Oak Brook, IL -- The Joint Commission and Joint Commission Resources (JCR) announce that the 13th Annual Ambulatory Care Conference: Quality and Safety, The Passwords to Success, will be held October 2-3, 2008, and the Pre Conferences: Bringing You Up to Speed and Sustaining Momentum, will be held October 1, 2008, at the Westin River North Hotel, in Chicago, Ill. JCR is a not-for-profit affiliate of The Joint Commission.

"The rapid growth in Ambulatory Care presents an exciting time for providers, and these conferences present organizations with critical information needed to succeed in their practices," says Michael Kulczycki, M.B.A., executive director, Ambulatory Care, The Joint Commission. "I encourage ambulatory care providers to join the outstanding group of presenters at this year's conference to explore the issues affecting ambulatory care including explosive growth, competitive pressure in the marketplace and how the path to quality can improve their bottom line."

This year's Annual Conference will focus on new Joint Commission initiatives and creating a culture of superior customer service that includes demonstrating quality of care to payers, regulatory agencies and managed care organizations. Attendees will learn from their peers who will lead separate track sessions addressing the special concerns of ambulatory surgery centers, free standing ambulatory care centers and hospital-based ambulatory care. This is a chance to learn from colleagues whose organizations are successfully addressing challenging standards and implementing the National Patient Safety Goals. Attendees will receive a CD-ROM filled with tools and forms that the presenters are already using in their organizations.
The keynote address at the Annual Conference will be given by Mark Chassin, M.D., M.P.P., M.P.H., president, The Joint Commission. Another highlight includes author Kristin Baird, R.N., M.S.N., M.H.A., who will discuss her book Customer Service in Health Care: A Grassroots Approach to Creating a Culture of Service Excellence, and whether customer service in health care is an oxymoron.

The pre-conference Sustaining Momentum will focus on Joint Commission initiatives that affect hospital-based ambulatory care organizations,
while the pre-conference Bringing You Up to Speed will focus on the needs of free-standing ambulatory care and surgery centers. Both pre-conference sessions will focus on the changes to the standards as a result of the Standards Improvement Initiative, survey process updates for 2009, and the 2009 National Patient Safety Goals specific to their audiences.

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