Director- Clinical Quality Improvement TeamBuilt a national Healthcare Quality and Performance consulting practice from startup. - Leading sales, I grew revenue to $11MM per year in 5 years; achieved 100%-200% annual revenue growth 2019-2024.- Successfully engaged hospital leaders - Delivered clinical quality improvement engagements in the U.S. to 135 hospital clients, including The Cleveland Clinic, The Mayo Clinic, NewYork-Presbyterian, University of Colorado, Vanderbilt… Show more Director- Clinical Quality Improvement TeamBuilt a national Healthcare Quality and Performance consulting practice from startup. - Leading sales, I grew revenue to $11MM per year in 5 years; achieved 100%-200% annual revenue growth 2019-2024.- Successfully engaged hospital leaders - Delivered clinical quality improvement engagements in the U.S. to 135 hospital clients, including The Cleveland Clinic, The Mayo Clinic, NewYork-Presbyterian, University of Colorado, Vanderbilt, University of California, University of Washington, Baptist Memorial Hospital- Memphis, and others. Inspirational Leadership - Recruited, hired, and trained 20 highly specialized, hard-to-find consultants- Established a highly collaborative team culture.- No employee has ever quit or transferred off my team.Design of Consulting ProductsI led my team as we developed 9 new consulting products to drive quality improvement in hospitals and ASCs including:- Surgery Quality Optimization {including RODEO (Rapid OR Decision Evaluation Optimization) for Urgent/Emergent surgery inpatients}- Preoperative Clinic Creation and Optimization- Comprehensive Surgery Optimization (Quality, Operations, Supply Chain, and Financial and Market performance)- National Quality Scorecard Optimization- Comprehensive Quality Transformation- Ambulatory Surgery Center (ASC) Optimization- Readmissions Reduction- Quality Department Optimization- Hospital-Acquired Pressure Injury (HQPI) ReductionData Analytics I led my team as we developed new data analytics tools to help hospitals improve quality, including: - Surgery Quality Analytics- A surgery complication analytics system that provides a comprehensive view of all complications affecting surgery patients- National Quality Scorecard Analytics- New analytics that allow hospitals to prioritize which quality metrics to focus on, set improvement targets, and forecast future scorecard performance.- Readmissions Analytics- Infection Reduction Analytics Show less

Ascent Clinical Quality Improvement was created by clinical professionals who care about improving the lives of patients nationwide. Our focus:- Saving Lives- Preventing Complications- Improving HealthcareAmong other projects, I work with RxAssurance. RxA is the creator of OpiSafe, the award-winning, easy to use tool for physicians and other prescribers to manage all aspects of their opioid prescribing. From 15-second PDMP (state drug database) checks to patient risk… Show more Ascent Clinical Quality Improvement was created by clinical professionals who care about improving the lives of patients nationwide. Our focus:- Saving Lives- Preventing Complications- Improving HealthcareAmong other projects, I work with RxAssurance. RxA is the creator of OpiSafe, the award-winning, easy to use tool for physicians and other prescribers to manage all aspects of their opioid prescribing. From 15-second PDMP (state drug database) checks to patient risk assessment and symptom monitoring, OpiSafe helps prescribers become fully compliant with all of the CDC Opioid Prescribing Guidelines. Show less

Ascent Clinical Quality Improvement was created by clinical professionals who care about improving the lives of patients nationwide. Our focus:- Saving Lives- Preventing Complications- Improving Healthcare

Pinnacol is the largest Workers Compensation company in Colorado, and among the top 20 in the U.S. Rick was recruited in 2015 to create innovative care improvement programs for Injured Workers in Colorado. He was responsible for connecting with and motivating Pinnacol’s 4,000 healthcare providers to get them engaged in improving care. • Created multiple cutting-edge clinical quality improvement programs such as the “Provider Opioid Report” to encourage physicians to review (and optimize)… Show more Pinnacol is the largest Workers Compensation company in Colorado, and among the top 20 in the U.S. Rick was recruited in 2015 to create innovative care improvement programs for Injured Workers in Colorado. He was responsible for connecting with and motivating Pinnacol’s 4,000 healthcare providers to get them engaged in improving care. • Created multiple cutting-edge clinical quality improvement programs such as the “Provider Opioid Report” to encourage physicians to review (and optimize) their opioid prescribing.• Successfully negotiated with the Colorado Division of Workers Compensation (DOWC) to modify their regulations to allow statewide quality improvement pilot programs. • Because opioid misuse is a national crisis and results in over 400 deaths in Colorado annually I led the rollout of “OpiSafe” to Colorado WC physicians. OpiSafe is a computer application that optimizes all aspects of opioid prescribing and management by physicians.• Developed a new set of data analysis tools to help us understand physician performance. Show less

Private practice orthopedic surgery group serving patients in south Aurora and southeast Denver.• Personally treated 35,000 patients during 12 years in practice.

