Pat, we wish you a retirement filled with adventure and joy!

It is with excitement, warm wishes and sadness that Cynosure Health announces the retirement of Pat Teske, BSN, MHA, effective March 29, 2019. Pat has enjoyed a career as a nationally-recognized quality and patient safety leader. She began her work on the front lines, as a public health nurse traveling to patient’s homes. Decades later, Pat went on to achieve tremendous success with regional quality improvement collaboratives, such as Beacon, the Southern California Patient Safety Project and Avoid Readmissions through Collaboration (ARC) . She led the San Francisco Bay Area ARC project, saving hospitals an estimated $90 million and 11,750 lives.

Pat began working on national-scale collaboratives with HRET’s HEN, HEN 2.0, and HIIN. Over the years, Pat has served as a valued improvement advisor, readmissions subject matter expert, care transitions specialist, and so much more! Pat served as the mastermind behind the Safety Networks to Accelerate Performance (SNAP), starting with the ERAS SNAP in 2016. Pat also introduced the well-received fishbowl approach to the HIIN learning collaboratives. As an expert in large scale change, Pat co-edited the book “All In: Using Healthcare Collaboratives to Save Lives and Reduce Harm” leading over 35 national experts including HRET and SHA contributors.

Pat’s greatest joy comes from working one-on-one with state hospital associations and hospitals because she gets to witness improvement and the resulting joy firsthand. Her professional presence in the health care industry will be sorely missed, but her contributions will continue long past her retirement date. On behalf of the HIIN community, please join us in extending a heartfelt thank you to Pat for her dedication, contributions, and brilliance!