2026 Clay Dunagan MD, MS, Annual Patient Safety and Quality Symposium

Closing the Quality Divide – Providing health care we want, need, and deserve.

With the evolving health care needs of our communities, it’s more important than ever that we are continuously assessing and responding to any gaps in patient care and experience. “Closing the Quality Divide” is more than providing consistent and excellent care to everyone; it also requires turning to the concepts and lessons covered in the 2001 Crossing the Quality Chasm report to provide unique, individualized care to each patient so they receive the health care they want, need, and deserve.

This year’s Clay Dunagan MD, MS, Annual Patient Safety and Quality Symposium, was held on March 6th, 2026 at the Eric P. Newman Education Center. Clay Dunagan, MD, MS, Professor of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, (whom the event was named for) kicked off the event with an opening talk “Crossing the Quality Chasm: Reflections on 25 Years of Quality Improvement and the Road Ahead” speaking on health care quality.

This year’s symposium focused on:

• Summarizing recommendations from the 2001 Crossing the Quality Chasm report and relevance for current and future learnings for patient safety and quality programs.
• Addressing what “Patient Safety II” is and potential ways to integrate and support existing safety management practices in health care.
• Illustrating application of artificial intelligence and Epic utilization to support clinical processes.
• Covering Patient Safety and Quality projects that demonstrate safe, effective, patient centered, timely, efficient, or equitable care at the hospital or unit level.
• Identifying opportunities to improve diagnostic accuracy.

The event offered an abstract presentation with 32 accepted abstracts and 8 represented by the Department of Medicine.

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