Dear Colleagues,

We have good news to share. The American Hospital Association has honored The Johns Hopkins Hospital with one of its prestigious 2004 Quest for Quality prizes, rewarding us for the excellence of our patient safety efforts. JHH was one of only four finalists out of a field of 70 and one of only three to earn a cash award, which will be used for further patient safety initiatives at Johns Hopkins Medicine this year.

Representatives of JHM’s patient safety enterprise will travel to the AHA Health Forum Leadership Summit July 25 in San Diego to receive the award, which cites our patient safety programs’ strong leadership and staff involvement....strong commitment to... structured processes for innovation and exploration of potential safety improvements.”

We welcome this recognition, and are proud of the progress we are making every day to keep our patients—and our caregivers—safe. We also are well aware that we earned this award only because so many of you are committed to creating the safest possible place of healing for our patients, no matter what it takes. There is no higher priority for us and it is gratifying to know that we have a strong team in place to reach our safety goals. Congratulations to all of you!