Dr. Winnie Suen, a professor at the Boston University School of Medicine, was admitted to the Innovations Advisors Program to help improve patient care earlier this month.
Suen received notice on Jan. 3 that she will become one of the 73 advisors in the program, which is part of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. She will work at both BUSM and Boston Medical Center with patients who have pressure ulcers.
“I think the issue is that the quality of care in our country isn’t great compared to the money we are putting in,” she said. “I think the goal is to figure out how to improve the quality of care while still being mindful of costs.”
Suen will travel to Baltimore next week for the first Innovation Advisor meeting.
The advisors receive stipends for their endeavors as part of the Affordable Care Act, according to a press release from the center. Boston Medical Center received $20,000 to cover Suen’s travel and project expenses.
“The project focuses on reducing pressure ulcers in the Critical Care Units to improve care of patients, encourage a quality improvement culture and decrease healthcare costs,” Suen said in an email interview.
Patients with pressure ulcers can cost Massachusetts hospitals anywhere from $2,728 to $22,124 per ulcer, Suen said.
The program, established in October, aims to refine the American healthcare system through individual practices, according to the website.
In a YouTube video about the applications, former administrator Don Berwick said the center is becoming a home for innovation, discovery and learning throughout the country, helping to provide better care and lower costs.
“The innovation Center itself is a tremendous resource for America,” Berwick said.
In her application, Suen wrote she wanted to work with the program to gain insight into how to improve health and care for patients while lowering their overall costs.
“What draws me to the Innovation Advisors Program is the opportunity to enhance and expand my existing skills and knowledge in quality improvement, as well as build peer and senior mentorships,” she said.
Berwick called the advisors “stewards” of the changes needed with patient care.
“They are people selected because they’re in a position to help learn approaches to improvements in change and then carry those messages back into their organizations and their regions,” he said.
Suen said she would like to teach healthcare trainees and staff how to deliver and contribute to safe care, as well as advising others on institutional team-based projects.
For now she will continue to work locally, but hopes to work with others throughout the region and the nation to provide better care for patients and their families.
“I’m hoping to learn, bring it back here while I’m going through my projects, teach other people, learn from that and then work on other projects,” she said.
This is an account occasionally used by the Daily Free Press editors to post archived posts from previous iterations of the site or otherwise for special circumstance publications. See authorship info on the byline at the top of the page.
