Charles R. Denham, MD

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• Background: Dr. Denham's business development career spanning 20 years has resulted in numerous product and process innovations. He was ranked number 31 in the of 50 Most Powerful Physician Executives by Modern Healthcare in 2006 and is a member of a steering committee of the World Health Organization. As a radiation oncologist, professor of biomedical engineering, and instructor at a number of medical schools and business schools he has taught innovation adoption, technology transfer, and commercialization. He has served on numerous editorial boards of journals as a Health Information Technology (HIT) and solution specialist, has authored numerous publications, and is an Associate Editor for the Journal of Patient Safety. He is a 2009 senior fellow of the Harvard University Advanced Leadership Initiative, and is in the President's Circle of the National Academies of Science advising the Institute of Medicine, the National Academy of Science, and the National Academy of Engineering.


• CEO and Founder, HCC Corporation: A business development accelerator, HCC has led, developed, or supported 400 product development teams in more than 50 product categories, including pharmaceuticals, devices, capital equipment, and Health Information Technologies. Its mission is to save lives, save money, and create value in the communities and ventures it builds. HCC developed an evidence-based Breakthrough Technology Processing System now used for product contracting by one-third of U.S. hospitals, purchasing more than $22 billion in products. HCC methods are used by global healthcare supplier and high technology companies with more than $220 billion in revenues and over 95% U.S. hospital market penetration. HCC accelerates market penetration of solutions that are evidence-based and patient-centered, and that target systems performance improvement. The HCC accelerator incubates ventures that span from partnerships with 10 global companies to a portfolio of companies HCC has spawned itself. The core values of HCC are integrity, compassion, accountability, reliability, and excellence (ICARE). HCC is driven to exemplify these behaviors as a servant leader and to serve as a silent partner of healthcare innovators.


• Chairman and Founder, TMIT: A non-profit medical research organization dedicated to driving adoption of clinical solutions healthcare performance improvement, TMIT has established a National Research Test Bed of more than 3,100 hospitals–the world's largest virtual laboratory. Its mission is identical to that of HCC. TMIT R&D accelerates the adoption of high-impact performance improvement solutions, products, services, and technologies. It is served by more than 400 clinical and administrative subject matter experts from a number of our nation's best academic and front-line institutions. The numerous task forces and practicing communities of TMIT are served by online knowledge management systems. An example may be found at www.safetyleaders.org. TMIT has established national, state, and local collaborative Pay-for-Performance programs. TMIT task forces with federal agencies, certifying, and quality organizations include the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid (CMS), the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), The Joint Commission (TJC), the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), The Leapfrog Group, and the National Quality Forum. Research and collaborative support has been provided to the Institute of Medicine (IOM), Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the Department of Defense (DoD).


• Co-Chairman, NQF Safe Practices Consensus Standards Maintenance Committee: Dr. Denham leads a continuous development program that defines the National Quality Forum (NQF) Safe Practices for Better Healthcare, which are national federal standards applied to all U.S. hospitals and most healthcare organizations. The National Quality Forum is a public/private partnership charged by the U.S. Congress to establish standards under the auspices of the Innovation Transfer Act of 1995. Responsible for updating the NQF Safe Practices on an ongoing multi-year basis, Dr. Denham and TMIT have established a National Harmonization Program with The Joint Commission, CMS, AHRQ, IHI, and The Leapfrog Group, in order to generate a synchronized set of practices that will provide a common roadmap to hospitals. TMIT has also funded a national Healthcare-Associated Infection project in collaboration with NQF, which will establish consensus standards for hospital reporting and data systems in 2009 and beyond. Dr. Denham is also co-chairman of the NQF Laboratory Consensus Standards program and will lead development of radiology standards in 2009.


• Chairman, Safe Practices Program of The Leapfrog Group: The Leapfrog Group is a consortium of more than 185 Fortune 500 companies with more than $69 billion in healthcare purchasing power, responsible for more than 34 million covered lives. TMIT funds and leads design and support of elements of the largest Pay-for-Performance program in the country: ranking U.S. hospitals on an annual basis and providing the mechanism for consumers and insurance purchasers to reward quality improvement by their purchasing. Dr. Denham has chaired The Leapfrog Group's Safe Practices program since 2004. This harmonization effort provides a common set of transparency measures and targets that the payers can build into their purchasing programs. Hospitals representing more than 40% of U.S. healthcare participate in the program.


• Selected Publications: To review a selected list of recent articles that may be downloaded, go to http://www.safetyleaders.org/templates/pageTemplateRecentArticles.jsp ; and to learn more about TMIT, please go to www.safetyleaders.org.