The posting
About the Job
General Summary of Position Reporting to the Senior Vice President and Chief Quality and Safety Officer, the Vice President Patient Safety and Infection Prevention is responsible for establishing and executing the strategic vision for MedStar Health's system-wide patient safety, high reliability, and infection prevention programs. This executive leader drives the development, implementation, standardization, and measurement of enterprise-wide strategies designed to reduce patient harm, strengthen safety culture, mitigate clinical risk, and prevent healthcare-associated infections across all MedStar Health entities.
As a key member of the Quality and Safety Integrated Leadership Team, the Vice President partners with executive and operational leaders to advance MedStar Health's quality and safety agenda ensuring alignment of system standards, performance metrics, regulatory requirements, and best practices while supporting hospital-specific operational needs. The Vice President provides strategic and operational leadership across a portfolio of hospitals and serves as the direct leader, mentor, and advisor to senior hospital Quality & Safety leaders.
The Vice President oversees a multidisciplinary team of patient safety and infection prevention professionals responsible for assessing organizational risk, identifying opportunities for improvement, implementing evidence-based interventions, and monitoring outcomes across the health system. The role is accountable for the ongoing advancement of MedStar Health's High Reliability Organization (HRO) journey including development and sustainment of safety culture initiatives, HRO education, training programs, leadership engagement strategies, and system-wide event response processes.
This position has executive accountability for MedStar Health's patient safety reporting and event management infrastructure including oversight of SafetyNet and the identification, classification, investigation analysis, and reporting of near misses, unsafe conditions, adverse events, serious safety events, and other patient safety concerns. The Vice President ensures the development and implementation of sustainable corrective actions and provides executive oversight of patient safety reporting and presentations to senior leadership and the MedStar Health Board Quality Committee.
The Vice President also provides executive oversight for system-wide infection prevention strategy and operations including infection prevention standards, surveillance, NHSN and CDC reporting, outbreak response, emerging infectious disease preparedness, pandemic clinical policy coordination, contact tracing, and alignment of infection prevention practices across the enterprise.
Through strategic leadership, operational excellence, and a commitment to high reliability, this executive role advances MedStar Health's mission to deliver the safest, highest-quality care and reinforces its position as a national leader in patient safety and clinical excellence.
Primary Duties and Responsibilities
- Responsible for the direct oversight of the Assistant Vice President (AVP) for Patient Safety, AVP for Infection Prevention, and for a cohort of hospital quality and safety leaders.
- Serve as a senior member of the MedStar Health Integrated Leadership Team and as a member of the MedStar Health Quality and Safety Steering Committee.
- Executive responsibility for the integration of safety science and system-based risk mitigation for the health system.
- Develops the vision for the optimization of the impact of an HRO & safety culture across the MedStar Health Hospitals and System and implements effective programs which facilitate the attainment of these goals.
- Responsible for direct reporting and management of all safety events from across the system to the executive VP/CMO and SVP/CNO SVP Q&S and VP Risk Management and management of local safety events directly with entity CMO/CNO/CFO/President.
- Oversees and ensures that safe and reliable processes are embedded into the delivery of health care across MedStar Health's continuum and continues to advance a culture which values patient safety clinical excellence evidence-based medicine and continuous learning across the entirety of MedStar Health.
- Represents system Infection Prevention including oversight of IP-related programs infection prevention clinical policy and pandemic and emerging infectious disease readiness. Leads systemwide IP operations and reporting. Represents system Safety and Infection Prevention in physician leadership/chairs and chiefs.
- Represents system Safety and Infection Prevention in physician medical group pillar leadership chairs and chiefs nursing leadership hospital and ambulatory leaders and other relevant executive leaders such as supply chain biomedical engineering pharmacy and others. Leads implementation of patient safety components of the MedStar Health strategic plan (annual operating plan) and oversees systemwide initiatives.
- Has leadership accountability for use of MedStar's Patient Safety Event Management System (currently RL Solutions or the PSE system) across the system including engagement with local leaders administering the system and coordinating high level analysis of system output.
