David C. Classen, MD, MS
CMIO, Pascal Metrics
Associate Professor of Medicine, University of Utah
Active Consultant in Infectious Diseases
The University of Utah School of Medicine
Salt Lake City, Utah/Washington, DC
Dr. David Classen is Chief Medical Information Officer (CMIO) at Pascal Metrics in Washington, DC. When he received the Pete Conrad Global Patient Safety Award for his global contributions to patient safety, he was Chief Medical Officer (CMO) and a Vice Senior Partner at CSC and led CSC’s safety and quality of healthcare initiatives. Dr. Classen is also an Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Utah and an Active Consultant in Infectious Diseases at The University of Utah School of Medicine in Salt Lake City, Utah. Dr. Classen received the Pete Conrad Award for his work on the National Quality Forum Safe Practices with a specific focus on the Computer Prescriber Order Entry Flight Simulator.
He received his medical degree from the University of Virginia School of Medicine and a Master of Science degree in medical informatics from the University of Utah School of Medicine. He is board-certified in Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases. He was the chair of Intermountain Health Cares Clinical Quality Committee for Drug Use and Evaluation and was the initial developer of patient safety research and patient safety programs at Intermountain Healthcare. Also, he developed, implemented, and evaluated a CPOE program at LDS Hospital that significantly improved the safety of medication use.
Dr. Classen was Co-Chair of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s (IHI) Collaborative on Perioperative Safety and the Surgical Safety Collaborative. He is also a faculty member of the IHI/National Health Foundation Safer Patients Initiative in the United Kingdom. Also, Dr. Classen is the developer of the “Trigger Tool Methodology” at IHI, used for the improved detection of adverse events, which is currently being used by more than 500 different healthcare organizations throughout the United States and Europe.