Richard Boothman

Rick Boothman defended health care professionals, hospitals and systems sued for medical malpractice for more than twenty years in Michigan and Ohio before joining the University of Michigan in 2001. Reasoning that patient safety improvement is impossible without honesty and accountability, he led a transformation of the University of Michigan’s response to patient harm with the Michigan Model, a systematic, principled approach that proactively treats injured patients honestly, fairly, and transparently while prioritizing rapid clinical improvement.

He worked with senators Clinton and Obama in 2005 on patient safety legislation and they promoted his model in a 2006 article published in the New England Journal of Medicine. President Obama directed the US Department of Health and Human Services to study the feasibility of Boothman’s approach, culminating in the CANDOR toolkit (2015).

The Michigan Model’s impact transcends financial claims savings: it offers patients, families and caregivers rare opportunities for healing and reconciliation and accelerates patient safety improvement. Prioritizing clinical safety inspires improved safety reporting, evidence-based peer review, innovative approaches to adverse event investigations and measurable patient satisfaction, staff morale and culture of safety gains.

Principle-based and squarely focused on the clinical mission, Rick’s approach remains the most effective response to the dual challenges of patient injury and professional liability. Health care systems here and around the world are increasingly exploring their own versions of the model.

Rick now consults with other health systems interested in transitioning to his approach. He also mediates individual and group claims in Michigan and across the country. He holds active academic appointments at the University of Michigan’s Medical School and at the Center for Patient and Professional Advocacy, Vanderbilt University Medical Center. He is a frequent speaker on a variety of legal, risk, leadership and peer review topics and lectures regularly in law, medical, nursing schools and clinical academic programs.