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About Us

Improving patient safety by reducing communication failures

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Our Story

In 2010, we created the first I-PASS Intervention Bundle for resident physicians and completed a multisite study at nine children’s hospitals. Following that study, I-PASS received Honorable Mention award from the AAMC Readiness for Reform Health Care Innovation Challenge.

From there, we began enrolling hospitals in studies to highlight the importance of using a standardized handoff process to reduce patient harm. This led to a study that highlighted I-PASS as reducing Medical Errors by 23% and reducing Adverse Events by 30%.

Today our I-PASS Bundle is implemented across hundreds of hospitals and specialties as the go-to method for reducing patient harm. We look forward to helping you reduce patient harm at your institution.

Our Values

Patient Centeredness

Collaboration & Team Focus

Innovation

Fundamental & Transformational System Changes

Rigorous Measurement

Scholarship

Evidence-Based Improvement

Rapid Dissemination into Common Practice

 

Clinical Founders

Christopher P. Landrigan, MD, MPH

Co-Founder and Executive Council Member

I am Chief of General Pediatrics at Boston Children’s Hospital, Director of the Sleep and Patient Safety Program at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, the William Berenberg Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, and a practicing pediatric hospitalist. In addition, I was the founding chair and am currently an Executive Council Member of the Pediatric Research in Inpatient Settings (PRIS) Network, a collaboration of over 100 pediatric hospitals working together to study and improve the quality of hospital care.

Theodore C. Sectish, MD

Co-Founder and Executive Council Member

Nancy D. Spector, MD

Co-Founder and Executive Council Member

Raj Srivastava, MD, FRCP(C), MPH

Co-Founder and Executive Council Member

Amy J. Starmer, MD, MPH

Co-Founder and Executive Council Member

Dr. Amy Starmer is a general pediatrician with extensive experience leading initiatives to improve patient safety and healthcare quality. Currently, she serves as the Division Chief of General Pediatrics and Chief Quality Officer at Baystate Children's Hospital. Dr. Starmer’s leadership of quality improvement initiatives has resulted in measuring performance that far exceeds nationally benchmarked targets for numerous areas of focus, including immunization delivery, well child visit completion, and adherence to standardized clinical guidelines across a range of medical conditions. In her previous role at Boston Children’s Hospital, Dr. Starmer served as Medical Director of the BCH Clinical Pathways Program and as Associate Medical Director of Quality Improvement.

In addition to these local institutional administrative and clinical roles, Dr. Starmer leads nationally-recognized seminal research studies (Starmer et al JAMA 2013, Starmer et al NEJM 2014) focused on improving provider handoff communication and patient safety. She has subsequently served as Principal Investigator and co-PI of multiple additional intervention studies examining adaptations of handoff programs for nurses, ambulatory care, and other providers across more than 50 hospitals. The I-PASS handoff program has been recognized by AHRQ as “the gold standard for effective handoff communication” and has received multiple awards including the Eisenberg award for National Innovation in Patient Safety and Quality.

Daniel C. West, MD

Co-Founder and Executive Council Member

I-PASS Patient Safety Institute
Executive Leadership

Marshall Burkhart

Vice President, Client Engagement

Marshall Burkhart is the Vice President, Client Engagement at the I-PASS Insitute. Marshall brings a decade of experience in patient safety to the organization. He is responsible for client engagement, market strategy, and the growth of the organization.

Marshall joined I-PASS in 2020 after serving as a Regional Director at Press Ganey where he was responsible for innovative market strategies and the creation of strategic plans to assist clients in improving performance outcomes. While at Press Ganey, Marshall was a four-time recipient of the President’s Club Award for surpassing revenue growth and retention goals.

Marshall holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Johns Hopkins University and is a candidate for a Masters in Business Administration at the F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College. He is the chairman of the advisory board for the IB13 Foundation, an organization that focuses on improving the lives of those who have suffered spinal cord injuries. Marshall is a former professional and college lacrosse player. When not working, Marshall enjoys cooking with his wife, jumping rope, and playing frisbee with their dog, Jax.

