Phelps Chief Medical Officer to Chair Advisory Council for Patient Safety Organization

Helps Improve Quality and Safety of Healthcare in the Region

Lawrence L. Faltz, MD, FACP, Senior Vice President for Medical Affairs and Chief Medical Officer at Phelps Memorial Hospital Center, has been appointed chairman of a multi-hospital advisory council that provides guidance to the Patient Safety Institute of Northern Metropolitan Hospital Association (NorMet). Formed in 2008, the Patient Safety Institute is the first federally recognized patient safety organization in New York State, and one of only a few in the country that focuses on hospital quality and safety for patients.

As chairman of the Clinical Advisory Council, Dr. Faltz leads a committee of medical directors and quality assurance directors from 25 hospitals in the seven-county region north of New York City. The Council will provide guidance and share information about quality of care and patient safety for the Patient Safety Institute. The ultimate goal is to improve care systems in hospitals in order to reduce error, save lives, improve patient outcomes and reduce costs.

"We are fortunate to have Dr. Faltz' talent guiding this novel initiative," said Angela M. Skretta, Vice President of Normet and Executive Director of the Patient Safety Institute. "He is a voracious reader of clinical literature, a critical thinker, and always determined to advance the practice of medicine toward the best quality of care for the patient, within an environment of increasingly limited resources."

According to Skretta, Dr. Faltz was selected based on his demonstrated leadership with the New York Chapter of the American College of Physicians and his role as a member of the Hospital Professional Technical Advisory Committee of The Joint Commission, the national hospital accrediting agency.

Dr. Faltz was a member of the Board of Governors of the American College of Physicians from 1998 to 2004 and was President of the New York ACP Chapter in 2003. He is also a fellow of The New York Academy of Medicine, which spearheads initiatives and research in epidemiology, health policy, child health, biomedicine, handgun injury, infectious diseases and more.

Board certified in internal medicine and rheumatology, Dr. Faltz has been on the faculties of New York University School of Medicine, Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Cornell University Medical College. He is currently Associate Clinical Professor at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Before joining Phelps in 1994, he was Chairman of the Department of Medicine and Internal Medicine Residency Program Director at New York Hospital Queens.

Northern Metropolitan Hospital Association represents community hospitals and other health care organizations in Westchester, Rockland, Orange, Putnam, Dutchess, Ulster and Sullivan counties.

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