Quality Advisor

2026 WHA Excellence in Quality and Patient Safety Award

Shine a Light on Your Team’s Commitment to Quality and Safety

This annual recognition celebrates hospitals and health systems across Wisconsin for their outstanding efforts to improve patient care, safety and outcomes.

This is your chance to share your story, inspire others and highlight the meaningful work your team is doing to advance health care quality and safety. All WHA member hospitals are eligible to apply.

Participating hospitals will benefit from:

• Statewide media coverage showcasing your organization’s achievements
• Recognition at WHA’s annual awards banquet, celebrating the winners in each category
• An opportunity to present your project storyboard at the 2026 Advocacy Day Quality Poster Showcase in February

Application Deadline is Friday, November 21, 2025, at 5:00 p.m. (CT)

Visit WHA Quality & Patient Safety Awards for eligibility details and criteria. To apply, submit this application form. We look forward to celebrating your innovation and impact!

Caring for Wisconsin’s Caregivers – Health Workforce Well-Being Initiative Webinar Recap

On November 19, WHA hosted Dr. Mike Stadler (AHW Landmark Champion), Nadine Allen (Chief Quality Officer, WHA), Corey Feist (CEO & Co-Founder, Dr. Lorna Breen Foundation) and Dr. Stefanie Simmons (CMO, Dr. Lorna Breen Foundation) as they shared the five-year vision for the Caring for Wisconsin’s Caregivers Health Workforce Well-Being Initiative.

Dr. Stadler highlighted partnerships with WHA, the Dr. Lorna Breen Foundation and now—after today—all of you, to advance landmark workforce initiatives. Nadine Allen emphasized WHA’s long-standing commitment to workforce recruitment, retention and sustainable solutions for Wisconsin’s health care system.

Corey Feist shared a deeply personal story about Dr. Lorna Breen, his sister-in-law, who feared seeking mental health treatment due to professional stigma. Despite reluctantly seeking help, concerns about her reputation persisted, and she ultimately died by suicide, highlighting this national crisis.

Dr. Simmons outlined the phases of this work. The initiative focuses on three key areas:

• Break down barriers to care for health care workers
• Learn the well-being systems approach
• Integrate well-being into operational improvement

Together, we can reduce burnout, eliminate stigma and safeguard clinician well-being across Wisconsin.

Watch the webinar recording and view the slides here.

To stay connected or to learn more, visit WHA - Caring for Wisconsin’s Caregivers: Health Workforce Well-Being.

Save the date: Caring for Wisconsin’s Caregivers Well-Being First Champion Challenge for Credentialing Kickoff.

Join us on January 14, 2026, from 12-1:00 p.m. CT for the official launch of the Credentialing Challenge, a statewide effort to ensure credentialing applications are free from stigmatizing language and promote mental health support for health care workers. Registration details coming soon.

Intended audience CMOs, Medical Staff Services/credentialing team colleagues, and others leading workforce well-being efforts in hospitals, health systems and organizations.

National Rural Health Day is November 20

Wisconsin’s rural communities are more than wonderful places to live, work and visit—they’re home to innovative and affordable primary care.

We celebrate and honor the community-minded, “can-do” spirit that makes rural Wisconsin hospitals and health care strong.

The Joint Commission National Patient Safety Goals Replaced with National Performance Goals

Joint Commission’s “National Performance Goals” (NPG) chapter for accredited hospitals and critical access hospitals will become effective on Jan. 1, 2026. This chapter will replace the current “National Patient Safety Goals” (NPSG) chapter. While the NPG chapter is new, no new requirements have been introduced.

The NPGs consolidate existing requirements that rise above regulation—excluding the “Medical Staff” (MS) chapter—and are organized into 14 measurable goals. Two requirements associated with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Conditions of Participation (CoPs)—reducing suicide risk and planning for health professional resource management—were elevated to NPGs due to their critical importance.

To support implementation of the NPGs, Joint Commission has developed a series of publicly available briefs that offer background, standards information, rationale and related activities, as well as actions taken or resources developed by Joint Commission (as applicable). The NPG Briefs are designed to help accredited hospitals and critical access hospitals understand the fundamental role each NPG plays in advancing quality and safety—and turn that understanding into practical, actionable steps.

The NPGs are part of Accreditation 360: The New Standard—the most significant transformation of Joint Commission’s accreditation and certification process since 1965. This new approach reduces burden by streamlining and simplifying processes, provides better support to health care organizations and more efficiently shares leading practices across the health care ecosystem. To view the briefs visit National Performance Goals | Joint Commission.

Superior Health Quality Alliance    

Help Us Spread the Word - Recruitment Continues for CMS QIO Program

The Wisconsin Hospital Association is a proud member of Superior Health Quality Alliance (Superior Health). Superior Health serves as the bridge between the important goals of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the unique needs of our local communities. Drawing on decades of experience, Superior Health is dedicated to supporting clinics, nursing homes and hospitals by providing premium, hands-on quality improvement assistance to help achieve health care quality and safety goals for Medicare beneficiaries. As the CMS Quality Innovation Network – Quality Improvement Organization (QIN-QIO) for the Great Lakes Region, Superior Health will provide no-cost technical assistance to eligible providers in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin. This includes support for chronic disease management, behavioral health integration, patient safety, care coordination and health care quality — all aligned with CMS national goals.

For questions, please contact info@superiorhealthqa.org or complete the enrollment form to begin the process.

Watch this video highlighting Superior Health Quality Alliance.