[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 71 (Tuesday, May 1, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E573]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     HONORING DR. MICHAEL LANGBERG

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. TED LIEU

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                          Tuesday, May 1, 2018

  Mr. TED LIEU of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Dr. 
Michael Langberg, Senior Vice President and Chief Clinical Officer of 
Cedars Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles. Dr. Langberg will retire from his 
post at Cedars in May, after having served the patients of Los Angeles 
and, in fact, patients around the nation, since 1981. He leaves behind 
a legacy of better quality care, improved health policy, and 
collaboration with hospitals around the country to make care safer, 
particularly for those of limited means or with complex medical needs.
  Dr. Langberg is a highly respected national leader on patient safety 
and health care quality. When the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid 
Services crafted the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program, he led 
the work at the American Hospital Association to understand the 
proposed policy, identify potential unintended consequences--especially 
those potentially affecting poorer communities--and convey those issues 
to CMS so that the agency could refine its approach and improve the 
program. His work laid the foundation for the provision in the 
bipartisan 21st Century Cures Act that directed CMS to include an 
adjustment to the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program to recognize 
the impact of sociodemographic factors on readmission rates.
  Dr. Langberg has testified before this body on patient safety and 
quality issues and before the California Senate on physician quality 
performance--all in an effort to help legislators craft better public 
policy that supports improvement in health and health care. He is a 
permanent member of the California Department of Public Health's health 
care-associated infection advisory committee, seeking to prevent the 
emergence and spread of infections in my state, and he serves on the 
Board of Directors of the Hospital Quality Institute in California.
  Dr. Langberg has been an advocate for sharing both successes and 
failures in an effort to disseminate best practices and advance 
improvements in quality and safety. He has been an invited speaker at 
the Health Management Academy, the National Patient Safety Congress, 
and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. By freely speaking of 
both the successes and challenges encountered by this nationally 
esteemed hospital, Dr. Langberg has helped many other hospitals across 
this nation learn how to keep patients safe, improve the quality of the 
care they deliver, and be attentive to health risks patients may 
experience after they have left the hospital, particularly poorer 
patients and those who live in communities with relatively few health 
care providers.
  For these reasons, I am delighted to recognize Dr. Michael Langberg 
and offer thanks for his dedication and service.

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