Peter J. Pronovost, M.D.

Chief Quality & Clinical Transformation Officer, University Hospitals | Co-author, "Safe Patients, Smart Hospitals" | Medical Expert, "The Wall Street Journal"
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Peter Pronovost is an internationally acclaimed leader in patient safety, who has distinguished himself nationally and internationally with his ground-breaking work around saving lives, improving patient safety, and improving both the quality and value of health care. His life-saving clinical practices have yielded dramatic improvements in hospitals across the United States and around the world.

Dr. Pronovost developed a scientifically proven method for reducing the deadly infections associated with central line catheters. His simple but effective checklist protocol virtually eliminated such infections in ICUs across the state of Michigan, saving 1,500 lives and $100 million annually. The checklist protocol has since been implemented across the United States, state by state, and in several other countries. The New Yorker magazine says that Pronovost’s “work has already saved more lives than that of any laboratory scientist in the past decade.”

Currently, Peter is Chief Quality & Clinical Transformation Officer at University Hospitals. At UH, Dr. Pronovost develops and leads strategic initiatives to improve value across the health system. He is the clinical lead for population health and lead high-reliability medicine, with direct responsibility for the UH employee accountable care organization. He directs teams that engage UH providers and employees in care models leading to improved outcomes and a healthy workforce while reducing the cost of care. He also leads the growth and adoption of digital health – including telehealth and virtual health – solutions to better serve the patient and provider communities.

He was formerly the Director of Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality at Johns Hopkins, as well as practicing anesthesiologist and critical care specialist physician at Johns Hopkins Hospital and a researcher and professor at Johns Hopkins University.

Dr. Pronovost established the Quality and Safety Research Group (QSRG) to advance the science of safety and make patient care safer worldwide. He has also advised the World Health Organization on improving patient safety measurement through WHO's World Alliance for Patient Safety.

For his work, Dr. Pronovost has been named one of the world's "most influential people" by TIME magazine, and been given a MacArthur Fellowship "genius grant." He has won several national awards, including the ABMS' first Health Care Quality and Patient Safety Award, the John Eisenberg Patient Safety Research Award, and the 2017 David E. Rogers Award from the American Association of Medical Colleges.

Dr. Pronovost is the co-author of Safe Patients, Smart Hospitals: How One Doctor's Checklist Can Help Us Change Health Care from the Inside Out. He is the author of more than 200 articles and chapters in the fields of patient safety, ICU care, quality health care, evidence-based medicine, and the measurement and evaluation of safety efforts. He also serves as Medical Expert at the Wall Street Journal, speaking on a broad range of issues in healthcare.

"Sparing countless lives from the often deadly consequences of human error and setting new standards of health care performance in the United States and internationally." (MacArthur Foundation)

Credentials

  • Chief Quality & Clinical Transformation Officer, University Hospitals
  • Former Chief Medical Officer, UnitedHealthcare
  • Former Director, Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality, Johns Hopkins, Intensive care specialist physician and practicing anesthesiologist, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Professor, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, departments of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, and Surgery, Professor, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Dept of Health Policy and Management and the School of Nursing
  • Founder, Quality and Safety Research Group
  • Advisor, Alliance for Patient Safety, World Health Organization
  • Co-founder, Doctella

Honors

  • Institute of Medicine
  • MacArthur Fellowship
  • John Eisenberg Patient Safety Research Award
  • Named one of the world's "most influential people" of 2008, TIME

Education

  • PhD, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
  • MD, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
  • BS, Fairfield University

Topics

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Videos

Open Forum | Johns Hopkins Hospital
Peter J. Pronovost, M.D.
Believing and Belonging | TEDx
Peter J. Pronovost, M.D.

Articles

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UH doctor Peter Pronovost helps draft patient safety report for Biden administration
The Chronicle
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The 'goldilocks' strategy: University Hospitals eyes fixes for healthcare's biggest issues
Becker's Hospital Review
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10 things parents of pediatric patients want during a hospital stay
Becker Hospital Review
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20 years of patient safety
AAMC
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Checklists work well for complicated health care problems. But they don’t work to solve complex ones, like pandemics
Stat News
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‘Dr. Checklist’ Peter Pronovost gets chance to transform University Hospital
Cleveland
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How Patient Safety Factors into the Patient Experience Puzzle
Patient Engagement Hit
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Making a Dent in the Trillion-Dollar Problem: Toward Zero Defects
Catalyst
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New ‘SafetyNet’ Monitors COVID-19 Patients At Home
WVXU News
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New tool may help some COVID-19 patients avoid hospital stays
WKYC
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Now is not the time for Congress to further cut hospitals’ Medicare payments
Stat News
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Pronovost’s new mission: Convincing health systems to tell a different story
Fierce Healthcare
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Remote Patient Monitoring During COVID-19: An Unexpected Patient Safety Benefit
JAMA Network
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Rethinking how we measure health care quality
Cleveland
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Top 25 Innovators: Dr. Peter Pronovost
Modern Healthcare
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Top patient safety expert, innovator of checklists, departs Johns Hopkins
Baltimore Sun
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UH launches EMS accountable care network
Crains Cleveland
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UH begins monitoring coronavirus patients remotely using wristband
Fox 8

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Health Innovation
Improving Quality
Patient-Centered Care
Physicians & Other Providers
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