Rebecca Cady, Esq., BSN, CPHRM, DFASHRM, FACHE is Vice President and Chief Risk Officer at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. She has a Bachelor's of Science in Nursing from Georgetown University and is a graduate of the University of San Diego School of Law. Prior to coming to CNMC in 2008, Rebecca was a partner at Grace, Hollis, Lowe, Hanson and Schaeffer, a California law firm, where she practiced in the areas of malpractice defense, healthcare, and professional licensure law. She has published extensively in the area of nursing and the law, and is a frequent lecturer to healthcare providers. She was Editor in Chief of the Journal of Nursing Administration's Health Care Law, Ethics, and Regulation from 2002-2013. She also served as president of the American Society for Health Care Risk Management (ASHRM) in 2023.
Timothy McDonald, MD JD, is the Chief Patient Safety and Risk Officer for RLDatix and a Professor of Law at Loyola University – Chicago. Tim is a physician-attorney who has assisted more than 800 hospitals and health systems implement a culture of “normalized compassionate honesty” combined with “fair and accountable culture” transformation. His research has focused on conducting patient safety, Just Culture, and high reliability needs assessment/Gap Analysis for organizations along with assisting them in the principled approach to unexpected events with an emphasis on reporting of patient safety events, the use of simulation and human factors analysis, the provision of emotional first aid to affected health care team members and providing open and honest communication following harm events. This approach to unexpected events also includes a commitment to communicate and provide peer support within the health care team and to communicate with patients and families throughout the therapeutic relationship, especially after harm occurs. He has received numerous national and international Patient Safety awards including the American College of Medical Quality’s Founder’s Award, the Institute of Medicine – Chicago Patient Safety Award, and the Medically Induced Trauma Support Services [MITSS} Hope Award.
CMS recently finalized the Patient Safety Structural Measure, which sets forth a broad roadmap for the implementation of a culture of safety, learning, transparency and accountability within hospitals and health systems nationwide — enabling and encouraging significant progress towards safer care and improved support for healthcare workers.