William H. Floyd

Chief Executive Officer

Bill Floyd, Founder and CEO, leads the development and implementation of the I-PASS Institute’s services and solutions. With a passion for improving the quality and standards of care patients receive, Bill brings entrepreneurial expertise to I-PASS Institute after working at several successful healthcare start-up organizations.

Bill has a career spanning three decades in the healthcare field ranging from medical devices to patient monitoring and enterprise software solutions at large organizations like Johnson & Johnson and Boston Scientific as well as start-ups.

Bill is a board member at the University of Vermont STEM Center and the Mid-Coast Medical Center Covid Clinic. He is also the principal of MerePoint Oyster Company in Maine. In his free time, Bill enjoys playing tennis, golf, and pickleball as well as skiing and hiking.

Bob Hanscom

Strategic Advisor

Bob Hanscom, Strategic Advisor at the I-PASS Institute, collaborates with the I-PASS leadership team to develop and deliver strategies to champion patient safety and reduce medical malpractice rates at healthcare institutions across the country.

Bob brings nearly 30 years of experience in hospital risk management, with a specific focus in healthcare analytics claims data. He retired from his role as Vice President of Risk Management and Analytics at Coverys in September 2022. During Bob’s nine-year tenure at Coverys, he oversaw the company’s national risk management services, and led enterprise-wide initiatives to strengthen Coverys as a data-and-analytics driven organization. Included in those efforts was the development of Coverys’ comparative benchmarking database, which now houses the root-cause factors of approximately 30,000 deeply analyzed malpractice claims. His work has led to a proactive risk management model which focuses on using the evidence to find solutions before harm reaches the patient – rather than after.

Prior to joining Coverys, Bob was with CRICO, the malpractice self-insurance captive for the Harvard system, for 14 years. At CRICO, he was Senior Vice President of Loss Prevention and Patient Safety and headed up CRICO’s external consulting division, CRICO Strategies. Before that, Bob was Vice President of Clinical Services at Lahey Clinic in Burlington, MA for five years. Earlier in his career, Bob worked for both Massachusetts General Hospital and for a law practice in Maine.

Bob received his B.A. in History from Pacific Union College (California) and his Juris Doctorate from Pepperdine University School of Law.

Christina Hazekamp, MPH

Director, Program Management

Christina Hazekamp Wright is the Director of Program Management at the I-PASS Institute. She utilizes her experience in patient safety to identify coaching opportunities for clients, oversees large-scale implementations, and provides operational insight internally.

Christina joined the organization in 2016. Before coming to I-PASS, Christina held positions at Sparrow Hospital in Lansing, MI, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, and Boston Children’s Hospital where she worked in both dietetics and patient safety.

Christina holds a bachelor’s degree in Nutritional Sciences from Michigan State University and a Master's degree in Public Health from Boston University. She also holds certifications in Lean Management and Improvement Capability. In her free time, Christina can be found outdoors hiking, camping and kayaking.

Theresa Murray

Director, Clinical Program Management

As Director of Clinical Program Management, Theresa Murray coordinates the clinical coach program and oversees recruitment, onboarding, and ongoing development for I-PASS implementation programs. Additionally, she supports our clients by developing policies and protocols, establishing clinical guidelines, and executing large-scale implementations. With prior experience as an I-PASS clinical coach, Theresa utilizes her first-hand experiences implementing the I-PASS method at various healthcare systems, including Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, M Health Fairview, Newton Wellesley Hospital, and Baptist Health, to actively improve the I-PASS clinical program.

Theresa graduated from the University of Vermont with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and later received her Master of Science in Nursing Education from Norwich University. Prior to joining I-PASS, Theresa worked with Dartmouth Health for over 12 years, where she held various positions and led initiatives in patient safety, process improvement, and nursing education. Theresa is a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt (LSSBB) and a Certified Professional in Patient Safety (CPPS). In her free time, she enjoys running, coaching youth sports, and thrifting.

