New award gives important recognition for achievement in patient engagement (nominations now open)

Some truly amazing and inspiring work is being done to advance patient engagement. Now there is a prestigious new award to recognize it.

The new John Q. Sherman Award for Excellence in Patient Engagement was just announced this week by Standard Register Healthcare in partnership with the National Patient Safety Foundation’s Lucian Leape Institute.

The award will be conferred at the 2014 NPSF Patient Safety Congress in Orlando in May and award-winning programs will be featured on EngagingPatients.org. [Disclaimer: I am an advisor and writer for EngagingPatients.org and am involved with the creation of the award.]

John King, President of Standard Register Healthcare, said the award was created to recognize those individuals and health care provider institutions that are changing the face of health care:

“The intent of the John Q. Sherman Award is to both recognize and inspire people and organizations to share their work. By spotlighting best practices in patient and family engagement, we have the opportunity to accelerate the transformation in care delivery and make a measurable difference in people’s recovery and well-being."

The John Q. Sherman Award for Excellence in Patient Engagement will be presented in two categories — one for a health care institution and one for an individual.

• The Institution award recognizes a health care provider institution or organization that has made dynamic innovations or advancements in patient engagement.
• The Individual award recognizes an individual or small group that worked together, clinician or patient who has demonstrated the qualities and characteristics in their community, in education or within the health care setting.

Nominations are due by March 28. Submit now!

John Q. Sherman, founder of Standard Register in Dayton, Ohio.

The award is named after Standard Register founder Sherman, who was a leading philanthropist in Dayton, Ohio, with a deep commitment to health care and his community. At the onset of the Great Depression in 1928, Sherman led a campaign to raise over $1 million in just 30 days to build Good Samaritan Hospital in Dayton. He left a legacy that lives on today through the company’s support of Dayton’s Samaritan Homeless Clinic, in the launching of EngagingPatients.org and now through the John Q. Sherman Award program.