7:30am – 8:15am
Conference Registration & Networking Breakfast 

8:15am – 8:30am
Chairperson’s Opening Remarks 

8:30am – 9:15am
Connecting Silos of Patient Safety and Experience
Healthcare organizations often approach patient safety and patient experience as separate priorities, yet the two are deeply interconnected. This engaging presentation will explore the critical relationship between Patient-Reported Experience Measures (PREMs) and patient safety outcomes, using real-world examples and evidence to demonstrate how improved communication, trust, and engagement directly enhance safety. Participants will gain actionable-insights and strategies to integrate PREMs into safety initiatives, fostering a holistic approach to quality improvement. An interactive case study session will ensure attendees leave with practical tools to drive transformation in their organizations. Join us to uncover how breaking down silos between safety and experience can transform health and care and create better outcomes for all.

Learning Objectives:

1. Understand the connection between Patient-Reported Experience Measures (PREMs) and patient safety outcomes, supported by current research and evidence.
2. Identify shared drivers of safety and experience, such as effective communication, patient engagement, and trust, and their impact on care quality.
3. Apply integrated strategies for leveraging PREMs to enhance safety initiatives, using actionable tools and real-world case study insights.

Laura Cooley, PhD
Editor-In-Chief
The Journal of Patient Experience 

9:15am – 10:00am
Empathetic Boundary Setting – The Balance Between Workplace Violence and Patient Experience
Workplace violence is a serious and growing problem in the healthcare sector, affecting the safety and well-being of healthcare workers and patients. Healthcare workers also need to provide good patient experience, which involves empathy, compassion, respect, and communication. How can healthcare workers balance these two needs? This presentation will provide verbiage, guidelines, and strategies to help healthcare workers set empathetic boundaries with patients and others, while maintaining a positive and professional relationship. Setting empathetic boundaries can help healthcare workers enhance their communication, safe care with patients and their visitors, as well as improve the overall patient experience. Importantly, it can also help healthcare workers improve their job satisfaction, performance, and well-being by providing them the support and tools needed to work through these all to common problems. 

Paul S. Kuzmickas, JD
Director | Quality, Safety, and Patient Experience
Cleveland Clinic 

10:00am – 10:30am
Networking & Refreshments Break 

10:30am – 11:15am
Implementing a Comprehensive Safety Program – From Strategy to Execution
This session will provide a deep dive into developing and implementing an effective organizational safety program. Participants will learn proven approaches for assessing current state, designing improvement initiatives and driving sustainable change. The session will incorporate real-world examples and lessons learned from successful programs. Case studies will illustrate common pitfalls and practical solutions for program execution. The session will provide frameworks and templates that can be immediately applied to advance safety work.

Learning Objectives:

– Develop a strategic framework for comprehensive safety program development

– Master practical tools and methods for implementing safety initiatives

– Learn effective approaches for engaging stakeholders and building buy-in

– Create action plans for advancing safety work in your organization

Tammy Awald
Vice President of Quality, Patient Safety, and Risk Management
Franciscan Alliance  

11:15am – 12:00pm

Jatin Dave, MBBS, MPH, FACP
Chief Medical Officer
MassHealth 

12:00pm – 12:45pm
Addressing Workforce Wellbeing and Burnout
Healthcare worker burnout directly impacts patient safety yet traditional approaches often fall short. This thought-provoking session examines the inextricable link between workforce wellbeing and safe care delivery. Through analysis of successful programs, discover holistic approaches for supporting healthcare workers while maintaining safety standards. The discussion explores how organizations can create sustainable solutions that address both individual and system-level factors affecting workforce resilience.

Kathy Denton, PhD, CPHQ, SSBB, CPXP
Director, Patient Experience
MDAnderson Cancer Center  

12:45pm – 1:45pm
Luncheon 

1:45pm – 2:45pm
Panel: Leading Safety Transformation – Executive Perspectives on Creating Lasting Change
This dynamic panel brings together healthcare executives who have successfully led major safety transformation initiatives. Senior leaders will share candid insights about overcoming resistance, sustaining momentum and embedding safety into organizational strategy. The discussion will explore critical success factors for safety leadership while addressing common pitfalls and practical solutions. Audience members will have the opportunity to engage panelists in dialogue about their most pressing safety leadership challenges.

