Related Sites

New Site - Innovation Labs
www.innovationlabs.com/summit
This website has been set up to document a series of Summits entitled Physician Accountability for Physician Competence. These summits are focused on bringing a diverse group of people together from throughout the Healthcare Community to explore the future of physician regulation.

The primary question behind these Summits is: how does the healthcare community determine, measure and assure the public concerning physician competence over the career of the physician?

Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education
www.acgme.org
The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) is a private, non-profit council that evaluates and accredits medical residency programs in the United States. The mission of the ACGME is to improve the quality of health care in the United States by ensuring and improving the quality of graduate medical education experiences for physicians in training.

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
www.ahrq.gov
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s (AHRQ) mission is to improve the quality, safety, efficiency, and effectiveness of health care for all Americans. Information from AHRQ’s research helps people make more informed decisions and improve the quality of health care services. It was created in December 1989 as the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR), a Public Health Service agency in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Reporting to the HHS Secretary, the Agency was reauthorized on December 6, 1999, as the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

American Association of Colleges of Nursing
www.aacn.nche.edu
The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) is the national voice for America’s baccalaureate- and higher-degree nursing education programs. AACN’s educational, research, governmental advocacy, data collection, publications, and other programs work to establish quality standards for bachelor’s- and graduate-degree nursing education, assist deans and directors to implement those standards, influence the nursing profession to improve health care, and promote public support of baccalaureate and graduate education, research, and practice in nursing— the nation’s largest health care profession.

American Association of Healthcare Consultants
www.aahc.net
Founded in 1949, the American Association of Healthcare Consultants (AAHC) is the professional membership society for leading healthcare consultants and consulting firms. The mission of the AAHC is to serve as the preeminent credentialing, professional, and practice development organization for the healthcare consulting profession; to advance the knowledge, quality, and standards of practice for consulting to management in the healthcare industry; and to enhance the understanding and image of the healthcare consulting profession and Member Firms among its various publics.

American Association of Nurse Anesthetists
www.aana.com
Founded in 1931, the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA) is the professional association representing more than 30,000 Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs) nationwide. The AANA promulgates education, and practice standards and guidelines, and affords consultation to both private and governmental entities regarding nurse anesthetists and their practice. The AANA Foundation supports the profession through award of education and research grants to students, faculty and practicing CRNAs.

American Board of Medical Specialties
www.abms.org
The American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS), a not-for-profit organization comprising 24 medical specialty boards, is the pre-eminent entity overseeing physician certification in the United States. For more than 70 years, ABMS’ mission has been to maintain and improve the quality of medical care by assisting its Member Boards in developing and implementing educational and professional standards to evaluate and certify physician specialists. Through its coordination of Member Board activities, ABMS also serves as a unique healthcare industry influencer, bringing focus to issues involving specialization and certification in medicine. ABMS is recognized by the key healthcare accreditation organizations as a primary equivalent source of board certification data on medical specialists for credentialing purposes. ABMS resources include conferences, textbooks, brochures, handbooks and directories regarding certification and evaluation.

American Board of Nursing Specialties
www.nursingcertification.org
ABNS is a not-for-profit organization with two arms - a Membership Assembly and an Accreditation Council. Each is governed by elected representatives. ABNS is an advocate for consumer protection by establishing specialty nursing certification. Member organizations of ABNS represent over a half million certified registered nurses around the world. Supported by funding from the Macy Foundation, ABNS was incorporated in 1991 after three years of dialogue within the nursing community to create uniformity in nursing certification and to increase public awareness of the value of quality certification to health care.

American Board of Perianesthesia Certification, Inc
www.cpancapa.org
The American Board of Perianesthesia Nursing Certification, Inc., (ABPANC) is a not-for-profit corporation established in 1985 by the American Society of PeriAnesthesia Nurses (ASPAN) for the purpose of sponsoring a certification program for registered nurses caring for patients who have experienced anesthesia. They sponsor two certification programs for qualified Registered Nurses: the CPAN® program (Certified Post Anesthesia Nurse) and the CAPA® program (Certified Ambulatory Perianesthesia Nurse). ABPANC’s activities and projects are focused on achieving its mission vision and mission.

American College of Surgeons
www.facs.org
The American College of Surgeons is a scientific and educational association of surgeons that was founded in 1913 to improve the quality of care for the surgical patient by setting high standards for surgical education and practice.

