With or without health care reform, health care quality professionals know that change is already a new reality for U.S. health care, transforming the industry, their own organizations, and their professional roles on what seems a daily basis.

“With all the changes that we’re facing in health care in the next five to 10 years, we’re going to have to develop a whole new skill set,” says Carrie Donovan, risk management coordinator at 40-bed Spearfish Regional Hospital, in Spearfish, South Dakota. “It’s not going to be enough anymore to just be technically competent. You’re going to have to be a leader. You’re not going to have a choice because our hospitals are going to be fighting to survive. [Health care organizations] are going to be relying on quality and patient safety and patient satisfaction to do so.”

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