SAN DIEGO—The American Hospital Association’s (AHA) Board of Trustees has elected Jonathan B. Perlin, M.D. , president of clinical and physician services and chief medical officer of the Nashville-based HCA (Hospital Corporation of America) as its chair-elect designate. Dr. Perlin will assume the chairmanship in 2015, becoming the top elected official of the national organization that represents America’s hospitals and health systems. 

Since 2006, Dr. Perlin has provided leadership for clinical services and performance improvement at HCA’s 161 hospitals, 114 ambulatory surgery centers and approximately 650 physician practices.  Under Dr. Perlin’s direction, HCA has been a leader in a number of areas, particularly perinatal safety and infection prevention. Perlin’s team at HCA conducted an expansive study of nearly 18,000 elective deliveries that showed babies delivered electively before 39 weeks have significantly higher risk for complications requiring neonatal intensive care. HCA was among the first organizations to introduce a mandatory flu safety policy for employees that has helped achieve flu vaccination rates over 90% for four years. In addition, the REDUCE MRSA trial, conducted at 43 HCA-affiliated hospitals and recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine, demonstrated a new approach to reducing all ICU bloodstream infections by 44%.

Before joining HCA, Dr. Perlin was Under Secretary for Health in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs where he led the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), the nation’s largest integrated health system. At VHA, Dr. Perlin directed care to more than 5.4 million patients annually cared for by 200,000-plus health care professionals at 1,400 sites, including hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, counseling centers and other facilities. An early champion for the implementation of electronic health records, Dr. Perlin led VHA quality performance improvement, attaining international recognition in academic literature, the RAND Corporation, Institute of Medicine among others.

“I look forward to working with the AHA, its members, and allied hospital associations, in support of the AHA mission to improve health and care during this challenging and exciting time,” said Perlin.

Dr. Perlin currently serves on the board of trustees for the AHA, National Patient Safety Foundation and Meharry Medical College.  He also has served on the boards of the National Quality Forum and The Joint Commission.  He chairs the Department of Health and Human Services Health IT Standards Committee.  Broadly published on health care quality and transformation, he is a fellow of the American College of Physicians and the American College of Medical Informatics. 

Dr. Perlin has a master’s of science in health administration and received his doctorate in pharmacology (molecular neurobiology) with his medical degree as part of the Physician Scientist Training Program at the Medical College of Virginia of Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in Richmond.

Dr. Perlin has faculty appointments at Vanderbilt University as an adjunct professor of medicine and biomedical informatics and at VCU as an adjunct professor of health administration. 

About the AHA

The AHA is a not-for-profit association of health care provider organizations and individuals that are committed to the improvement of health in their communities.  The AHA is the national advocate for its members, which include nearly 5,000 hospitals, health care systems, networks and other providers of care and 43,000 individual members.  Founded in 1898, the AHA provides education for health care leaders and is a source of information on health care issues and trends.  For more information visit the Web site at www.aha.org.