Celebrating Unsung Heroes in Health Care

In honor of Health Care Risk Management Week, we celebrate the vital work of risk managers in supporting clinicians, protecting patients, and working to improve the health care system.

Health care risk managers play a critical, often unseen role in ensuring the safety and quality of patient care. They assess and minimize risks to patients, staff, and institutions; develop and implement risk management strategies; and collaborate across clinical, legal, and administrative teams to reduce liability exposure and improve outcomes.

The video below features several risk managers who work with CRICO’s subscriber institutions throughout the Harvard medical system. Their stories reflect the deeply human side of a highly technical role—offering guidance to clinicians facing adverse events, supporting providers through the legal process, and helping to foster an environment of transparency, accountability, and learning.

As Karen Schoonmaker, Executive Director of Quality, Patient Safety & Patient Experience at Lahey Hospital and Medical Center, reflects:

“What gives me great satisfaction is taking care of people who take care of people. They may never know we’re here, but I feel the work we do in our department saves patient lives and helps patients be well, and we will never know what change we made that made someone safer in the future.”

To all risk managers—thank you for the work you do every day to support providers and promote safer care.