- In conjunction with appropriate system and business unit leadership ensures appropriate initiatives are effectively in place with respect to patient safety and infection prevention in order to meet both the strategic and operational needs of MedStar Health and the standards of external safety and quality organizations regulatory and reimbursement agencies. Leads MedStar Health's continuing research of best practices in clinical safety and quality and moves appropriate opportunities into realized measurable improvement.
- Works collaboratively and proactively with the System Vice President Risk Management and the Risk Management team to reduce the risk of harm to patients and MedStar Health through programs designed to encourage early and frequent reporting of serious unanticipated occurrences (SUO). Strategically evaluates ongoing programmatic responses to these events and is accountable for ensuring leaders across MedStar Health adhere to MedStar Health's standards including appropriate response to events (immediate reporting patient and family communication care for the caregiver and event reviews) to enable system-based learning from every event in line with MedStar Health's dedication to transparency safety culture and the integration of safety science into our proactive and reactive safety mitigation programs.
- Shared leadership and oversees Q&S Fellowship Program.
- Represents MedStar Health in external collaborative benchmarking groups and other national quality and safety initiatives and programs. Represents MedStar Health in national forums on patient safety.
- Leads the safety science team (which includes human factors expertise) with particular focus on proactive work informed by safety/hazard reporting system trend analysis and risk prioritization and risk mitigation using system safety principles which have the highest likelihood of creating effective and sustainable mitigation solutions.
- Leads the safety team in executing their responsibility for the classification measurement disclosure and reporting of all serious safety events including SSE alerts and works with all of the entity safety leaders to ensure full alignment with the MedStar Health safety principles and approach.
- Leads the development of the safety component of the quarterly reports to the MedStar Health Board of Directors Quality Committee (QSPAC) with responsibility for periodic presentations to this committee. Operations Leadership in major departmental operations as assigned. Specifically operations as related to role in safety and infection prevention.
- In collaboration with the AVP for Health Equity responsible for identification and reduction of health disparities in Safety system wide.
Minimal Qualifications Education
- Residency-trained board certified licensed physician is preferred with additional training in health administration business or other related field.
- Terminal degree in related discipline required.
Experience
- 10+ years Leadership management and administrative experience and demonstrated success in leading change both on the front lines of care and across a large integrated healthcare delivery system. required
- Expertise and Credibility: National reputation through speaking engagements research publications teaching for undergraduate or graduate medical education and other activities demonstrating national and international impact is required. Must have experience regarding system and process redesign human factors engineering and the various process improvement methodologies and related activities required for innovative and effective quality improvement. required
- Infection Prevention Experience: Must possess knowledge and experience of infection prevention programs in both inpatient and outpatient facilities. Working knowledge of electronic health records and other information technology and systems that support complete clinical data and infection prevention analyses. Familiarity with NHSN regulatory reporting requirements. required
- Safety Experience: Must have experience and a proven track record managing adverse events conducting systems-based event reviews developing and implementing sustainable and effective solutions ensuring care for the caregiver appropriate response under the just culture model transparency with patient and family. required
Licenses and Certifications
- MD - Physician - State Licensure preferred
- Trained Safety Expert preferred
Knowledge Skills and Abilities
- Deep knowledge of integrated delivery systems ideally inclusive of academic/teaching hospital experience and the complete dynamics of the care continuum.
- A track record of success working collaboratively with hospital and physician leaders ensuring that goals and incentives are aligned with overall health system objectives.
- Presence and credibility gained through participation in regional and national forums associations and other thought leadership groups related to the advancement of clinical quality and safety.
- Exceptional skills in the development of safety professionals managing a team creating a vision and leading teams through the change necessary to obtain that vision.
- Able to assist the SVP safety in board-level senior executive-level and senior managers level presentations to influence change.
- Knowledge of Infection Prevention and Safety Science
This position has a hiring range of
USD $385,645.00 - USD $521,755.00 /Yr.
