JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – Ballad Health’s Trish Tanner, assistant vice president and chief pharmacy officer, has been honored by the Tennessee Hospital Association (THA) with a 2018 Award of Excellence for Patient Safety Leadership.
The award recognizes an individual who has taken extraordinary and innovative steps to make patient safety and quality a top priority in their organization. Tanner serves as chairperson for Ballad Health’s Opioid Taskforce and has been a leading voice in the fight against opioid addiction, particularly since losing a nephew to an accidental opioid overdose in 2016.
According to the THA: “Trish Tanner has dedicated her professional career to helping others as a pharmacist for more than 23 years. Leading Ballad Health’s charge on the system-wide war on opioid abuse, she helped reduce the number of inpatient opioid doses administered at Mountain States Health Alliance hospitals (now part of Ballad Health) by 40 percent last year. The system’s emergency department opioid prescriptions also have dropped to a level that is 26 percent below the national average.”
The new practices that led to these reductions are now being implemented at all 21 of Ballad Health hospitals.
“This is a very deserving honor for Trish,” said Dale Claytore, vice president and chief supply chain officer for Ballad Health. “She has worked tirelessly, through education and establishing best practices within our health system, to minimize unnecessary opioid prescriptions. Her endgame is to unequivocally reduce the number of human beings who will fall victim to the national opioid scourge.”
A defining moment for Tanner came when her nephew, Dustin Iverson, a National Guardsman who served two tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, died unexpectedly of an opioid overdose at age 29. The family was caught off-guard by the news.
At the time of Dustin’s death, Trish was enrolled in an intensive executive fellowship program. As a way to honor his life and to make a difference in the war on drugs, she focused her class project on identifying ways to reduce opioid prescribing.
“Trish has turned this tragedy into a triumph by doubling down on her efforts to help others avoid the same devastating fate,” said Alan Levine, chairman and CEO of Ballad Health. “I am so proud of the tremendous work she is accomplishing in this area, which is one of our highest priorities. I feel confident that, through Trish’s work, Ballad Health will continue to lead the charge in our region to reduce the burden of opioid addiction in our communities and save lives.”
