David W. Baker, MD, FACP, MPH, Named Joint Commission Executive Vice President

OAKBROOK TERRACE, Ill., Feb. 17, 2015 — The Joint Commission announced today the appointment of David W. Baker, MD, FACP, MPH, to the position of executive vice president for the Division of Healthcare Quality Evaluation.

In this senior leadership position, Dr. Baker will oversee the Departments of Quality Measurement, Health Services Research and Standards and Survey Methods. These departments are responsible for the development of the Joint Commission’s health care quality evaluation tools, including performance measures, standards (including National Patient Safety Goals) and survey methods for all accreditation and certification programs. He also will oversee the Joint Commission’s biostatistics and data analysis activities, public reporting of performance measurement data, and the development, implementation and maintenance of the performance measures used in accreditation and certification programs. 

Dr. Baker was chosen after an extensive nationwide search to fill the vacancy created by the October 2013 death of Jerod Loeb, Ph.D. He will join The Joint Commission on Feb. 17.

“I am delighted to welcome Dr. Baker as the leader of our Division of Healthcare Quality Evaluation,” said Mark R. Chassin, M.D., FACP, M.P.P., M.P.H., president and CEO, The Joint Commission. “He has an exemplary clinical background that is greatly enhanced by a wealth of practical experience in health care quality.  His national prominence in health care quality measurement is especially notable.  His leadership ensures that Joint Commission accreditation will continue to reflect the highest level of commitment to quality and patient safety.”

Since 2002, Dr. Baker has been chief of the Division of General Internal Medicine and Geriatrics at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University as well as deputy director of its Institute for Public Health and Medicine. In this capacity, he oversaw the largest division of the Department of Medicine, including clinical practices, residents’ continuity of care clinics, and research programs. He has many notable accomplishments, including establishment of the first fully independent hospitalist program in a major academic medical center. He also created and directed Northwestern’s first practice-based research network, including affiliated community primary care practices and federally qualified health centers.

Dr. Baker has been a major contributor to the national quality measurement discourse.  He chairs the American College of Physician’s Performance Measurement Committee and serves as its representative to the Measures Application Partnership Coordinating Committee.  He has also served as a member of the Measure Implementation and Evaluation Committee of the Physician Consortium for Performance Improvement.

Prior to joining Northwestern, Dr. Baker held the position of associate professor of medicine and epidemiology-biostatistics at Metro-Health Medical Center and Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.  In that role, he developed a successful health services research program and led Metro-Health’s heart failure disease management program.

Dr. Baker also has worked at Grady Memorial Hospital and Harbor-UCLA Medical Center.

Dr. Baker received a bachelor’s degree from the University of California and a Doctor of Medicine from the UCLA School of Medicine. He also has a master’s degree in public health from the UCLA School of Public Health. He is a fellow of the American College of Physicians, having completed a residency in internal medicine at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center and a research fellowship with the RWJ Clinical Scholars Program at UCLA.  He has served on numerous professional boards and committees, has authored more than 200 peer-reviewed publications, and is a frequent speaker at research and policy meetings.