John Richard Ludgin, MD, JD

J. Richard Ludgin, MD, JD, is a physician, lawyer, and consultant with extensive expertise in hospital quality improvement; clinical resource management; medical staff organization, performance, and relationship issues; healthcare performance improvement; clinical risk and professional liability issues; and regulatory compliance.

While serving in medical executive positions at the University Hospitals of Cleveland, Dr. Ludgin reorganized the model of care for adult critical care units, leading to a significant and sustained decrease in patient mortality, and designed and distributed clinician-adopted cost and length-of-stay reports by department and division. As a result of these initiatives, University Hospitals was recognized by the University HealthSystems Consortium as a best performer in sequential ICU assessments. He also designed and implemented University Hospitals’ “dashboard indicators”, HIPAA compliance and education project, and patient safety program.

Dr. Ludgin has assisted healthcare organizations in addressing clinical efficiency, risk management, and quality; business risk; and compliance with Joint Commission requirements for medical staff bylaws and practitioner credentialing. He has also worked on risk management and professional liability issues for medical malpractice insurers, and in his private medical-legal consulting practice, addressed professional liability, access, and state medical board issues, and performed contract review and other representation for individual physicians.