I was honored to celebrate the success of the Jewish Healthcare Foundation, Pittsburgh Regional Health Initiative and Health Careers Future today as we cut the ribbon for their new QIT Center. What better way to mark the holiday season than to look toward the future with hope for an organization and people focused on changing the face of health care as we know it. Through the use of new technology, QIT will be training health care professionals in the latest, most innovate ways to care for us and our families, which will lead to better outcomes.
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Contact:
Karen Poirier
Jewish Healthcare Foundation
412-594-2586 or 412-266-0392 (mobile)
Poirier@jhf.org
Available for Interviews:
Karen Wolk Feinstein, President & CEO, JHF
Jay Costa, PA State Senator
Rich Fitzgerald, Allegheny County Executive
Other speakers upon request
Allegheny County and Jewish Healthcare Foundation Unwrap a “Gift that Will Keep on Giving” to the Pittsburgh Region
PITTSBURGH — DECEMBER 5, 2012 —Some holiday gifts are more memorable than others. This year, Allegheny County gave funds to the Jewish Healthcare Foundation (JHF) to offer our region a present that will benefit healthcare consumers in the community: The QIT Center. JHF matched funds granted by the Allegheny County Community Infrastructure and Tourism Fund to establish the Center. It is a physical and virtual space dedicated to training the frontline healthcare workforce in Quality Improvement (QI) using Information Technology (IT) for providing safe and efficient care. Pennsylvania State Senator Jay Costa and Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald will be on hand to cut the ribbon at the Opening Program on Wednesday, December 5, 2012, at the new facility in downtown Pittsburgh.
In an era of rapidly advancing technology, increasing complexity in medicine and escalating costs, the practical application of information technology will drive Quality Improvement. And the passage of the Affordable Care Act and the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act have accelerated the need for new skills in the healthcare workforce.
Karen Wolk Feinstein, President and CEO of the Jewish Healthcare Foundation and of the Pittsburgh Regional Health Initiative, said, “Care is more complex and service providers must meet new requirements for safety and quality of care. Current and future healthcare workers at all levels of the system need new skills to use IT for QI effectively to accomplish those goals. So we built the QIT Center –Where QI meets IT – to serve that need in our region.”
A variety of programs and curricula will be offered through QIT for healthcare executives, managers, administrators, service providers, front line workers, students in health professions, as well as data analysts, health informaticists, and technology professionals who are passionate about quality improvement in health care.
Besides serving Southwestern Pennsylvania, the QIT Center aims for regional, national and global reach. Experts and thought leaders from service environments, academia, research and public health communities will come together in the physical space and in virtual communities for discussion, research, and training. The opening program on December 5th highlights the QIT Center’s national and global reach by including featured guest speakers speaking remotely from Israel and Washington, DC, in addition to regional leaders, commenting on the theme, “The Impact and Influence of Information Technology on Quality Improvement.”
A flagship program of the Center, the QIT Health Innovators Fellowship, will be announced at the event. The fellowship will satisfy a widespread interest in inventing “IT Solutions” to advance healthcare quality improvement among graduate students in the health professions. An intensive, ten-week program, the fellowship will consist of five biweekly sessions beginning in February 2013. In the final session, teams will demonstrate their proposed solution to a judging panel which will award a prize to the winning team.
QIT builds on the legacy of the Jewish Healthcare Foundation (JHF) and the progress it has made through its operating arms, the Pittsburgh Regional Health Initiative and Health Careers Futures, organizations which have been at the forefront of innovation in QI. They have been recognized not only for thought leadership but also for real-world results, garnering awards from the White House and around the globe. With QIT, the missions of all three organizations converge at a time when there is an explosion of progress in healthcare quality improvement, health informatics, and a changing workforce.
The QIT Center is located on the located on the 26th floor roof garden of Centre City Tower in downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It shares the space with the Three Rivers Workforce Investment Board, strengthening opportunities for partnership in healthcare workforce development.
About The Jewish Healthcare Foundation
The Jewish Healthcare Foundation (JHF) and its two operating arms, the Pittsburgh Regional Health Initiative and Health Careers Futures, are located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and serve a national and global audience. Collectively, they focus on improving the quality, efficiency, and safety of healthcare organizations. JHF recently matched funds granted from the Allegheny County Community Infrastructure and Tourism Fund to establish the first Quality Improvement Meets Information Technology (QIT) Center for healthcare managers, service providers, students, consumers, data and technology professionals, and governing boards who are passionate about quality improvement in healthcare.