Quality Institute announces Kershner Award finalists
2025 Innovations in Quality Improvement Award Finalists
On behalf of the AAAHC Institute for Quality Improvement, AAAHC would like to thank all organizations that submitted studies for the 2025 Bernard A. Kershner Innovations in Quality Improvement Award program.
It takes considerable persistence to develop, implement, and demonstrate a successful and measurable quality improvement program. We appreciate the time you have taken to describe your program and share the results of your study. This is fully aligned with the spirit and intent of the award program.
2025 finalists by setting
Surgical/Procedural Finalists
- Improving Day of Surgery Cancellation Rate — Sutter Health, Walnut Creek Endoscopy & Surgery Center, Walnut Creek, CA View poster | Watch video
- Blood Glucose Documentation Improvement Study — The University of Kansas Health System, Indian Creek Campus Ambulatory Surgery Center, Overland Park, KS View poster | Watch video
- Warming up to Quality: The Normothermia Initiative — Sutter Health, Surgery Center San Carlos, San Carlos, CA View poster | Watch video
Primary Care Finalists
- Automating Immunization Compliance — Georgia Institute of Technology, Stamps Health Services, Atlanta, GA View poster | Watch video
- Antibiotic Prescriptions for Urinary Tract Infections — University Health Services at The University of Texas, Austin, TX View poster | Watch video
- Closing the Immunization Gap: A Quality Improvement Initiative to Increase Vaccine Uptake in Student Health — New York University Student Health Center, New York, NY View poster | Watch video
2025 Kershner Finalists webinar showcases successful QI studies
2025 Kershner QI People’s Choice Award Voting Now Open!
Bernard A. Kershner champions QI innovation
AAAHC recognizes exemplary QI studies in both the surgical/procedural and primary care settings through an award program, established in 2004 by the AAAHC Institute for Quality Improvement. The award was originally called the Innovations in Quality Improvement Award. A few years later, the AAAHC Quality Institute changed the name of the award to the Bernard A. Kershner Innovations in Quality Improvement Award to honor Bernie Kershner, the first Chairman of the AAAHC Institute Board of Trustees.
Bernard Kershner founded one of the first non-physician-owned multispecialty surgery centers and was the first non-physician President of FASA, now known as the Ambulatory Surgery Center Association (ASCA). As a medical professional with a drive for excellence and quality, he was quoted as saying that he established procedures for his surgery centers that were “far above what could possibly be required of a health facility to raise the bar for professional competency at every single level of the organization.” We hope to communicate his passion for quality through this award program that we affectionately refer to as “The Bernies.”