Patrice L. Spath, MA, RHIT, is president of Brown-Spath & Associates and assistant professor in the Department of Health Services Administration at the University of Alabama in Birmingham. She serves on the advisory board for WebM&M, an online case-based journal and forum on patient safety and health care quality sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Spath has authored numerous books and journal articles on health care performance improvement and patient safety.