Institute for Healthcare Improvement: 20th National Forum on Quality Improvement in Health Care

Latest National Forum News

We are pleased to announce the 20th National Forum keynote presentations:

Donald M. Berwick, MD, MPP, President and CEO, Institute for Healthcare Improvement
Susan Dentzer, Editor-in-Chief, Health Affairs, and On-Air Health Policy Analyst, The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer on PBS
John Kitzhaber, MD, President, Estes Park Institute, is also Director for the Center for Evidence-Based Policy at Oregon Health and Science University
Dr. Hippocrates Is Out: Please Leave a Message, a multi-media and live production by famed playwright Robert Brustein and several well-known actors

Additional Updates:

Download the Forum brochure.
Complete program details will be available in early September 2008.
The National Forum has shifted days this year and will be on Monday, December 8 - Thursday, December 11. The National Forum is typically held Sunday - Wednesday.
Please click here to download a request form for meeting space at the 20^th National Forum.
Watch a brief video clip of why the National Forum is an event you should not miss!

Session "Tracks" and Themes

Take Full Advantage of the National Forum Program
There are over 200 sessions offered at the National Forum. Sessions are organized into the following "tracks," or content areas. Click on each "track" below to download the list of applicable sessions.

* New this year.

Additionally, you can organize your National Forum experience around the following themes:

Fundamentals: For first-time attendees, this series of sessions offers great ideas and tools to get started in quality improvement.
Masters: For those who have been attending for four or more years, this series of sessions will provide cutting-edge improvement strategies and tools from health care and other industries.
Students: For health professions students, we’ve selected sessions across a wide spectrum of topics and disciplines that will accelerate your capacity for quality improvement. Because more students will be attending than ever before, IHI has planned many student-centered events to help make the Forum an invaluable experience for you. Download the complete schedule of student events for more information.
Quality Improvement Research: This series of sessions introduces topics that address conceptual framework, research methods, measurement, and analysis of findings related to advancing the educational and scientific discipline of quality improvement. The Scientific Symposium is the cornerstone for this track. For details about the Symposium, visit the "Calls for Proposals" tab of this web page.

Green Initiatives

The Institute for Healthcare Improvement continues to making a concerted effort to reduce our environmental impact at the National Forum and all IHI events. In year two of this effort, you may notice the following changes:

All presentations made available to IHI by faculty before the conference will be available on the "Meeting Materials" tab of these web pages. Attendees can download handouts before the conference or on-site during the Forum using the high-speed wireless access available in all meeting space at the conference hotel. We encourage attendees to bring their laptops to their sessions to make notes and view presentations more closely. Meeting rooms will be set with work tables whenever possible.
Attendees will be given a jump drive, preloaded with all meeting materials, at registration. Paper handouts will not be provided for any session. If you would like a paper handout, a printing kiosk will be available on-site.
Tote bags will not be distributed to attendees at registration. Instead, optional printed materials will be available on stands in the registration area and a recycled, reusable bag will be available to attendees when requested.
Reusable water bottles will be distributed to each attendee in an effort to reduce paper and plastic waste.
We are currently working with the conference hotel to eliminate waste from paper and plastic food packaging and to use local and organic food products whenever possible.
Food not consumed by attendees will be donated to a local food bank.
Exhibit Hall give-aways and other meeting materials that are not taken will be donated to local elementary and middle schools.
Recycling containers will be made available for recyclable meeting materials and catering items.
Transportation to and from the airport will be available to attendees in an effort to offset our carbon footprint by ridesharing. Please visit the "Hotel & Travel" tab of this web page to sign-up for a shuttle upon your arrival.
Information on how to off-set the carbon from airline travel will be available at the Green Booth.

Our Green Booth will make a repeat appearance in 2008. We encourage you to stop by to give us your feedback, get more information about IHI’s efforts, and learn how you can reduce your impact on the environment when you return home.