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 hundreds of hospitals and health systems in implementing a principled approach to unexpected events. He is dedicated to communicating honestly to patients and families, providing peer support within the healthcare team and using software technology to learn and improve following patient harm events, including identifying opportunities to reduce disparities in healthcare. His federally funded research has focused on improving the quality of care while mitigating medical liability issues and establishing teaching methodologies for all levels and professions in healthcare and law.
He has published dozens of articles in high-impact peer-reviewed journals such as Health Affairs, Health Services Research, and the New England Journal of Medicine. His published work has been cited by the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology Patient Safety Report and CMS’s recently published Patient Safety Structural Measures. He is a featured TEDx speaker for his talk on "Healing After Harm in Healthcare.”
AI transforms incident data with the ability to analyze large volumes of reports, surface patterns and highlight problem areas. These insights allow hospital leaders to not only identify trends but also anticipate risks and take more targeted steps to improve patient safety.