The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia is the oldest children’s hospital in the United States, admitting more than 17,000 patients and providing care in more than 50,000 emergency and 60,000 outpatient visits annually. Since becoming president and CEO, Dr. Altschuler has focused on expanding the hospital’s research program, developing the pediatric care network and providing expert medical care for children in local communities.
Dr. Altschuler has been a member of CHOP’s medical staff since 1985. He is an accomplished scientific researcher as well as a proven executive leader, and since joining CHOP’s management team, he has made significant contributions to the institution’s growth and development. In April, he was featured on a Becker’s Hospital Review list of 60 notable physician leaders.
He drives CHOP with the intention of building a mission-driven organization, a hospital that unites every employee, regardless of role, around a consistent set of goals and objectives. It isn’t an easy job: CHOP has over 7,000 employees, which means that Dr. Altschuler must constantly communicate with different teams to make sure everyone is on the same page.
In order to involve multiple thousands of employees in the decision-making process, Dr. Altschuler said he has an open-door policy regarding the hospital’s strategic plan. “We solicit every level of the organization for what should be our goals for the next year,” he said in an interview with Smart Business Philadelphia.
That planning involves a list of priorities that is always headed by patient care. In a CHOP publication about the growth of childhood obesity, Dr. Altschuler warned, “There is a real need for healthcare professionals to focus on the quality of care, to redesign our systems so we can reverse that downward trend and start improving the healthcare of children again.”
Read more Becker’s coverage of The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