Amanda Hofer, MPH

Senior Manager of Program Development & Design

As Senior Program Manager, Amanda Hofer guides clients to achieve and sustain successful implementations. As an instrumental part of our client’s success, Amanda works with our clients to refine and execute implementation timelines, develop a plan for ensuring milestones are met, and facilitate meetings throughout each project phase. Amanda also provides ongoing technical support for I-PASS’s cloud-based tools. Amanda ensures our clients implement successfully and sustainably.

Before joining I-PASS Institute in 2018, Amanda completed a practicum internship at Boston Children’s Hospital as a Pediatric Education Research Assistant. In this role, she developed qualitative and quantitative data frameworks for program evaluations in developmental medicine.

Amanda holds a Masters in Public Health from Boston University and a bachelor’s degree in Public Health from The Ohio State University. She also holds a green belt in Lean management. In her free time, Amanda enjoys reading, cooking, and baking.

Marcia Peterson

Chief Information Officer

Marcia Peterson is the Chief Technology Officer at the I-PASS Institute. Marcia brings over 40 years of experience in healthcare, operations, finance, and technology. At I-PASS, she is responsible for technology compliance, strategy, and operations.

Prior to joining I-PASS in 2018, Marcia led people and projects across all segments of healthcare organizations. She has developed unique insights necessary for the successful collaboration and innovation of clinical, financial, operational, and technical support systems. She brings expertise in patient portals, electronic health records, and compliance programs to I-PASS.

When not working, Marcia enjoys spending time with her large and tight-knit family, especially her new grandson. As a close second, she enjoys outdoor activities, particularly gardening, walking, and bike riding.

Scott Pitt

Strategic Advisor

Scott Pitt, CFO, leads the financial and legal and many other operational matters of the I-PASS Institute. Scott has a passion working with small cap and middle market technology / med tech related companies to assess strategy and build world class teams that create scalable and sustainable operations. Scott has been with I-PASS Institute since its inception in 2016, holding various management positions and acting as an advisor to the Board of Directors.

Scott’s three-decade career began as an auditor at Arthur Andersen; progressed to hold senior financial roles at technology and service companies such as Taleo Corporation (which ultimately went public and was then purchased by Oracle); and he has been CFO at several other Boston area technology and med tech companies. Scott also has extensive experience providing financial and management advisory services to venture-backed, private equity-sponsored and publicly traded technology companies ranging from small cap companies to multinational organizations. His advisory experience has included engagements with many companies as an independent advisor and as an Executive Director at Vista Consulting Group, the operating arm of Vista Equity Partners.

Scott received his Bachelor in Accountancy from Bentley University and earned his CPA (currently inactive) in Massachusetts. Scott can be found outdoors whenever possible, enjoying paddle boarding, biking, and finding new trails with his dog, Storm.

Larissa Schaufele, MPH

Program Coordinator

Larissa Schaufele is a Program Coordinator at the I-PASS Institute. Larissa helps our clients execute and sustain a successful implementation by developing timelines, facilitating meetings, and ensuring key milestones are met throughout the project.

Prior to joining I-PASS, Larissa held positions working with children and adults in mental health and disability services, as well as advocating for harm reduction for vulnerable populations through behavioral change models.

Larissa holds a Master of Public Health and a graduate minor in project management from Drexel University. During her studies, Larissa focused on global health and harm reduction. She also spent time as a research assistant for Drexel University and has volunteered for harm reduction organizations such as Students for Sensible Drug Policy.

Board Members

Christopher P. Landrigan, MD, MPH

Co-Founder

Jonathan Black

Ralph Fargnoli

William H. Floyd

Chief Executive Officer

Contact Us

To learn more about our handoff solution and how to get started, contact us today.