| For Immediate Release | Contact: Paula Griswold |
| September 7, 2006 | 781-272-8000 Ext. 152 |
| pgriswold@macoalition.org | |
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"Dr. Goodspeed's credentials, experience and dedication to quality patient care will be invaluable as the coalition works to educate health care industry about best practices in preventing medical errors," said Paula Griswold, Executive Director, Massachusetts Coalition for the Prevention of Medical Errors.
Health care quality has been a focus of Dr. Goodspeed's work as a hospital executive for several decades. Prior to Southcoast's creation in 1996 from the merger of three area hospitals, Dr. Goodspeed had served as Charlton Memorial Hospital's President, Chief Operating Officer and Vice President of Medical Affairs. Prior to joining Charlton he served as Assistant Vice President and Medical Director at CIGNA Corporation and as Assistant Professor at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine in Farmington, Conn. In addition, Dr. Goodspeed had been in a private group practice in internal medicine. He has published more than 45 articles, abstracts and book chapters in the health care field and serves on the editorial board for the Journal of Ambulatory Care Management.
Currently, Dr. Goodspeed is Chairman of the Massachusetts Hospital Association Advisory Committee to Develop a Curriculum for Hospital Trustees on Quality and Patient Safety, and a member of the Massachusetts Executive Office of Health & Human Services team on Health Care Quality Improvement.
Dr. Goodspeed earned a medical degree from Albany Medical College of Union University and a master's degree in public health from the University of Connecticut. He is board certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine, the American Board of Medical Management and is a fellow of the American College of Physicians.
In addition to Dr. Goodspeed's election as President, the Massachusetts Coalition for the Prevention of Medical Errors also announced that it has elected the following officers:
- Mary Anna Sullivan, MD, Medical Director of Quality & Safety and Chairperson of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine at Lahey Clinic in Burlington, Mass., as Vice President.
- Joan Fitzmaurice, PhD, RN, Director of the Office of Quality & Safety at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, as Treasurer.
- Karen Boudreau, MD, Medical Director for Healthcare Quality Improvement at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, as Clerk.
- Susan Abookire, MD, MPH, Department Chair of Quality & Safety at Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, Mass.
- Maureen Connor, RN, MPH, CIC, Director of Risk Management, Infection Control & Medical Staff Services at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.
- Lucian Leape, MD, Trustee of the Cambridge Health Alliance and Adjunct Professor of Health Policy at the Harvard School of Public Health.
- Judy Levy, RN, CPHQ, Director of Quality Operations for Tufts Health Plan.
- Karen Nelson, MPA, RN, Senior Vice President of Clinical Affairs for the Massachusetts Hospital Association in Burlington, Mass.
- Charlene DeLoach, JDCISR, Director of Quality Assurance and Medical Malpractice in the Patient Care Assessment Division at the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine.
- Rula Harb, MS RN, Executive Director of the Masachusetts Board of Registration in Nursing.
- Linda Kenney, Founder & President of Medically Induced Trauma Support Services.
- Dolores Mitchell, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Group Insurance Commission.
Griswold offered thanks and paid tribute to the outgoing officers and directors, "who have provided valuable and outstanding leadership and direction for the organization and have contributed enormous amounts of time and energy to the continuing success of the Coalition."
Retiring officers and directors included Past President John Fromson, MD, Chairman, Department of Psychiatry, MetroWest Medical Center; Clerk, Leslie E. Kirle, MPH, Senior Director, Clinical Policy and Patient Advocacy, Massachusetts Hospital Association; and Directors Jackie Allard, RN, Patient Services Quality Improvement Manager, Sturdy Memorial Hospital; and Dennis G. Lyons, RPh., Vice President of Institutional Advancement, MA College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences.
About the Massachusetts Coalition for the Prevention of Medical Errors
The Massachusetts Coalition for the Prevention of Medical Errors (www.macoalition.org), initiated in 1998, is a statewide collaborative effort to improve patient safety and minimize medical errors in Massachusetts. The Coalition has some 54 member organizations, including professional and consumer organizations, policymakers, hospitals, state and federal agencies, health plans, insurers and advocacy groups from across the Commonwealth. The Coalition's work has achieved national recognition from such organizations as the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations and the Institute for Safe Medication Practices.
As testimony to its leadership, Griswold pointed to the Coalition's national recognition. In just seven years since its founding, she said, the Coalition has been recognized by major groups for its promotion of systems-oriented approaches to improving patient safety, identifying causes of medical errors, and developing and disseminating strategies for prevention.
The Joint Commission for the Accreditation of Health Care Organizations, which establishes standards for health care organizations, recognized the Coalition's work by including in its 2005 national patient safety goals two topics from a Coalition initiative with the Massachusetts Hospital Association: (1) promoting timely and reliable communication of critical test results, and (2) ensuring that medication orders in hospitals reflect home medications.
And the Institute of Safe Medication Practices, a Pennsylvania based non-profit organization that works nationally to promote medication safety efforts, presented its annual "CHEERS" awards to the Coalition in 2003 for its work to reduce medication errors throughout the state.
For more information about the Coalition, visit www.macoalition.org.
About Southcoast
Southcoast Health System, a not-for-profit charitable organization, is a community based health delivery system with multiple access points, offering an integrated continuum of advanced health services throughout Southeastern Massachusetts and East Bay, Rhode Island. It includes Southcoast Hospitals Group, formed in 1996 from the merger of Charlton Memorial Hospital in Fall River, St. Luke's Hospital in New Bedford and Tobey Hospital in Wareham.
Southcoast has more than 40 ancillary facilities, including the Southcoast Health Van, home health care, hospice and infusion services, numerous outpatient medical services, an assisted living facility and a wellness center. For more information visit www.southcoast.org.
Southcoast is one of three community hospitals approved by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health to perform open heart surgery and primary angioplasty beginning in Spring 2002.
Media Contact
Paula Griswold
Phone: 781-272-8000 Ext. 152
Fax: 781-272-0605
pgriswold@macoalition.org
