Celebrating National Healthcare Quality Week

Floor Speech

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the nation's healthcare quality and patient safety professionals who work every day to ensure that our health system delivers high quality, cost-effective and safe care. During National Healthcare Quality Week, October 20 through 26, healthcare facilities nationwide celebrate the efforts of those professionals to improve health care. Healthcare quality and patient safety professionals make a positive contribution to our care by monitoring clinical processes and outcomes, analyzing data to improve systems, and helping to integrate new, evidence-based practices.

I am proud to note that their professional organization, the National Association for Healthcare Quality, NAHQ, is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois and is in my district. Its 5,400 individual members and 100 institutional members bring expertise to healthcare quality in all settings and specialty areas. They are the on-the-ground professionals who are helping healthcare facilities meet Obamacare's focus on improving quality care while reducing costs.

Quality professionals address many issues in the healthcare workplace, including ensuring that a patient's medications are reconciled, healthcare-associated infections are prevented, and the quality of care is continually improved. They strive to assure that the progress their facility makes on these and many other issues are reported in an accurate and transparent manner.

I applaud our health professionals whose job is to ensure that patients receive safe and quality health care and urge my colleagues to do the same.

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