Can you believe that summer is almost over? I was grateful to be able to travel again to see the loved ones I’ve missed so much.  I hope that you too were able to take a break for some much-needed rest and recharging as we deal with the challenges of SARS-CoV-2.   

As difficult as it continues to be, the pandemic has focused a spotlight on the vital role healthcare quality professionals must play, particularly in advancing population health and quality review and accountability. Yet these are the areas in which the healthcare quality workforce is in most need of continuing development. 

On this front, I have good news to share. NAHQ has been partnering with leading practitioners in healthcare quality to develop a solution that will empower organizations to assess and upskill their quality workforce. Building on NAHQ’s efforts for more than 40 years to help individual healthcare quality professionals develop their competencies, NAHQ has launched Workforce Accelerator. Workforce Accelerator guides organizations through a systematic approach accelerating workforce readiness to deliver on quality and patient safety. 

Workforce Accelerator is a three-phase solution that helps an organization more effectively assess, upskill, and leverage its quality workforce. The focus of these phases includes: 

  • Assessing an organization’s quality efforts and the current work of the team of quality professionals relative to NAHQ’s twice-validated Healthcare Quality Competency Framework
  • Designing a plan to address quality workforce upskilling opportunities using the eight domains of NAHQ’s Healthcare Quality Competency Framework and prioritized to organization’s goals 
  • Developing/implementing a purpose-driven multi-year upskilling plan that addresses both organizational and individual needs 

Workforce Accelerator also includes coaching and advisement provided by a NAHQ Navigator who will provide expert guidance and support in the upskilling journey. 

NAHQ is now accepting clients for the 2022 calendar year.  You can learn more on the NAHQ website or you can submit this form and a member of the NAHQ staff will reach out to you. There will also be an exciting session entitled Workforce Development: Prepare Your Team with Quality Competencies led by NAHQ Business Strategist Thom Dammrich, CPHQ, at NAHQ NEXT™, September 13th -15th. During the session, Thom will discuss the value of the Workforce Accelerator with Jaclyn Hunter and Ted Donnelly, both of whom led their own organizations’ pilot projects.  You may be interested to know that Ted has recently joined NAHQ to lead Workforce Accelerator. Ted’s transition is a testament to value of the solution and the impact it can have. 

Speaking of NAHQ NEXT, I hope you, like me, are looking forward to hearing from our diverse roster of healthcare quality professionals, emerging professionals to industry leaders, who will be sharing their learnings from this past, unprecedented year in healthcare. I will see you there!  

As always, thanks for all that you do!  

Marian Savage, PhD RN NEA-BC CPHQ PMP 
NAHQ President  

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