Healthgrades is the nation’s leading healthcare ratings organization. Over the last decade, HealthGrades has worked with over 600 hospitals in the U.S. on clinical quality improvement and strategic marketing projects.Rick joined Healthgrades in 2007 and in 2009 took over the clinical quality improvement consulting practice that had experienced 50% employee attrition over the previous 12 months. He then grew the practice from 6 employees to 24 employees over the next 24… Show more Healthgrades is the nation’s leading healthcare ratings organization. Over the last decade, HealthGrades has worked with over 600 hospitals in the U.S. on clinical quality improvement and strategic marketing projects.Rick joined Healthgrades in 2007 and in 2009 took over the clinical quality improvement consulting practice that had experienced 50% employee attrition over the previous 12 months. He then grew the practice from 6 employees to 24 employees over the next 24 months.• Restructured multiple clinical consulting teams engaged in quality improvement projects at over 30 hospitals reducing implementation times by 50% and improving annual per client revenue by 200%.• Increased consulting engagement price points by 300%.• Tripled division revenue over 24 months (from $3 million to $9 million). Served as the “closer” for most of the company’s consulting business 2009-2011.• Increased consulting group margins from 20% to 45% over 24 months.• Designed a new approach to quality improvement consulting for a large 6-hospital system in Louisiana that would have expanded the project from a 2-consultant engagement worth $300,000 to a 7-consultant project worth $9,000,000 and addressing 5 clinical areas across 6 hospitals (30 clinical service lines).• Gave 1,000 presentations on healthcare quality to thousands of physicians, hospital staff, and executive team members resulting in widespread engagement around our quality programs.• Gave 200 media interviews over 4 years while serving as the primary spokesperson for the company.• Developed new cutting-edge orthopedic surgery consulting product resulting in $2 million in revenue. • Restructured clinical quality improvement programs in orthopedic surgery, cardiology, cardiac surgery, stroke, critical care, pulmonary, and other areas that achieved remarkable improvements in quality.• Provided clinical oversight for HealthGrades hospital quality ratings systems and co-authored multiple studies on healthcare quality. Show less

COTS was a specialty orthopedic trauma services company created to serve the inpatient and ED needs of four hospitals in the southeast metro Denver area.Formed and managed a team of ten Orthopedic Surgeons covering four hospitals’ emergency and inpatient orthopedic services. Our team provided orthopedic trauma care to 25,000 patients annually. • After the hospital’s call system collapsed, in 7 days I created a new system for Orthopedic trauma coverage for the hospital’s ED which had… Show more COTS was a specialty orthopedic trauma services company created to serve the inpatient and ED needs of four hospitals in the southeast metro Denver area.Formed and managed a team of ten Orthopedic Surgeons covering four hospitals’ emergency and inpatient orthopedic services. Our team provided orthopedic trauma care to 25,000 patients annually. • After the hospital’s call system collapsed, in 7 days I created a new system for Orthopedic trauma coverage for the hospital’s ED which had over 70,000 patients visits a year with no lapses in service.• Implemented new care systems that improved care and reduced the time from injury to surgical treatment by 50% on average, substantially improved patient throughput and patient satisfaction, and improved hospital revenue from orthopedic trauma by 25%. Show less

The Colorado Medical Society is Colorado’s largest physician’s organization with over 7,500 members across all specialties and employment settings. CMS is a major force in advocating for improved patient care and annually plays a substantial role in creating healthcare legislation for Colorado.• Negotiated with Colorado legislators to write and pass the Colorado Clean Indoor Air Act (HB 06-1175) in 2006, which banned smoking in bars and restaurants in Colorado and is credited with saving… Show more The Colorado Medical Society is Colorado’s largest physician’s organization with over 7,500 members across all specialties and employment settings. CMS is a major force in advocating for improved patient care and annually plays a substantial role in creating healthcare legislation for Colorado.• Negotiated with Colorado legislators to write and pass the Colorado Clean Indoor Air Act (HB 06-1175) in 2006, which banned smoking in bars and restaurants in Colorado and is credited with saving tens of millions of healthcare dollars annually and reducing deaths and disease associated with smoking.• Guided all CMS legislative initiatives addressing medical liability, practice viability, and healthcare reform resulting in passage of 20 CMS-supported bills.• Co-chaired Colorado Governor Bill Ritter’s healthcare transition team wrangling 20 challenging committee members. Interviewed 20 candidates and selected the new state Medicaid director. Show less

Worked in the Life Science Division. Developed data analytics and Artificial Intelligence systems to direct astronaut fitness programs on the International Space Station.