co sponsored by the Jefferson School of Population Health, with support from major organizations like Oracle, the Lewin group, and others.
Faculty from our school, and from around the nation, made the three day event a veritable "feast" of new information about the growing area of quality measurement and improvement. On the heels of Health Reform, quality measures are taking on increasing importance in patient centered medical homes, Accountable Care Organizations, and other new structures.
On the day prior to the launch of the conference, our faculty supported two "Boot Camps" -- a day long session at both the basic and advanced levels that were also simultaneously broadcast on the web. The Boot Camps featured a deep dive into topics such as leadership for quality under reform, the cultural barriers to quality improvement, high reliability in health care delivery and the like.
The plenary presentations that followed the next day featured presentations by persons such as Maureen Bisognano from IHI, Mike Dowling from the North Shore Long Island Jewish Healthcare System, Mike Barry from the Informed Medical Decisions Foundation, Bill Conway from the Henry Ford Healthsystem, and finally David Blumenthal, now the incoming President of the Commonwealth Fund. Given the setting in Annenberg Hall on the Harvard Campus, there was plenty of interaction with the attendees in both formal and informal gatherings.
The JSPH is proud to be a cosponsor of this important national event. As our field grows in importance, so does our school!! To learn more about the colloquium go to www.qualitycolloquium.com and you can still purchase a CD of all the presentations and the power points as well. We would value your feedback. DAVID NASH