American Group Psychotherapy Association
www.agpa.org
Founded in 1942, the American Group Psychotherapy Association (AGPA) is a multi-disciplinary organization dedicated to advancing knowledge, research, and training in group psychotherapy to benefit the client/patient population. The Association is committed to:

• Promoting quality group psychotherapy care as a primary method of treatment that is clinically sound, cost-effective, and accessible;
• Advancing group psychotherapy training and research;
• Providing a network of peer support that serves the professional needs of group practitioners; and
• Advocating for quality care on behalf of its members, clients/patients and the public.

American Nurses Credentialing Center
www.ana.org
The American Nurses Association (ANA) established the ANA Certification Program in 1973 to provide tangible recognition of professional achievement in a defined functional or clinical area of nursing. The American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) became its own corporation, a subsidiary of ANA in 1991. More than 150,000 nurses throughout the U.S. and its territories in 40 specialty and advanced practice areas of nursing carry ANCC certification. While the role for nurses continues to evolve, ANCC has responded positively by the re-conceptualization of certification and Open Door 2000, a program that enables all qualified registered nurses, regardless of their educational preparation to become certified in any of five specialty areas: Gerontology, Medical-Surgical, Pediatrics, Perinatal and Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing.

American Organization of Nurse Executives
www.aone.org
Founded in 1967, the American Organization of Nurse Executives (AONE), a subsidiary of the American Hospital Association, is a national organization of nearly 4,000 nurses who design, facilitate, and manage care. Its mission is to represent nurse leaders who improve healthcare. AONE members are leaders in collaboration and catalysts for innovation. AONE’s vision is “Shaping the future of healthcare through innovative nursing leadership.”

American Society of Anesthesiologists
www.asahq.org
The American Society of Anesthesiologists is an educational, research and scientific association of physicians organized to raise and maintain the standards of the medical practice of anesthesiology and improve the care of the patient. Since its founding in 1905, the Society’s achievements have made it an important voice in American Medicine and the foremost advocate for all patients who require anesthesia or relief from pain.

American Society for Healthcare Risk Management
www.ashrm.org
Established in 1980, the American Society for Healthcare Risk Management (ASHRM) is a personal membership group of the American Hospital Association with more than 4,600 members representing health care, insurance, law and other related professions.

Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation
www.apsf.org
The mission of the Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation (APSF) is to ensure that no patient shall be harmed by anesthesia. The purposes of APSF are to: foster investigations that will provide a better understanding of preventable anesthetic injuries; encourage programs that will reduce the number of anesthetic injuries; and promote national and international communication of information and ideas about the causes and prevention of anesthetic morbidity and mortality.

Appreciative Inquiry Commons
www.appreciativeinquiry.cwru.edu
“AI Commons” is a worldwide portal devoted to the fullest sharing of academic resources and practical tools on Appreciative Inquiry and the rapidly growing discipline of positive change. This site is a resource for leaders of change, scholars, students, and business managers--and it is proudly hosted by Case Western Reserve University’s Weatherhead School of Management.

Association of periOperative Registered Nurses
www.aorn.org
AORN is the professional organization of perioperative registered nurses whose mission is to support registered nurses in achieving optimal outcomes for patients undergoing operative and other invasive procedures. AORN promotes quality patient care by providing its members with education, standards, services, and representation. AORN is composed of 40,000 perioperative registered nurses in approximately 6,700 hospitals and 3,500 ambulatory surgery centers in all 50 states and around the world. These nurses work on the front lines, caring for patients from pre-surgery through surgery and recovery, so no one is better qualified or has the capacity to advocate for and ensure patient safety in the surgical setting. AORN offers online education, including PNDS, Patient Safety in the OR, Ambulatory Surgery Administrator Certificate Program, preparing for the CNOR exam, and various continuing education activities.

Association of Surgical Technologists
www.ast.org
Since 1969 the Association of Surgical Technologists has sought to bring together surgical technologists and other healthcare professionals and organizations to promote quality patient care by developing educational programs, promoting professional standards and credentials, providing a forum for the exchange of ideas, monitoring the changing healthcare environment, and fostering other opportunities for the personal and professional growth of all surgical technologists and surgical assistants.

