Perlin Named President of The Joint Commission

Widely known for his leadership in healthcare quality and information technology, Dr. Perlin is currently President, Clinical Operations and Chief Medical Officer of Nashville, Tennessee-based HCA Healthcare, one of the nation’s leading providers of healthcare services. At HCA, Dr. Perlin leads a large team of clinicians and data scientists in setting clinical and professional policy, implementing clinical data tools, and improving care outcomes. His team was the 2019 recipient of the John Eisenberg Award for National Innovation for enhancing sepsis detection and survival.

“Dr. Perlin is a leader in quality and patient safety as demonstrated in his distinguished career,” says Michael Suk, MD, JD, MPH, MBA, FACS, Chairman of The Joint Commission Search Committee. “He is well positioned to lead The Joint Commission into the future with intelligence and vision as the organization continues its mission to continuously improve the safety and quality of care provided to the public.”

“I am very pleased with the appointment of Jonathan B. Perlin to lead The Joint Commission going forward,” says Mark R. Chassin, MD, FACP, MPP, MPH, current President and CEO, The Joint Commission. “Jonathan is a nationally recognized leader and expert in quality improvement. I know that he will continue to transform The Joint Commission’s critical work to improve patient safety and quality of care in health care organizations across the country and around the world.”

“I am honored to have the opportunity to work with members of The Joint Commission community, including many government colleagues, and health services partners domestically and abroad in driving higher performance, more equitable and higher value healthcare,” says Dr. Perlin.

Before joining HCA in 2006, Dr. Perlin was Under Secretary for Health in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. A champion for early implementation of electronic health records, Dr. Perlin led VA quality performance to international recognition as reported in academic literature and lay press and as evaluated by RAND, the Institute of Medicine and others. Dr. Perlin’s service to the VA continued as chair of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs’ Special Medical Advisory Group. In 2014, Dr. Perlin took a “sabbatical” from HCA to serve as Senior Advisor to the Secretary to help improve operations, accelerate access and rebuild trust with America’s veterans.

Dr. Perlin has served previously on numerous boards and commissions including The Joint Commission (2007-2010), the National Patient Safety Foundation and in 2009, he was appointed as the inaugural chair of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Health IT Standards Committee. He currently serves on the Board of Meharry Medical College, a historically black graduate institution (HBGI), the Columbia University Mailman School Health Policy and Management National Advisory Board, Vanderbilt University School of Engineering Board of Visitors, and he is chair of the National Quality Forum.

An elected member of the National Academy of Medicine (formerly the Institute of Medicine), Dr. Perlin co-chairs the “Action Collaborative on Countering the U.S. Opioid Epidemic,” as well as the “Digital Health Action Collaborative of the Consortium on Value and Science-Driven Healthcare.” Perennially recognized as one of the most influential physician executives and health leaders in the United States by Modern Healthcare, Dr. Perlin has received numerous awards including Distinguished Alumnus in Medicine and Health Administration, the Lifetime Achievement Award from his alma mater, the Chairman’s Medal from the National Patient Safety Foundation, the Founders Medal from the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States, and he is one of the few honorary members of the Special Forces Association and Green Berets.

Broadly published in healthcare quality and transformation, Dr. Perlin is a Master of the American College of Physicians and Fellow of the American College of Medical Informatics. He has a Master of Science in Health Administration and received his Ph.D. in Pharmacology (molecular neurobiology) with his M.D. as part of the Physician Scientist Training Program at the Medical College of Virginia of Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU).

Dr. Perlin has faculty appointments at Vanderbilt University as Clinical Professor of Medicine and Biomedical Informatics and at VCU as Adjunct Professor of Health Administration.