Charles G. Macias, MD, MPH, Appointed Chief, Division of Pediatric Emergency Medicine and Chief Quality Officer at University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital

Charles G. Macias, MD, MPH, has been appointed Chief, Division of Pediatric Emergency Medicine at University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital (UH Rainbow). Dr. Macias will also serve as the Vice Chair of Quality and Safety and Chief Quality Officer at UH Rainbow.

 Charles G. Macias, MD

He comes to UH Rainbow from Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, where he served as Chief Clinical Systems Integration Officer and Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine. As an expert in quality improvement (QI) he has led strategies for improving healthcare infrastructures and quality care delivery across the country.

“Well known for his visionary work in the critical areas of disaster preparedness and quality improvement as it relates to children, Dr. Macias’ is a great addition to our clinical leadership team,” says Marlene R. Miller, MD, MSc, Pediatrician-in-Chief at UH and Chair of the Department of Pediatrics at UH Rainbow. “Emergency departments are often the gateway to a hospital and we are thrilled to call upon his expertise as we expand pediatric emergency services throughout the health system. In addition, his role as Chief Quality Officer will extend our programs and efforts as a national leader in high value, quality healthcare for children.

He is the immediate past Chairman of the largest pediatric emergency medicine national professional society, where he created and implemented a number of QI initiatives in pediatric and pediatric emergency medicine domains. He is a co-chairman of the Improving Pediatric Sepsis Outcomes, a QI collaborative in 54 children’s hospitals and related institutions aiming to decrease mortality from sepsis.

Dr. Macias is the Executive Director of the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) for Children Innovation and Improvement Center (EIIC), an improvement science-based center funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration, Maternal and Child Health Bureau (HRSA/MCHB).  The center helps support infrastructures to drive QI and improved outcomes. It partners with the EMS for Children federal program, which is the only federal program dedicated to improving pediatric outcomes in emergency events by expanding and improving emergency medical services to ensure that all children and adolescents experiencing physical trauma and critical illness receive appropriate emergency medical care, no matter where they live, attend school, or travel.

The EIIC focuses its support to national initiatives that enhance pediatric capabilities in systems for prehospital and emergency department care, disaster preparedness and recovery, trauma, injury prevention, research and all other aspects of the continuum of emergency care for children. Operating to support state partnership initiatives across 58 state and territories, the EIIC and the federal EMSC program are helping the country’s healthcare systems to become “pediatric ready.”

Dr. Macias earned his medical degree and completed his pediatrics residency at University of Texas Southwestern Medical School. He completed fellowships in pediatric emergency medicine and research at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, and obtained a Master of Public Health at University of Texas School of Public Health. He has published more than 100 articles in peer reviewed journals and has been a contributor and editor for numerous textbooks. He has received numerous national awards for his work in emergency services and quality improvement, including being named Health Data Management magazine’s Clinical Visionary of the Year.

UH Rainbow is the only designated Level 1 pediatric trauma center in northern Ohio. Located on UH Cleveland Medical Center’s main campus, UH Rainbow’s Pediatric Trauma Center complements UH’s coordinated regional adult trauma network which includes UH Cleveland Medical Center’s adult Level I trauma center, and four Level III trauma centers at UH Geauga Medical Center, a campus of UH Regional Hospitals, UH St. John Medical Center, UH Portage Medical Center and Southwest General Health Center in Middleburg Heights.