Dr. Scott Allen has been appointed to the permanent role as UConn Health’s Chief Medical Officer (CMO), after serving the past two years in the interim role.
Dr. Allen joined UConn Health in 1994 as a clinician-educator, advancing in the Primary Care Internal Medicine Residency Program to becoming Program Director for eight years. He then established the Quality Department and became the Chief Quality Officer (CQO) preceding his interim role as CMO. Before serving in these roles UConn Health had not previously had either a CQO or a CMO.
“During his role as the interim Chief Medical officer, Scott demonstrated outstanding leadership and passion for highly reliable, patient-centered care that is evidenced by many measures of success,” says Dr. Andy Agwunobi, Interim President of UConn and CEO of UConn Health. “I can’t thank Scott enough for his leadership and unwavering dedication to our hospital and health system during the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, always ensuring the highest levels of patient safety, clinical care, outcomes, and operational performance.”
In his current role, Dr. Allen works closely and collaboratively with the leadership of the medical staff, nursing, regulatory and clinical compliance, and risk management teams. He organizes the hospital quality committee, co-chairs the daily Safety Huddle and oversees reviews and cause analysis for all safety events. Reporting directly to the hospital CEO, his responsibilities range from overseeing the Quality Department to reporting quality metrics to the Board of Directors, from policy management to promotion of coordinated care, and from aligning physicians to population health initiatives.
Some of Dr. Allen’s successes include helping to lead the safe implementation of the system-wide Epic electronic health record and the opening of the University Tower. He also established UConn Health’s daily Safety Huddle, originated ‘Safety Starts with Me’ training for all staff and new hires as part of the CT Hospital Association, and led the reduction of our hospital’s serious safety event rate from 2.14 to 0.15 events/1000 patient days. Under his leadership, John Dempsey Hospital received the Leapfrog Patient Safety & Quality Improvement Award as the top-performing hospital in the tristate area by the Northeast Business Group two years in a row, and achieved the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade of “A”. Dr. Allen also helped co-lead the application for and subsequent selection by the ACDME as one of nine institutions nationally to participate in the ACGME Pathway Leaders for Pursuing Excellence, Patient Safety Collaborative. He implemented training in methods of high reliability for all staff, medical staff, and house staff, as well as event analysis training for all new first-year residents and third-year medical students, and he created the “ACA [Apparent Cause Analysis] on the Road” debrief analysis of a patient safety event with front line staff in their respective units. As Assistant Dean of Education, Dr. Allen is an enthusiastic teacher of patient safety to students and residents and has partnered with the Graduate Medical Education office to help prepare for three Clinical Learning Environment Review site visits.
“I am excited to help lead UConn Health in the mission of excellence in patient care through the achievement of high reliability and a culture of safety,” says Allen. “As a leader, I value collaboration, accountability, and a systems approach to problem-solving.”
Through listening, respect, and follow-through, Dr. Allen has engendered trust from senior executives to frontline staff. UConn Health has been fortunate to have a leader like Dr. Allen at our institution, and we look forward to his continued success as our Chief Medical Officer.