Center for Medical Consumers
www.medicalconsumers.org
The Center for Medical Consumers, a non-profit advocacy organization, was founded in 1976 to encourage people to consider the supporting research when making medical treatment decisions. Too often long-term proof of safety and effectiveness is lacking, even for the most commonly recommended drugs, screening tests, and surgical procedures. The Center has chosen to concentrate its efforts on hospital patient safety and informing the public about the harms associated with excessive medical care. We are entirely supported by private contributions, newsletter subscriptions and reprint rights, and the generous support of the Judson Memorial Church.

Center for Studies in Clinical Excellence
www.uchsc.edu/csce
The Center for Studies in Clinical Excellence is a full service health professions performance assessment and education center specializing in the use of standardized patients and clients. Standardized patients or SPs, are individuals recruited to simulate medical scenarios to individuals or groups of target learners. Standardized patients are of all ages and backgrounds and undergo careful training to simulate medical scenarios in a realistic, standardized, accurate, and reliable manner.

Citizen Advocacy Center
www.cacenter.org
The Citizen Advocacy Center (CAC), Washington, D.C., provides training, research, conferences and networking for health care institutions’ public members and consumer representatives. These institutions include professional licensing boards, Quality Improvement Organizations, certifying agencies, and other health care oversight bodies. Created in the mid-1980s, CAC incorporated in January, 1994 as a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization. One of CAC’s priority projects includes the action plan “Roadmap to Continuing Competence” (released in April 2004) for institutionalizing continuing competency assessment and assurance for all health care professionals.

Commission of Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools
www.cgfns.org
The Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools (CGFNS) and the International Commission on Healthcare Professions (ICHP) is an immigration-neutral, nonprofit organization and is an internationally recognized authority on education, registration, and licensure of nurses and other healthcare professionals worldwide. CGFNS/ICHP protects the public by ensuring that nurses and other healthcare professionals educated in countries other than the United States are eligible and qualified to meet licensure, immigration and other practice requirements in the United States.

ECRI
www.ecri.org
ECRI (formerly the Emergency Care Research Institute) is a nonprofit health services research agency. Its mission is to improve the safety, quality, and cost-effectiveness of healthcare. It is widely recognized as one of the world’s leading independent organizations committed to advancing the quality of healthcare. Starting as an evaluator of medical technologies, ECRI now plays a major role in healthcare policy and research and clinical guideline development. ECRI maintains close working relationships with the European Union, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the Pan American Health Organization, the World Health Organization, and ministries of health, medical device regulatory agencies, and healthcare organizations throughout the world. It is a participant in the Global Medical Device Harmonization effort.

e-Learning Guild
www.elearningguild.com
The eLearning Guild TM is a Community of Practice for designers, developers, and managers of e-Learning. Through this member driven community we provide high-quality learning opportunities, networking services, resources, and publications. Community members represent a diverse group of instructional designers, content developers, web developers, project managers, contractors, consultants, and managers and directors of training and learning services who work in corporate, government, and academic organizations. All members share a common interest in e-Learning design, development, and management.

Federation of State Medical Boards
www.fsmb.org
The Federation of State Medical Boards of the United States, Inc., was founded in February 1912, as the result of a merger between the National Confederation of State Medical Examining and Licensing Boards (established in 1891) and the American Confederation of Reciprocating Examining and Licensing Boards (established in 1902). Before their merger, reports and recommendations by these organizations influenced the unification of preliminary medical education, prompted general adoption of full high school training as a requirement for medical school admission (which grew into the one- and two-year premedical college requirement), encouraged unifying courses of study in medical schools, encouraged a standard medical curriculum and urged minimum equipment for all medical college departments.

Human Simulation Web Community
www.simdot.org
SimDot is a multi-disciplinary community of individuals involved in Medical Simulation. SimDot was created to speed collaboration and cooperation amongst individuals active in human simulation around the world. The centerpiece of SimDot is the Simulation Library.

Infusion Nurses Certification Corporation
www.ins1.org
The Infusion Nurses Certification Corporation (INCC) exists to benefit and protect the public through assessment, validation, and documentation of the clinical eligibility and continued competency of nurses delivering infusion therapy in all practice settings. INCC supports education and ongoing research, and validates the reliability of credentialing mechanisms and their relationship to clinical practice. INCC promotes recognition of its credentialed nurses and programs to the public, to other healthcare organizations, and to the nursing profession.

