Dr. Jonathan B. Perlin is President, Clinical Services and Chief Medical Officer of Nashville, Tennessee-based HCA Healthcare, one of the nation’s leading providers of healthcare services, comprising 189 hospitals and over 2,200 sites of care located in 22 states and the United Kingdom. Dr. Perlin leads HCA’s Clinical Services Group (CSG), which consists of nationally recognized clinical leaders, data scientists, researchers and improvement experts who drive HCA’s clinical excellence agenda. 

Under Dr. Perlin’s leadership, HCA uses data from more than 37 million annual patient encounters to create the most comprehensive learning healthcare system possible. His team is responsible for the landmark REDUCE MRSA study that demonstrated a 44 percent improvement on known best practices for reducing bloodstream infections, creating a new, worldwide standard of care. HCA also achieved national recognition for preventing elective pre-term deliveries and achieving better outcomes for mothers, babies and society. Numerous studies in areas such as early sepsis recognition, improving diagnosis and preventing antimicrobial resistance are underway and helping drive HCA to benchmark clinical performance. The team’s implementation of the “Surviving Sepsis Campaign” and computerized algorithm for early detection of sepsis has saved 8,000 lives and was recognized as the 2019 Red Hat Innovation of the Year. ( https://www.redhat.com/en/success-stories/innovation-awards )

Before joining HCA in 2006, “the Honorable Jonathan B. Perlin” was Under Secretary for Health in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate, as the senior-most physician in the Federal Government and Chief Executive Officer of the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), Dr. Perlin led the nation’s largest integrated health system.

At VHA, Dr. Perlin directed care to over 6 million patients annually by more than 250,000 healthcare professionals at 1,400 sites, including hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, counseling centers and other facilities, with an operating, research and capital budget of approximately $40 billion. A champion for early implementation of electronic health records, Dr. Perlin led VHA 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 was appointed to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) in 2018 and the Congressional Budget Office Panel of Health Advisors. He also serves as chair of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs’ Special Medical Advisory Group. Dr. Perlin was the 2015 chair of the American Hospital Association. In 2014, Dr. Perlin took a “sabbatical” from HCA to serve as Senior Advisor to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs 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 and the National Patient Safety Foundation and currently serves on the Board of Meharry Medical College, an historically black graduate institution (HBGI), and is chair of the National Quality Forum. In 2009, he was appointed as the inaugural chair of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Health IT Standards Committee.