John M. Eisenberg Patient Safety and Quality Awards
2025 Application Period Open February 4 – March 31
The online platform is now open to receive applications for the 2025 Eisenberg Awards for Individual Achievement, National Level Innovation in Patient Safety and Quality and Local Level Innovation in Patient Safety and Quality categories. Additional information about these categories can be found below. We have created Application Resources to assist organizations to write, compile, and submit their applications. Learn more and visit the award application platform using the links below.
About the John M. Eisenberg Patient Safety and Quality Awards
The John M. Eisenberg Patient Safety and Quality Awards recognize major achievements by individuals and organizations to improve patient safety and health care quality.
Each year, the National Quality Forum (NQF) and the Joint Commission recognize the best examples of individual, local, and national efforts to improve patient safety and health care quality through the prestigious Eisenberg Awards. These awards bring the quality community together to honor groundbreaking initiatives that are consistent with the aims of the National Quality Strategy: better care, healthy people and communities, and smarter spending.
Launched in 2002, the awards honor the late John M. Eisenberg, MD, MBA, former administrator of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. An impassioned advocate for health care quality improvement, Dr. Eisenberg was a founding member of NQF’s board of directors.
Awards are presented in three categories:
- Individual Achievement – Individuals who have demonstrated exceptional leadership and scholarship in patient safety and health care quality through a substantive body of work
- National Level Innovation in Patient Safety and Quality – The focus of the project or initiative extends beyond local areas to being implemented across the country to achieve national impact. Original projects or initiatives involving successful system changes or interventions that make the environment of care safer, or that advocate on the patient’s behalf. These innovative projects or initiatives may address new technologies, protocols and procedures, education, organization culture, legislation, the media, patient advocacy, systems theory, etc.
- Local Level Innovation in Patient Safety and Quality – The project or initiative focuses on effecting impact at the local community, organization or regional level (e.g., statewide). Original projects or initiatives involving successful system changes or interventions that make the environment of care safer, or that advocate on the patient’s behalf. These innovative projects or initiatives may address new technologies, protocols and procedures, education, organization culture, legislation, the media, patient advocacy, and systems theory, among other areas.
Eisenberg Award Panel
A diverse panel of national patient safety and quality experts has been assembled to review the submitted applications and select the award recipients.
Previous Eisenberg Recipients
Past award winners have implemented highly effective programs to advance quality and patient safety, including initiatives to improve care coordination and substantially reduce hospital readmission rates, achieve significant decreases in hospital-acquired infections, and create robust cultures and systems of safety.
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