Institute for Healthcare Improvement
www.ihi.org
The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) is a not-for-profit organization driving the improvement of health by advancing the quality and value of health care. Founded in 1991 and based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, IHI offers comprehensive products and services. IHI is a reliable source of energy, knowledge, and support for a never-ending campaign to improve health care worldwide. The Institute helps accelerate change in health care by cultivating promising concepts for improving patient care and turning those ideas into action.

Institute for Safe Medication Practices
www.ismp.org
The Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) is a non profit healthcare agency comprised of pharmacists, nurses, and physicians. Founded in 1994, the organization is dedicated to learning about medication errors, understanding their system-based causes, and disseminating practical recommendations that can help healthcare providers, consumers, and the pharmaceutical industry prevent errors. It is not a governmental, regulatory, licensing, inspecting or accrediting agency. It mission is to understand the causes of medication errors and provide time-critical error-reduction strategies to the healthcare community, policy makers, and the public.

Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations
www.jcaho.org
The Joint Commission evaluates and accredits more than 15,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States. An independent, not-for-profit organization, the Joint Commission is the nation’s predominant standards-setting and accrediting body in health care. Since 1951, the Joint Commission has maintained state-of-the-art standards that focus on improving the quality and safety of care provided by health care organizations. The Joint Commission’s comprehensive accreditation process evaluates an organization’s compliance with these standards and other accreditation requirements.

Joint Commission International Center for Patient Safety
www.jcipatientsafety.org
In March 2005, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations and Joint Commission Resources (JCR) announced the establishment of the Joint Commission International Center for Patient Safety, a virtual entity that draws upon the patient safety expertise, resources and knowledge of both the Joint Commission and JCR. The center will provide patient safety solutions to health care organizations worldwide. The mission of the center is: To continuously improve patient safety by providing solutions, processes and procedures that help eliminate preventable adverse events in all health care settings. The Patient Safety Center allows the Joint Commission and JCR to advance the entire continuum of patient safety including system design, product safety, safety of services, and environment of care, as well as offering proactive solutions for patient safety, whether based on empirical evidence, hard research or best practices.

Medical Group Management Association
www.mgma.org
The Medical Group Management Association (MGMA), founded in 1926, is the nation’s principal voice for medical group practice. MGMA’s 19,500 members manage and lead more than 11,500 organizations in which more than 240,000 physicians practice. MGMA’s mission is to improve the effectiveness of medical group practices and the knowledge and skills of the individuals who manage/lead them.

National Association of Boards of Pharmacy
www.nabp.net
The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) is the only professional association that represents the state boards of pharmacy in all 50 United States, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, New Zealand, eight Canadian provinces, two Australian states, and Sough Africa.

National Committee for Quality Assurance
www.ncqa.org
The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) is a private, not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving health care quality. The organization is frequently referred to as a watchdog for the managed care industry, but NCQ also recognizes individual doctors and medical groups. Employers and consumers use information provided by NQA to make more informed healthcare choices.

National Council of State Boards of Nursing
www.ncsbn.org
The National Council of State Boards of Nursing, Inc. (NCSBN) is a not-for-profit organization whose membership comprises the boards of nursing in the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and five United States territories--American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. NCSBN, composed of Member Boards, provides leadership to advance regulatory excellence for public protection. Its vision is building regulatory expertise worldwide.

National League for Nursing
www.nln.org
The history of the National League for Nursing (NLN) dates back to 1893, when the American Society of Superintendents of Training Schools for Nurses is created. This was the first organization for nursing in the United States of America. The society was formed for “the establishment and maintenance of a universal standard of training” for nursing. Ever since that remarkable stroke of courage and spirit over 100 years ago, the NLN has continued to be the leading professional association for nursing education. In 1912, the society was renamed the National League for Nursing Education (NLNE). In 1952, NLNE, the National Organization for Public Health Nursing, and Association for Collegiate Schools of Nursing combine to establish the National League for Nursing (NLN). The organization effectively assumes responsibility for accrediting nursing education programs.

