Anne-Claire France, Ph.D., C.P.H.Q.
Master Black Belt in Quality and Patient Safety
Memorial Hermann Healthcare System
Houston, Texas

Anne-Claire France, Ph.D., C.P.H.Q., is a Master Black Belt in Quality and Patient Safety for Memorial Hermann Healthcare System.  France’s responsibilities include oversight and involvement in projects that pertain to quality and patient safety.  Current projects include achieving high reliability in hand hygiene compliance, automating documentation of core measures, event cause analysis and reporting system, hospital acquired infection prevention, medication reconciliation, applying human error science to error prevention and achieving and sustaining high reliability in quality as a leadership expectation.

Since April 2007 France has worked with Memorial Hermann Healthcare System to reduce catheter related bloodstream infections, ventilator associated pneumonia, and surgical site infections as part of the Surgical Care Improvement Project.  The focus has been on standardizing processes that are best practice, collecting reliable data so that true assessment of compliance is known, and then disseminating information regarding compliance so that effective actions are implemented.  Significant reductions in hospital infections have occurred resulting in recognition via state and national awards.  Hand hygiene continues to be an issue, however.

France has 28 years experience in process improvement in health care.  As a Master Black Belt in Lean Six Sigma, she has trained and coached hundreds of Black Belts and Green Belts and worked to streamline processes and improve health care quality.  Before becoming a Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt, she served as Director of the Center for Healthcare Improvement at Memorial Hermann Healthcare System where she actualized the process improvement ideas of front line clinical staff as well as designed and executed many projects that resulted in improved patient safety, clinical outcomes, patient/family and staff satisfaction, and significant cost savings.

France has served as teaching faculty at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center at Houston Medical and Nursing Schools, Rice University, and Houston Baptist University.  She holds a Ph.D. in experimental psychology and a master of arts in quantitative and experimental design from Vanderbilt University.  She is also certified in health care administration from Trinity University and in health care quality (CPHQ); and is the recipient of two National Institutes of Health Research Service Awards.