Brooklyn, New York, (May 22, 2023) — Becker’s Hospital Review recently named three Maimonides Health doctors among its list of “55 Patient Safety Experts to Know.” Drs. Robert Press, George Foltin, and Michael Kantrowitz were recognized, along with 52 other peers from health care institutions across the United States, for their essential roles in ensuring the delivery of high-quality patient care at Maimonides.
Dr. Robert A. Press, MD, PhD, is Executive Vice President of Medical Affairs at Maimonides Medical Center (MMC).. Leading a team of quality and patient safety experts, Dr. Press’s unwavering commitment to progress and cultivating a culture of safety at Maimonides has directly and positively impacted patients and the community. Under his expertise and leadership, MMC has developed its robust patient safety infrastructure, achieving significant changes like reducing catheter-associated urinary tract infections by 61%; decreasing prescribed opioids at discharge from 49% to 19%; and maintaining a statistically lower rate of C. difficile infections than the national average. Dr. Press began his more than 20-year medical career as an infectious disease physician.
Dr. George Foltin, MD, an esteemed physician with more than 25 years of experience, is the Chief Patient Safety Officer at Maimonides Medical Center. He is also the Director of the Pediatric Quality and Safety Program and Vice Chair of Clinical Services for the Department of Pediatrics at Maimonides Children’s Hospital. Dr. Foltin coordinates hospital-wide safety initiatives, working to identify and reduce medication errors; improving medication reconciliation; facilitating corrective action and interventions for significant safety events; re-engineering events and hospital-wide peer review; and overseeing a curriculum to support transformation. Dr. Foltin plays a huge role in cultivating Maimonides’ culture of patient safety, involving personnel from all departments, including non-clinical staff, in the hospital safety committee and planning and hosting the annual Maimonides Patient Safety Day seminar.
Dr. Michael G. Kantrowitz, DO, MS, FACP, is Vice Chair for Quality and Safety in the Department of Medicine at Maimonides Health, along with his role as an esteemed attending in the Division of Gastroenterology. Dr. Kantrowitz plays an essential role in ensuring the delivery of high-quality patient care. He designed and implemented an electronic safety incident reporting system, allowing residents and fellows at Maimonides Medical Center to submit safety concerns to medical center leadership. This system served as the foundation for a broader reporting system which was adopted across the medical center. The Resident Quality Council, founded by Dr. Kantrowitz, engages trainees in quality improvement efforts, involving almost 500 trainees at Maimonides Medical Center. He also developed educational content for graduate medical education trainees. Additionally, Dr. Kantrowitz has been deeply invested in improving the safety of patient handoffs through the medical center by implementing the I-PASS bundle.
“We are extremely fortunate that these experts in the fields of quality and patient safety choose to call Maimonides home,” said Ken Gibbs, CEO and President of Maimonides Health. “Their leadership has been instrumental to our ever-advancing patient safety and quality improvement processes and to engraining this culture of patient safety at all levels of our organization. Their inclusion on this list is a well-earned honor.”
This recognition is a testament to Maimonides’ remarkable success in prioritizing patient safety. According to the CMS Hospital Compare Report, published in January 2023, Maimonides Medical Center’s survival/mortality rate is ranked among the top 33 hospitals in the U.S., placing it in the top 1% of all hospitals.
About Maimonides Health
Maimonides Health is Brooklyn’s largest healthcare system, serving over 300,000 patients each year through the system’s 3 hospitals, 1,800 physicians and more than 80 community-based practices and outpatient centers. The system is anchored by Maimonides Medical Center, one of the nation’s largest independent teaching hospitals and home to centers of excellence in numerous specialties; Maimonides Midwood Community Hospital (formerly New York Community Hospital), a 130-bed adult medical-surgical hospital; and Maimonides Children’s Hospital, Brooklyn’s only children’s hospital and only pediatric trauma center. Maimonides’ clinical programs rank among the best in the country for patient outcomes, including its Heart and Vascular Institute, Neurosciences Institute, Bone and Joint Center, and Cancer Center. Maimonides is an affiliate of Northwell Health and a major clinical training site for SUNY Downstate College of Medicine. For additional information, please visit www.maimo.org.