The John A. Hartford Foundation Trustees Award
The John A. Hartford Foundation (JAHF) selected Donald (Don) Berwick, MD, MPP, as this year’s recipient of The John A. Hartford Foundation Trustees Award for his decades of dedication to improving health care quality and safety for older adults. A long-time grantee and partner of JAHF, Dr. Berwick is internationally recognized for his work improving access to and quality of health care for all populations, and especially older adults. He has mentored scores of clinical, academic, and organizational leaders on patient safety and led the movement to identify and reduce errors in America’s health care system. He is a former Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Recently his work has focused on addressing the moral determinants of health, which include climate change and criminal justice reform, and reducing disparities in health care.
JAHF provided a series of three grants to Dr. Berwick that ultimately resulted in the founding of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) in 1991. Since its inception, IHI has been a steadfast partner of JAHF, including on the well-known Age-Friendly Health Systems initiative, which aims to ensure that older adults’ health care is based on what matters most to them.
Dr. Berwick led IHI for nearly two decades, during which the organization made strides in advancing patient safety, reducing unnecessary health care costs and improving health care quality. Several reforms in medical practice pioneered by IHI are now standard in the American health care system including guidance on handling patient falls, minimizing medical errors, and ensuring the proper use of infusion tubes in intensive care units.
John A. Hartford Foundation (New York, NY)
Contact: Clare Churchouse at 212.832.7788 or clare.churchouse@johnahartford.org.