Speaker

RICHARD CHARLES BOOTHMAN, J.D.

Principal, Boothman Consulting

Adjunct Assistant Professor, Dept. of Surgery 

University of Michigan Medical School

Visiting Scholar, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine

Center for Patient Safety and Professional Advocacy

Speaker BIO

Beginning in 2001, Rick Boothman led a transformation in the University’s response to patient injury in what has become known around the world as the Michigan Model. Reasoning that clinical improvement was impossible without honesty and accountability, he challenged hardened beliefs that honesty about medical error would lead to financial catastrophe, fashioning a systematic, principled approach that ensured injured patients were supported and treated honestly and fairly, while prioritizing rapid clinical improvement on a larger scale.

Senators Clinton and Obama promoted Michigan’s work in the New England Journal of Medicine (2006) and Rick was called to testify before the US Senate that year. Two years later at President Obama’s direction, the US Department of Health and Human Services initiated a large national research study into the broad feasibility of the model and the department’s publication of the CANDOR toolkit (2015) followed. Rick Boothman and others published a seminal paper entitled A Better Approach to Medical Malpractice Claims? The University of Michigan Experience (2009). Multiple publications followed including Liability Claims and Costs Before and After Implementation of a Medical Error Disclosure Program (2010) which dispelled the belief that transparency would exacerbate financial losses.

Now in its 15^th year of continuous operation, it is safe to say that the Michigan Model has been successfully instilled into the University of Michigan healthcare culture. Injured patients continue to be met with compassion, honesty, transparency, and fairness as opportunities for improvement in patient safety are prioritized. But the impact of the Model is more pervasive than in risk and claims management alone, inspiring improved adverse event reporting, a system of evidence-based peer review, an innovative approach to adverse event reviews, and strides in patient satisfaction.  

The Michigan Model continues to be featured widely in US and international media and Rick Boothman and his team regularly host interested domestic and international health systems. United States health care systems as well as international health care organizations are increasingly exploring their own version of the Michigan Model by turning to Rick for advice and guidance, as it becomes clear that Rick’s approach, grounded in service to the medical mission with principles and proactivity, is the most effective response to the problems of patient injury and professional liability claims.

Recently retired from the University of Michigan after 17 years, Rick Boothman now consults with health systems, insurance companies and others interested in exploring their own version of the Michigan Model. He is a frequent speaker and teacher and collaborates with researchers at the University of Michigan as emeritus faculty and as Visiting Scholar with the Vanderbilt University Medical School Center for Patient Safety and Professional Accountability.