Rick van Pelt

About Rick van Pelt

Dr. Rick van Pelt is the Chief Clinical Transformation Officer (CCTO) and leader of the Clinical Transformation Office (CTO) at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Medicine. Dr. van Pelt is a board certified anesthesiologist with more than 30 years of experience in clinical practice, performance and quality improvement, patient safety, and change management within health systems. His areas of thought leadership and expertise include: System-based performance improvement; Frontline-driven interprofessional practice redesign and implementation of high reliability clinical operating systems; Clinical variation management; Peer support and mitigation of systems-induced stress and burnout; and Implementation Science. Dr. van Pelt led the development of the Precision Problem Solving methodology (PrecisionPS), a novel leadership paradigm that integrates systems theory, participatory management theory and peer support theory into a synergistic approach for complex problem solving. Frontline interprofessional teams guided, supported and empowered to tap their \"collective genius\" in identifying critical areas of systems improvement impacting their ability to deliver exceptional care, and to develop and implement sustained solutions. Precision Problem Solving intentionally addresses the team\'s emotional stress and burnout related to systems dysfunction and leverages this to target critical improvement areas. In engaging teams with this approach, their identified sources of systems stress become highly relevant points of improvement activity, which create a strong driver of collective ownership and accountability. In addition to creating high impact and sustained solutions, team improvement activity becomes an active wellness intervention that mitigates the root system causes of their stress and burnout. The result is a naturally scalable win-win for organizational systems transformation and wellness. Dr. van Pelt has also been a pioneer in peer support since his involvement in a catastrophic medical event in which exposed a profound gap in emotionally supporting patients, families and caregivers following these events. Peer support has been recognized internationally as an accessible and effective intervention in restoring wellness. In addition to founding one of the first Peer Support programs at the Brigham and Women\'s Hospital in 2005, Dr. van Pelt continues to serve as an active member on the Massachusetts General Hospital\'s PeerCare training team, and initiated the implementation of the PeerConnect program at UAB Medicine.

Experience

1. Chief Clinical Transformation Officer (Ccto)

   UAB Medicine

   Dec 2020 — Present · Birmingham, AL, US

Education

• Harvard Business School

  MBA

  1998 — 1999

• UMass Chan Medical School

  MD

  1986 — 1990

• Amherst College

  BA

  1982 — 1986