Panelists:
Tammy Awald
Vice President of Quality, Patient Safety, and Risk Management
Franciscan Alliance

Sarah Hanak, MSN, RN
System Chief Nursing Officer
Citizens Memorial Hospital | Citizens Memorial Health Care Foundation 

Kannan Ramar, MD
Chief Patient Safety Officer
Mayo Clinic

2:45pm – 3:15pm
Networking & Refreshments Break 

3:15pm – 4:00pm
Making High Reliability Work in Everyday Practice
Moving from high-reliability theory to practice requires concrete tools and systematic approaches. This interactive session showcases practical methods for operationalizing high-reliability concepts in everyday work at the direct care lines. Will provide insight on how use of engagement tactics, specific tools and ongoing training led to increases in safety culture and situational awareness. Real examples will demonstrate how organizations have successfully embedded reliability principles into standard work while maintaining efficiency.

Sarah Hanak, MSN, RN
System Chief Nursing Officer
Citizens Memorial Hospital | Citizens Memorial Health Care Foundation 

4:00pm – 4:45pm
TBD

4:45pm
End of Day One

7:30am – 8:15am
Networking Breakfast 

8:15am – 8:30am
Chairperson’s Remarks 

8:30am – 9:15am
Evolving Healthcare Event Analysis for Modern Challenges
Traditional approaches to incident investigation are evolving toward more nuanced methods that consider system complexity and human factors. This engaging session will introduce emerging frameworks for safety event analysis that move beyond simple cause-and-effect thinking. Drawing from high-reliability industries, discover how healthcare organizations are adopting sophisticated approaches to understanding and learning from safety events. Examples will illustrate how leading institutions are implementing these new methodologies to drive meaningful improvement. 

Session Objectives

1. Introduce emerging frameworks for safety event analysis that account for system complexity and human factors.
2. Compare traditional cause-and-effect models with advanced methodologies from high-reliability industries.
3. Showcase practical applications and examples from leading healthcare institutions to illustrate these approaches in action.

Key Takeaways

• Traditional cause-and-effect models are insufficient for modern healthcare challenges.
• Emerging frameworks like Safety-II and Systems Thinking offer a more comprehensive understanding of safety events.
• Adopting methods from high-reliability industries can significantly improve patient safety outcomes.

Lori Noel, MSN, RN, CNL, CNOR
Director – Quality & Performance Improvement
System Employee Health, Urgent Care & Occupational Health
Ochsner Health

9:15am – 10:00am
Patient Partnership: Elevating the Voice of Lived Experience in Safety Work
Meaningful patient engagement can dramatically enhance safety improvement efforts. This compelling session showcases innovative approaches for partnering with patients and families in safety initiatives. Through powerful stories and examples, participants will explore effective methods for incorporating patient perspectives into safety work. The discussion will address practical considerations for patient partnership while highlighting successful models from leading organizations.

Barbara Burnes, MS, RN, CPXP
Director
Atrium Health 

10:00am – 10:30am
Networking & Refreshments Break 

10:30am – 11:15am
Building Psychological Safety: The Foundation for High Reliability Organizations
Creating an environment where staff feel safe to speak up about safety concerns represents a cornerstone of reliable healthcare delivery. This dynamic session examines proven strategies for fostering psychological safety across all levels of the organization. A leading safety culture expert will share insights on breaking down hierarchical barriers that impede open communication. Through interactive discussion, participants will explore effective approaches for encouraging error reporting and promoting a just culture. Key takeaways include:

– Practical tools for measuring and improving psychological safety

– Leadership behaviors that reinforce speaking up

– Methods for addressing disruptive behaviors that threaten safety culture

– Strategies for embedding psychological safety in daily operations

Kannan Ramar, MD
Chief Patient Safety Officer
Mayo Clinic 

11:15am – 12:00pm
Health Equity as a Safety Imperative: Addressing Disparities in Care Quality
Safety initiatives must explicitly consider equity to ensure all patients receive reliably safe care. This crucial session examines the intersection of health equity and patient safety while providing practical approaches for identifying and addressing disparities. Through analysis of successful programs, participants will learn methods for incorporating equity considerations into safety work. The presenter will share frameworks for equitable safety event review and improvement planning.

Sharon Ostfeld-Johns
Assistant Professor
Yale New Haven Health

12:00pm
Conference Concludes

Workshop: Making Sense of the new CMS Patient Safety Structural Measure – From Assessment to Action
In this workshop, attendees will participate in a deep dive into the new Patient Safety Structural Measure to deepen understanding of the why, what, and how of this new and significant quality and patient safety metric bound for public reporting. Recommendations for how to efficiently complete hospital and system-wide gap analyses will be shared and strategies to close gaps will be reviewed. The timeline for this new pay-for-reporting measure will be discussed and how quality, safety, and high reliability leaders can educate their organizations from the boardroom to the bedside will be discussed.

Vikki Choate, DNP, MSN, RN, NEA-BC, CPHQ, CPPS
Principal | Quality, Safety and High Reliability
Huron Consulting Group 

Maureen Hydok, RN, MBA
Healthcare Sr. Director
Huron Consulting Group