Mark Graber honored for advancing patient safety, healthcare quality

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC— Mark Graber, M.D., a national leader in the field of patient safety, has been named a recipient of the 2014 John M. Eisenberg Patient Safety and Quality Awards by the Joint Commission and National Quality Forum. He is recognized for his individual achievement in advancing patient safety and healthcare quality.

The patient safety awards program honors the late John M. Eisenberg, M.D., former administrator of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Eisenberg was a passionate advocate for patient safety and health care quality and personally led AHRQ's grant program to support patient safety research. The awards include three recipients for national, local and individual recognition in the field of patient safety and healthcare quality.

Graber, senior fellow in the Health Care Quality and Outcomes Program at RTI International, is recognized as a leader in bringing the role of diagnostic error to the forefront of the patient safety movement. He convened the Diagnostic Error in Medicine conference series, formed the nonprofit Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine, and in 2014 founded a new international journal, Diagnosis.

Graber's research studies and writing on diagnostic error are regarded as the foundation for the growing interest in improving diagnosis, which that will require partnerships and collaboration between providers, healthcare organizations, and patients. He is the co-creator of Patient Safety Awareness Week, which emphasizes patient safety through celebrating achievements at the local level and providing education and awareness.

He also petitioned the Institute of Medicine to examine the problem of diagnostic error. Its report on the issue is expected to be released this fall.

The awards will be presented at NQF's 2015 Annual Conference on March 23-24, 2015, in Washington, D.C. Graber will be honored along with the American College of Surgeons' National Surgical Quality Improvement Program and the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System. The May 2015 issue of "The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety" also will feature the achievements of each of the award recipients.