Henry Ford to Receive National Patient Safety & Quality Award

DETROIT – Henry Ford Health System will receive the prestigious 2011 John M. Eisenberg Patient Safety and Quality Award in a ceremony, Thursday, April 5.

The award will be presented to Henry Ford’s CEO Nancy Schlichting during a luncheon at the 2012 National Quality Forum Annual Conference and Membership Meeting in Washington, DC.

The award recognizes Henry Ford for its successful “No Harm Campaign,” which aims to decrease harm events through enhancing the system’s culture of safety by reporting and studying harm events, researching causality, identifying priorities, redesigning care to eliminate harm, and employing a comprehensive set of measures across its facilities.

From 2008 to 2011, Henry Ford’s “No Harm Campaign” resulted in a 26 percent reduction in harm events and 12 percent reduction in mortality system-wide. By comparison, the average reduction in harm events is roughly 1 percent to 2 percent per year in most U.S. hospitals.

The Henry Ford No Harm philosophy is: Any unintended outcome that requires additional monitoring, treatment or hospitalization. Such injury is considered harm whether or not it is considered preventable.

The selection was made by the National Quality Forum and The Joint Commission. Henry Ford is one of two honorees nationwide in the Innovation in Patient Safety and Quality at the Local Level category.

Launched in 2002 by NQF and The Joint Commission, the patient safety awards program honors John M. Eisenberg, M.D., M.B.A., former administrator of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).

Dr. Eisenberg was one of the founding leaders of NQF and sat on its Board of Directors.  In his roles both as AHRQ administrator and chair of the federal government’s Quality Inter-Agency Coordination Task Force, he was a passionate advocate for patient safety and health care quality and personally led AHRQ’s grant program to support patient safety research.

About Henry Ford Health System

Henry Ford Health System, one of the country's largest and most comprehensive integrated health care systems, is a national leader in clinical care, research and education. The system includes the 1,200-member Henry Ford Medical Group, five hospitals, Health Alliance Plan (a health insurance and wellness company), Henry Ford Physician Network, a 150-site ambulatory network and many other health-related entities throughout southeast Michigan, providing a full continuum of care. In 2011, Henry Ford provided nearly $210 million in uncompensated care. The health system also is a major economic driver in Michigan and employs more than 24,000 people. Henry Ford is a 2011 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award recipient. The health system is led by CEO Nancy Schlichting. To learn more, visit HenryFord.com.