IHI Forum Addresses AI, Climate, Equity, and Other Top Health Care Challenges

Health care professionals learn and share innovative approaches to improve health and health care at 35^th annual conference

The 2023 IHI Forum kicked-off today with a provocative keynote address by Dr. Kedar Mate, President and CEO of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI). Dr. Mate focused on the importance of finding a sense of purpose as health care professionals. He implored clinicians, quality leaders, administrators, safety professionals, and medical students in the audience to take back our system and restore our purpose, and in doing so, help define a new frontier in health care quality.

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IHI President and CEO Dr. Kedar Mate kicks off the 35th annual IHI Forum (Photo: Business Wire)

“In my clinical life, I feel my sense of purpose challenged on a regular basis,” said Dr. Mate. “Our health care system has become extractive – not giving but squeezing as much as it can out of every clinical exchange and interaction. Forcing false choices – volume or value, mission or margin, staff or community, safety or equity, profit or purpose. How might we build a health and care environment that trusts us, patients and clinicians, and optimizes for our original and intended purpose? Over the years, IHI has had the privilege of working with many organizations that have taken steps towards this future, and this is the new frontier in quality.”

To hear Dr. Mate’s full remarks on the future of health care quality, and all of the keynote addresses at the IHI Forum, a livestream option is available.

The IHI Forum is the longest running gathering focused on quality improvement in health care, bringing together clinicians, leaders, researchers, students, and improvers from more than 50 countries. Now in its 35^th year, the IHI Forum connects and energizes health care professionals while equipping them with practical tools and insights to make health care better, safer, and more equitable for all.

This year’s IHI Forum features 180+ learning sessions led by 400 presenters on pressing health care topics including health equity, patient and workforce safety, improvement science, and building improvement capability. A core attraction at the conference is the Forum Hall, which includes exhibitors, Innovation Theater presentations, improvement project posters, and the Forum Café & Bookstore. Forum Hall Parks are a new feature this year, offering a variety of unique networking and learning opportunities.

An impressive lineup of Forum keynote speakers are sharing their deep expertise in critical issues of our time: artificial intelligence (AI) in health care, climate and the environment, and health equity. IHI’s work in these areas is also prominently featured at the Forum.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Health Care

• Peter Lee, PhD, Corporate VP of Research and Incubations at Microsoft, will deliver a keynote address on December 13 at 8:00 AM ET on the topic of AI in health care. Dr. Lee coauthored the book, “The AI Revolution in Medicine: GPT-4 and Beyond.”
• Two sessions will help attendees understand and navigate this emerging technology. A24: When AI Meets QI shares guidance on how to apply the new generation of generative AI tools in QI-related use cases, and the risks and concerns that accompany such work. RS02: Is Healthcare Really Behind in Tech explores the current state of AI in routine acute care operations at Tampa General Hospital.
• A Forum Leadership Summit will explore the application of AI techniques to patient safety systems. This dynamic conversation is informed by learnings from two recent IHI innovations cycles and the influence of vanguard improvers around the world.

Climate and Health Care

• Erin Brockovich, environmental activist, consumer advocate, and author, delivered a powerful keynote address last night. She encouraged everyone to make a difference in their own backyard by reporting contamination and other issues to help improve the health of their communities.
• The Decarbonizing Care Learning Community Celebration takes place at 6:00 PM ET today, recognizing the work of 14 health systems that tested strategies to lower carbon emissions from clinical care. Coming out of the year-long Learning Community, 16 clinical decarbonization projects are underway, with more than half already documenting reductions in carbon emitting activities.
• The IHI Open School announced a course available early next year to provide foundational education on this critical topic: Decarbonizing Care 101: Introduction to Climate Change and Human Health.
• Additional Forum sessions focus on strategies for achieving health care decarbonization, net-zero emissions, and clinician-led action on climate change.