National Organization for Competency Assurance
www.noca.org
Established in 1977, the National Organization for Competency Assurance (NOCA) is the leader in setting quality standards for credentialing organizations. Through its annual conference, regional seminars, and publications, NOCA serves its membership as a clearinghouse for information on the latest trends and issues of concern to practitioners and organizations focused on certification, licensure, and human resource development.

National Patient Safety Foundation
www.npsf.org
The National Patient Safety Foundation is a non-profit organization. The mission of the National Patient Safety Foundation (NPSF) is to improve the safety of patients. This is accomplished through their efforts to:

• Identify and create a core body of knowledge;
• Identify pathways to apply the knowledge;
• Develop and enhance the culture of receptivity to patient safety;
• Raise public awareness and foster communications about patient safety; and
• Improve the status of the Foundation and its ability to meet its goals.

National Quality Forum
www.qualityforum.org
The National Quality Forum (NQF) is a private, not-for-profit membership organization created to develop and implement a national strategy for healthcare quality measurement and reporting. The mission of the NQF is to improve American healthcare through endorsement of consensus-based national standards for measurement and public reporting of healthcare performance data that provide meaningful information about whether care is safe, timely, beneficial, patient-centered, equitable and efficient.

Pediatric Nursing Certification Board
www.pncb.org
PNCB's mission is to foster the delivery of high quality healthcare to pediatric patients and their families by promoting excellence among its nurse members, and it is the largest independent pediatric nursing certification organization in the country. PNCB's continuing competency recertification program offers Self-Assessment Exercises, testing updates in knowledge and skills in pediatric nursing for general practice and advanced practice PNPs.

Population Services International
www.psi.org
PSI is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C. that harnesses the vitality of the private sector to address the health problems of low-income and vulnerable populations in 70 developing countries. PSI, with programs in safe water/oral rehydration, malaria, nutrition/micronutrients, family planning and HIV/AIDS, deploys commercial marketing strategies to promote health products, services and healthy behavior that enable low-income and vulnerable people to lead healthier lives.

Society for Medical Simulation
www.socmedsim.org
The Society for Medical Simulation (SMS), was established in January 2004 to represent the rapidly growing group of educators and researchers who utilize a variety of simulation techniques for education, testing, and research in health care. The membership is united by its desire to improve performance and reduce errors in patient care using all types of simulation including task trainers, human patient simulators, virtual reality, and standardized patients. It is a broad-based, multi-disciplinary, multi-specialty, international society with ties to all medical specialties, nursing, allied health paramedical personnel, and industry.

The Cochrane Collaboration
www.cochrane.org
The Cochrane Collaboration is an international non-profit and independent organization, dedicated to making up-to-date, accurate information about the effects of healthcare readily available worldwide. It produces and disseminates systematic reviews of healthcare interventions and promotes the search for evidence in the form of clinical trials and other studies of interventions. The Cochrane Collaboration was founded in 1993 and named for the British epidemiologist, Archie Cochrane. The activities of the Collaboration are directed by an elected Steering Group and are supported by staff in Cochrane Entities (Centres, Review Groups, Methods Groups, Fields/Networks) around the world.

The Leapfrog Group for Patient Safety
www.leapfroggroup.org
The Leapfrog Group is an initiative driven by organizations that buy health care who are working to initiate breakthrough improvements in the safety, quality and affordability of healthcare for Americans. It is a voluntary program aimed at mobilizing employer purchasing power to alert America’s health industry that big leaps in health care safety, quality and customer value will be recognized and rewarded. The Leapfrog Group was founded by a small group of large employers, initially supported by the Business Roundtable (BRT) and launched in November 2000. Leapfrog is supported by the BRT, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Leapfrog members and others.

The United States Pharmacopeia
www.usp.org
In pursuit of its mission to promote public health, The United States Pharmacopeia (USP) establishes state-of-the-art standards to ensure the quality of medicines for human and veterinary use. USP also develops authoritative information about the appropriate use of medicines. Its mission is to promote the public health and benefits practitioners and patients by disseminating authoritative standards and information developed by its volunteers for medicines, other healthcare technologies, and related practices used to maintain and improve health and promote optimal healthcare delivery.

WikiHealthCare
www.usp.org
WikiHealthCare is The Joint Commission's interactive forum for health care professionals. It is designed to enable and encourage discussion and collaboration among all users for the purpose of improving health care quality. While The Joint Commission provides the forum, users of the site control its content.