At the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization’s annual management and leadership conference in Maryland this week, Dr. Joan Teno, professor of health services, policy and practice and a palliative care physician, received the group’s inaugural Quality Leadership Award. The honor recognizes her work as a researcher and a clinician dedicated to understanding how to measure and improve the quality of care for people at the end of life. “Recipients of this award must have demonstrated leadership, commitment, and innovation that have significantly contributed to hospice organization excellence and improved hospice and palliative care delivery and outcomes,” said J. Donald Schumacher, NHPCO president and CEO. In her acceptance speech, Teno described hospice as the lone voice that proclaimed dying patients and family matter and that it initially grew outside of mainstream medical care. “High-quality hospice care is medical care that is competent, coordinated, patient- and family-centered, and delivered with compassion,” she said. “I am honored to accept this award on behalf of the frontline hospice providers who achieve this vision on a daily basis. They are the heart and soul of hospice.” Read more