Chris Thomson

Board Member
the Healthcare Accreditation Colloquium^®

Chris Thomson is a heart services visionary and also a pragmatist. He is currently the Executive Director of The Christ Hospital Heart and Vascular Center in Cincinnati, Ohio.

With 30 years experience, Thomson understands both the technical procedures and how those procedures mesh with the overall success of the hospital alongside the community it serves.

Thomson deserves his reputation as a visionary. He ran the largest cardiac programs in Illinois, Maryland, Washington, Tennessee and the nation. At St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Towson, Maryland, he nearly doubled the size of the cardiac program. In three years, it went from 832 to 1,496 open-heart surgeries, plus he more than doubled the Cath lab volume. He developed the Robert Wood Johnson-funded Ozarks Health Network in Springfield, Missouri, and was an integral part of a group that reduced the neo-natal death rate. He went on to establish two aero-medical transport services—in Springfield, Missouri and Beaumont, Texas. He even signed the first AHA Go-Red contract in the U.S. when he was working at Medical City Heart in Dallas.

Thomson has now turned his innovative instincts to the issue of heart failure.

"The accreditation offered by the Colloquium,” Thomson emphasizes, “is focused on a continuum of care, not just on specific episodic events, which too often is the focus of conventional treatment. The Colloquium’s program offers hospitals a comprehensive model —not just a revolving door.”

Thomson envisions his role on the Colloquium board as offering his input into governance policy and operations monitoring.  Most of all, he’s honored to be working with such a quality team. “The Colloquium attracts the top hospitals, physicians and administrators in the United States. It’s a very prestigious group.”

Thomson insists that any vision must be a collaborative effort. Everyone is important--from the housekeeper to the cardiac specialist. Everyone must understand and know what we are trying to accomplish. They have to believe it. They have to see it. They have to live it.”

By his own self-description, Thomson is a builder “I’m a change agent--a catalyst. I come in and I effect change.”

This is exactly what the Colloquium does. It’s a perfect fit.