The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), a Cambridge, Mass.-based independent healthcare improvement non-profit group aimed at improving healthcare, has named Gary S. Kaplan, M.D. as the new Chair of the IHI Board of Directors, succeeding A. Blanton Godfrey, who held the position since 2009.  Elliott S. Fisher, M.D., Helen Haskell, and Arnold Milstein, M.D., also will join the Board.

Kaplan, a member of the IHI Board of Directors since 2007, is Chairman and CEO of the Virginia Mason Health System in Seattle, where he is also a practicing physician in internal medicine. He is a founding member of Health CEOs for Health Reform and received the John M. Eisenberg Award from the National Quality Forum and The Joint Commission in 2009, for individual achievement at the national level for his outstanding work and commitment to patient safety and quality.

Fisher is the James W. Squires, MD Professor at Dartmouth Medical School and director for Population Health and Policy at The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice. Haskell is founder and president of Mothers Against Medical Error (MAME), a South Carolina-based group dedicated to improving patient safety and providing support for patients who have experienced medical injury. Arnold Milstein is medical director at the Pacific Business Group on Health (PBGH), a non-profit business coalition focused on healthcare.  

 “Gary is well-known for his accomplishments in health care improvement, and his insights and expertise will be of even greater value to IHI as our Board Chair. At this juncture in health care, the appointment of Gary and additions of Elliott Fisher, Helen Haskell, and Arnold Milstein provide critical expertise to advance IHI’s work in our four key areas of work: optimizing health care delivery systems, achieving the triple aim for populations, realizing patient and family-centered care and building improvement capability worldwide,” Maureen Bisognano, IHI’s president and CEO, said in a statement.

In addition to Kaplan, Fisher, Haskell and Milstein, the IHI Board of Directors includes:

James M. Anderson, Advisor to the President, Former President and CEO, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center

Maureen Bisognano, President and Chief Executive Officer, Institute for Healthcare Improvement

Michael Dowling, President and Chief Executive Officer, North Shore–Long Island Jewish Health System

Terry Fulmer, PhD, R.N.Dean, Bouvé College of Health Sciences, Northeastern University

A. Blanton Godfrey, PhD, Dean and Professor, College of Textiles, North Carolina State University

Jennie Chin Hansen, Chief Executive Officer, American Geriatrics Society

Brent C. James, M.D., Chief Quality Officer and Executive Director, Institute for Healthcare Delivery Research, Intermountain Healthcare

Dennis S. O’Leary, M.D., President Emeritus, The Joint Commission

Rudolph F. Pierce Attorney (Of Counsel), Goulston & Storrs, PC

Nancy L. Snyderman, M.D., Chief Medical Editor, NBC News; Medical Director, GE healthymagination

Diana Chapman Walsh, PhD, President Emerita, Wellesley College

Founding Chair, IHI Board of Directors, Board Member Emeritus:

Paul B. Batalden, M.D., Professor of Pediatrics and Community & Family Medicine, The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy & Clinical Practice, Dartmouth Medical School