The Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety (PPAHS) is very pleased to announce that Marilyn Neder Flack, who was the Senior Vice President, Patient Safety Initiatives at the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) and Executive Director at the AAMI Foundation, has been appointed to PPAHS’s board of advisors.
During her tenure at AAMI, Ms. Flack’s spearheaded key patient safety initiatives, including clinical alarm management, continuous electronic monitoring of patients on opioids, home healthcare technology, safe infusion therapy safety, and the safe use of complex health technology.
Said Michael Wong, JD (Founder and Executive Director, PPAHS) about Ms. Flack’s appointment:
“Marilyn has been a driving force at AAMI of two key coalitions – the National Coalition to Promote Continuous Monitoring of Patients on Opioids to establish the business case and to educate and encourage hospitals to adopt continuous monitoring for all patients on parenteral opioids and the National Coalition for Alarm Management Safety to improve alarm management.
“Opioid safety and alarm safety are two key initiatives at the Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety, and so when I heard that Marilyn was retiring from AAMI, it was only natural to invite her to join us in helping us achieve both these objectives of safe opioid and alarm use.
“We are extremely delighted to have Marilyn join our board of advisors and bring to us her passion and energy for improving patient safety.”
In accepting the appointment, Ms. Flack said:
“Of all the coalitions that I started and been involved with at AAMI, the National Coalition to Promote Continuous Monitoring of Patients on Opioids is nearest to my heart. The only way currently to keep patients receiving opioids safe is through continuous electronic monitoring.
“So, I share with PPAHS a commitment to having all patients receiving opioids in healthcare facilities continuously electronically monitored. My involvement with PPAHS will allow me to continue to pursue this objective and help ensure the safe use of opioids.”
PPAHS recently released on the PPAHS YouTube Channel, the AAMI video featuring Ms. Flack, Dr. Frank Overdyk, and Laura Townsend on the need for all hospitals to continuously monitor their patients receiving opioids. This video can be viewed by clicking here.
About Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety
Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety is a non-profit 501(c)(3) whose mission is to promote safer clinical practices and standards for patients through collaboration among healthcare experts, professionals, scientific researchers, and others, to improve healthcare delivery. For more information, please go to www.ppahs.org.
Marilyn Neder Flack joined AAMI as VP for Patient Safety Initiatives and Executive Director of the AAMI Foundation in September, 2013. Flack develops and implements the Foundation’s strategy to strengthen the development, management, and use of medical technology for improved patient outcomes, develops technology-related safety metrics, leads research efforts, and does fundraising for the organization. Prior to joining AAMI, Flack was director of the Division of Patient Safety Partnerships at the FDA’s Office of Surveillance and Biometrics in the Center for Devices and Radiological Health, where she worked with the nation’s thought-leaders to solve problems with the use of medical devices, and participated in technology-related research. She has previous experienceworking as the director for clinical research and regulatory affairs for a medical device company, working as a premarket reviewer for FDA, and working in a variety of patient settings as an audiologist. Flack holds a BA in speech-language pathology/audiology from Douglass College/Rutgers University; an MA in audiology from the University of Maryland; a master’s certificate in project management from George Washington University; and is a member of the Joint Commission’s Patient Safety Advisory Group.