Health Equity

• Allyson Felix, decorated Olympian and maternal rights advocate, is the featured keynote speaker today at 3:30 PM ET. Ms. Felix will be interviewed onstage by Akilah Johnson, Washington Post national reporter focusing on health disparities.
• IHI-led collaboratives to reduce maternal mortality in Brazil, Mozambique, and Colombia were described in Forum session SH12: International Learnings in Maternal Mortality Reduction Across Care Settings.
• Leading stakeholders were convened by IHI at the Forum to share best practices and coordinate efforts to address the worsening maternal mortality crisis in the U.S.
• IHI’s new framework to guide the work of leaders with responsibility for system-wide equity at health care delivery organizations was the focus of MH04: Leadership for Health Equity—a 3-hour workshop held yesterday with an overflow crowd.
• Rise to Health: A National Coalition for Equity in Health Care shares actionable learnings in two Forum sessions today (RS05 and A07). The Rise to Health Coalition, which was first announced at the 2022 IHI Forum, is co-led by IHI, the American Medical Association (AMA), and others to bring together individuals and organizations to transform health care through coordinated and collective action.

The IHI Forum also includes multiple tracks and nearly 55 sessions and workshops addressing patient safety, workforce safety, and workforce well-being, including:

• SH01: Safety & Quality said, "I Do!": The National Action Plan and Whole System Quality Take the Next Step – This interactive session introduced participants to the opportunity for operationalizing the National Action Plan to Advance Patient Safety (NAP) via Whole System Quality (WSQ).
• RS07: The Value of CPPS Certification: Building Safety Competencies Across the Workforce – Given the urgent need to reset and strengthen safety, this session provides timely and practical tools and resources for fortifying the safety capabilities of the health care workforce.
• C12: Nurse-led Care Solutions to Improve Patient Care and Workforce Vitality – This session will highlight nurse-led initiatives and resources for staffing, care delivery innovation, and fostering cultures and healthy work environments that are necessary for safe and quality care, well-being, retention, and engagement.

Success and learnings from the Age-Friendly Health Systems (AFHS) movement – which now includes more than 3,400 sites recognized by IHI for providing 4Ms care to 2.7 million older adults – are featured in several IHI Forum sessions. A half-day workshop (MHOO) included a robust panel of researchers who shared emerging findings to help attendees understand how health systems are implementing the 4Ms framework, and the impact of those efforts on outcomes for older adults. Additional sessions include A02: Caring for Caregivers within Age-Friendly Health Systems; and D23: Scaling & Spreading 4Ms Care: Successes & Challenges in Leading a VA Age-Friendly Action Community.

Graduating IHI Fellows were celebrated at the IHI Fellowship Graduation and Networking Reception last evening, and the new cohort of the IHI Fellowship program was welcomed. IHI also recognized the first recipients of the new Berwick & Bisognano IHI Scholarship Fund for Emerging Leaders, which supports leaders of color and those representing populations that have been historically overlooked and undervalued. IHI awarded scholarships to five individuals, representing four countries, who have joined the new cohort of Fellows. Former IHI Presidents Dr. Don Berwick and Maureen Bisognano, for whom the new scholarship is named, were also honored at the gathering.

Please visit ihi.org for more information about the IHI Forum or to register for the livestream. Journalists wishing to access the livestream should contact Joanna Clark at joanna@cxocommunication.com.

About the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI)

The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) is an independent not-for-profit organization based in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. For more than 30 years, IHI has used improvement science to advance and sustain better outcomes in health and health systems across the world. IHI brings awareness of safety and quality to millions, catalyzes learning and the systematic improvement of care, develops solutions to previously intractable challenges, and mobilizes health systems, communities, regions, and nations to reduce harm and deaths. IHI collaborates with a growing community to spark bold, inventive ways to improve the health of individuals and populations. IHI generates optimism, harvests fresh ideas, and supports anyone, anywhere who wants to profoundly change health and health care for the better. Learn more at ihi.org.

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