Provider has learned that Marilyn Tavenner, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) administrator, will speak at the upcoming 4th Annual Quality Symposium sponsored by the American Health Care Association/National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL) in Houston, Texas, Feb. 23 and 24. Tavenner, who was recently nominated by President Obama following the resignation of Donald Berwick, MD, was acting CMS administrator in 2010 and has also served as Virginia’s secretary of Health and Human Resources.

Tavenner will deliver welcoming remarks to symposium attendees on Feb. 23. The theme of the conference is “Inspiring Excellence in Long Term Care.”

Among the sessions to be presented at the symposium is a four-hour “intensive” on the Interventions to Reduce Acute Care Transfers (INTERACT) II tools. 

Also on the agenda are sessions covering person-centered care and performance excellence, using satisfaction data to get results, physician engagement strategies, reducing the use of off-label antipsychotropic drugs, and hospital readmissions.

The symposium will also include a presentation on the Eden Alternative’s Path to Mastery program and a review of the relationship between person-centered care and the Baldrige Healthcare Criteria. According to the symposium’s website, the objective of this workshop is to demonstrate how person-directed care makes an organization a better candidate for the AHCA/NCAL National Quality Awards Program.

For more information, go to: http://www.ahcancal.org/events/qualitysymposium/Pages/default.aspx.