A Note from ABQAURP’s CME Chair:
ABQAURP as an organization was able to achieve a significant milestone on Friday, April 30, 2021. In view of the pandemic, like many other organizations, we were faced with the dilemma of how to accomplish our goal to hold our annual meeting safely and effectively. Although unable to do so in 2020, we eventually were able to host the 43rd Annual Health Care Quality and Patient Safety Conference, 20/20 Insight into Value-Based, Quality Care. We believe the presentations and related discussions supported our mission to improve the overall quality of health care while providing valuable information to our members and the health care community.
By addressing issues such as CMS regulatory changes, health care quality, behavioral health, patient safety, technology advancements, provider well-being and health care integration, our presenters provided vital information to manage processes in an ever-changing environment. The sessions helped highlight several important trends relating to ABQAURP’s mission and current health care issues, which clearly added to the success of the meeting.
An overarching theme for the conference was the impact of the pandemic on every facet of health care delivery, while shining a bright light on the resilience of health care entities and frontline providers against an unprecedented challenge that has caused so much illness, misery, and death throughout the world. There were numerous stories shared by both presenters and members of the audience about innovation, collaboration, and sheer perseverance to continue the collective mission to provide continuous access to health care despite shortages of supplies, medications, workforce, and expertise. It taught us much about ourselves as individuals and about the organizations we work for and provided us with a sense of pride for our chosen professions.
The health care quality road is one that has been fraught with challenges and barriers, especially seen during the pandemic. With our members taking an active interest in making the system work, the American health care system and the individuals and communities that it serves will continue to see improvements.
As we prepare for our 2022 Annual Health Care Quality and Patient Safety Conference on October 6-7, 2022, at the Sheraton Sand Key Resort in Clearwater Beach, Florida, we look forward to continuing to identify areas of process improvements and cutting edge new tools that have evolved from our pandemic experience that have made the delivery, quality, and safety of health care better.
Sunil K. Sinha MD, MBA, FACHE, CHCQM
Vice President and Chief Medical Officer - BJC Medical Group - St. Louis, Missouri