Look to the past to improve our future: Improving quality, safety and equity through community and patient engagement

Author's Biography

Knitasha V. Washington , DHA, MHA, FACHE, brings more than 25 years of experience as a multidimensional healthcare leader focused on quality improvement, safety and health equity. Her career has spanned roles in healthcare administration, managed care, quality management, disparities research and policy. In these roles, she serves as a change agent driving organisational performance improvement, quality and safety improvement, as well as advising on health policy matters, and leadership contributing to large-scale national public health campaigns. Dr Washington has international health professional training and experience with extensive knowledge of strategies to advance innovation and improve outcomes through community engagement, patient engagement and stakeholder alignment. As a health equity practitioner and social science researcher her skill and expertise bridge population health methodologies with the applied science of health services delivery to improve quality, safety and equity outcomes. In 2014, she founded ATW Health Solutions, a US Small Business Administration (SBA) 8(a), Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) healthcare advisory and consulting firm based in Chicago, Illinois. ATW Health Solutions has earned national recognition for its work partnering locally and nationally with public and privately held organisations and government agencies to transform healthcare delivery systems from ordinary to best-in-class.

Kellie Goodson , MS, CPXP, is a thought leader in the areas of health equity and person/patient and family engagement (PFE) in healthcare quality and safety improvement. She has worked with multiple health systems to improve patient outcomes using the lens of health disparities identification and resolution paired with the tenets of quality improvement and patient engagement. At ATW Health Solutions, Kellie leads efforts to include patient voices in healthcare improvement efforts, helping organisations understand how to build partnerships with patients, families and community members to transform healthcare delivery and outcomes. Previously, Kellie co-led national Affinity Groups for the topics of PFE and health equity for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and has served on national committees for the National Quality Forum and the Institute for Patient- and Family-Centered Care.

Lee Thompson , MS, is a principal technical assistance consultant in heath programme at the American Institutes for Research. Her primary responsibilities include leading healthcare research, technical assistance and outreach and dissemination projects. Drawing on more than 20 years of experience, she has expertise in engaging a variety of stakeholders, including healthcare leaders and professionals, healthcare researchers, payers, and patients and families, in healthcare research and quality improvement initiatives. She was the project director for the Person and Family Engagement Contract for the CMS-funded Partnership for Patients initiative.

Tanya Lord , PhD, MPH, is trained in qualitative study methodology and has designed, implemented and analysed a multitude of studies and associated surveys using the qualitative methodologies in which she is trained. As a patient safety professional in the patient and family engagement field, she expanded her skills into human-centred design and other qualitative methods to creatively and effectively bring the voice of lived experience, whether patients, families or professionals, into the design, implementation and evaluation of healthcare improvement at all levels. Dr Lord has used qualitative methods to evaluate the patient experience with patient portals and newly implemented Electronic Medical Records. Dr Lord has extensive experience using and adapting qualitative study strategies with surveys, focus groups and semi-structured interviews with diverse populations of patients and professionals.

Brittny Bratcher-Rasmus , PhD, CHES, is a public health practitioner with ten years of experience leading corporate, local and federal health programmes specialising in health equity training and curriculum development. At ATW Health Solutions, Dr Bratcher-Rasmus is a program manager managing health programmes that enhance tools and resources to eliminate health disparities, promote quality improvement and increase health equity using data-driven results in various populations. Prior to her role at ATW, Dr Bratcher-Rasmus served for over six years as an Outreach Specialist for Medicare beneficiary healthcare services at a contracted Beneficiary & Family Center Care Quality Improvement Organization (BFCC-QIO) for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

Ronald Wyatt Dr Ronald Wyatt, MD, MHA, is the former vice president and patient safety officer for MCIC Vermont, a major risk retention group based in New York City and was a senior fellow at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI). Prior to joining MCIC Vermont, Dr Wyatt was formerly chief quality and patient safety officer at Cook County Health in Chicago, Illinois and former chief of patient safety and quality for the Hamad Medical Corporation in Doha, Qatar. Dr Wyatt was the first patient safety officer at the Joint Commission. He served as medical director in the Patient Safety Analysis Center, Defense Health Agency/Military Health System Defense Health Agency, Falls Church, Virginia. He is former co-chair of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) Equity Advisory Group and is faculty for the IHI Pursuing Equity initiative. Dr Wyatt is a facilitator for the ACGME Equity Matters Collaborative and serves as faculty for the IHI Pursuing Equity initiative. Dr Wyatt is a credentialed course instructor in the School of Health Professions at the University of Alabama, Birmingham. He is co-course director in the Keystone Program at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine’s master’s degree in patient safety, Chicago, Illinois. Dr Wyatt holds an honorary Doctor of Medical Sciences from the Morehouse School of Medicine and is a graduate of the University of Alabama Birmingham School of Medicine. While a resident in training, at St. Louis University Group of Hospitals, he served as the first African American chief medical resident, in 1987–1988. He is a board-certified Internist and practiced medicine for over 20 years, in St. Louis Missouri and Huntsville, Alabama. He earned the master’s degree (executive program) in health administration from the University of Alabama Birmingham School of Health Professions.