Oral

This session will present the 10th annual Avedis Donabedian Award to Robert H. Brook who is Professor of Medicine and Health Services at UCLA and director of RAND's Health Sciences Program. While Donabedian is considered be the “father” of quality assurance in health care, Dr. Brook is felt by many to be his clear heir to this title. His pioneering work, beginning with following up quality of care and outcomes hypertensive patients who he saw in saw in training at in the Johns Hopkins ED leading to his role at the helm of a number of the most important health services research projects ever carried out (including the RAND Health Insurance Experience, RAND UCLA Health Services Utilization Appropriate Study, The Medical Outcomes Study). Dr. Brook will give his perspectives on the state of quality in the U.S. one week before the national election. A second presentation for this annual series will be presented by Dr. Gordon Schiff, Chair of the Donabedian Award Committee and Associate Director of Patient Safety Research and Practice at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. He will speak on ways that electronic clinical documentation can and needs to better connect with diagnosis quality improvement, and its relevance to national health reform.