August 11, 2015

Mark T. Jensen, co-founder and partner at Bowie & Jensen LLC, received generous recognition and praise in a recent Trustee Magazine article for his initiative and drive in guiding MedStar Health on its journey to becoming a High Reliability Organization (HRO).

The article, titled, “Getting to Zero: In Embracing the Concept of High Reliability, Hospitals Aim to Eliminate Patient Harm,” focuses on the cultural shifts and actions hospitals are incorporating into their business practices in order to develop into an HRO. As a High Reliability Organization, hospitals will aim to develop a culture that will greatly decrease the probability of errors by standardizing processes to remove the variability in outcomes and maintain patient safety.

In addition to managing a highly successful law practice, Mr. Jensen serves on the MedStar Board of Directors and is Chair of the Quality, Safety and Professional Affairs Committee. While listening to a presentation at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement conference about the high mortality rate linked to ventilator-associated pneumonia and the viability of dropping it to zero, Mr. Jensen made a comment to the vice president of medical affairs at MedStar Union Memorial Hospital which sparked his commitment to HRO principles.

As stated in the article, he said, “Hey, do you think we could do that?” The vice president responded, “Sure. We don’t have to buy any equipment. We just have to do things that we’re already doing