Scottsdale Healthcare has been selected to participate in National Initiative IV: Achieving Mastery of CLER, the first national multi-institutional effort focused on aligning medical education with hospital quality and safety strategies.

Sponsored by the Alliance of Independent Academic Medical Centers (AIAMC), a national membership organization based in Chicago, the Initiative provides critical education, team training and support to participating hospitals, and equips participants with the tools and infrastructure necessary to accomplish meaningful improvements in their home institutions. Thirty-five AIAMC member and non-member hospitals and health systems were selected to participate.

Scottsdale Healthcare was selected based on its demonstrated leadership in using medical education as a key driver to improve the quality of patient care and strong commitment to mastering the ACGME’s new Clinical Learning Environment Review (CLER) process. Scottsdale Healthcare is an accredited teaching hospital, and its Family Medicine Residency Program was established in 1974 to help meet the need for primary care physicians in the greater Phoenix area.

The CLER program is designed to evaluate the level of institutional responsibility for the quality and safety of the learning and patient care environment, and NI IV will provide teams the training and guidance necessary to a) identify strengths and weaknesses across the six focus areas, b) prioritize areas for improvement, c) outline, streamline and implement improvement strategies, and, d) significantly and measurably advance the institutional level of preparedness.

A leadership team from Scottsdale Healthcare will collaborate with select hospitals from across the United States in designing and implementing a quality improvement project. Participants will attend four on-site meetings as well as monthly conference calls and webinars during the 18-month period of the National Initiative. The team from Scottsdale Healthcare includes:

·         Team Leader Dr. Moe Bell, associate program director, Scottsdale Healthcare Family Medicine Residency Program
·         Dr. Charles Finch, chief academic officer, Scottsdale Healthcare
·         Dr. Cindy Kegowicz, director, Scottsdale Healthcare Family Medicine Residency Program
·         Dr. James Burke, senior vice president and chief medical officer, Scottsdale Healthcare
·         Todd LaPorte, chief financial officer, Scottsdale Healthcare
·         Dr. Greg Alaestante, Scottsdale Healthcare Family Medicine resident
·         Dr. Lafe Harris, Scottsdale Healthcare Family Medicine resident
·         Susan Weisman, supervisor, Scottsdale Healthcare Graduate Medical Education
·         Wendy Hardina, program coordinator, Scottsdale Healthcare Family Medicine Residency Program

“AIAMC members recognize that part of our responsibility as medical educators is to train the next generation of practicing physicians,” said AIAMC Executive Director Kimberly Pierce-Boggs. “The teaching faculty and residents in our participating institutions will be uniquely trained as leaders and communicators, and this training will ultimately have a most positive impact upon the patients we serve.”

The Alliance of Independent Academic Medical Centers was founded in 1989. Its membership includes 82 major academic medical centers and health systems representing more than 750 senior medical academic leaders from Seattle to Maine. Membership in the association is unique in that AIAMC members are affiliated with medical schools but are independent of medical school ownership or governance. AIAMC members regard medical education and research as strategic assets in providing patient-centered care. For more information on the AIAMC and its National Initiative, visit www.aiamc.org.

Scottsdale Healthcare is a community-based, non-profit health system that includes Scottsdale Healthcare Thompson Peak Hospital, Scottsdale Healthcare Shea Medical Center and Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn Medical Center, the Virginia G. Piper Cancer Center at Scottsdale Healthcare, Scottsdale Healthcare Primary Care centers, the Scottsdale Healthcare Research Institute and other entities. A leader in medical innovation, talent and technology, Scottsdale Healthcare was founded in 1962 and based in Scottsdale, Ariz. For more information, visit www.shc.org.