Apply for Quest for Quality Prize

After a one-year hiatus the AHA Quest for Quality Prize is back, updated to reflect the hospital and health system field’s broader emphasis on quality and improving health status. Oct. 1 (midnight Central Time to be precise) is the deadline for hospitals and health systems to apply for the 2018 prize, which recognizes health care leadership and innovation.

The 2018 prize encourages AHA members to expand upon past concepts and definitions of quality and safety, and to promote new thinking, innovation and creativity about the populations that hospitals and health systems serve.

The prize criteria are aligned with the AHA’s message of “Advancing Health in America,” and its commitment to building a future health care system that ensures access for all; delivers quality, safe, and efficient care high-value care; coordinates care propelled by technology, innovation and data; focuses on community wellness and well being and partnering with community resources; and engages patients and their families as partners in managing care.

For the first time, health care systems in addition to hospitals are eligible to apply for the Quest for Quality Prize. The winner of the prize will receive $75,000 as well as a bronze award; up to two finalists will each receive $12,500 and a bronze award.

The AHA first presented the Quest for Quality Prize in 2002. The award evolved from a narrower focus on building a hospital’s culture of safety to focusing on the Institute of Medicine’s six quality aims – safety, effectiveness, efficiency, timeliness, patient-centeredness and equity – as a framework for improving the experience of care, improving population health and lowering per capita costs in their communities.

RL Solutions, a designer of health care quality and safety software, is the new sponsor of the Quest for Quality Prize, as part of its overall role as the AHA Champion Sponsor for Quality. That brand-new designation recognizes RL Solutions’ strong and long-standing alignment with the AHA’s mission, vision and strategic priorities.

Interested in applying for the 2018 prize? Please visit the Quest for Quality website and download an application. If you have any questions or need additional information, please contact Dave Parlin, dparline@aha.org.  Download the application today, and show you are ready to take the next leap forward in quality.