Don Lighter, M.D., MBA, FAAP, FACHE Associate Chief Medical Officer Shriners Hospitals for Children

Dr. Donald E. Lighter currently serves as the Associate Chief Medical Officer for Medical Affairs for the Shriners Hospitals for Children, where he is responsible for performance improvement for the 22 hospital system, medical staff issues, leadership training, and medical affairs planning. Additionally, Dr. Lighter works with senior staff members at the corporate headquarters and board members in design of measurement systems, strategic planning, and new program development.

Dr. Lighter’s 30 years’ experience in the health care industry includes academic and private practice in pediatrics, managed care leadership roles, Medicaid and Medicare quality management programs, and medical missionary work. Relevant prior positions include:

• Medical Director, Quality Management, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee (commercial, Medicare lines)
• Physician Advisor, MidSouth Foundation for Medical Care (Medicare managed care and quality improvement)
• Medical Director, External Quality Review Organization, TennCare (Tennessee Medicaid Managed Care)
• Medical Director, University of Tennessee Health Plan (Medicaid managed care)
• Medical Director, Heritage National Health Plan (commercial managed care)
• Senior Examiner, Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award

In addition to these medical leadership positions, Dr. Lighter has served as professor and a member of the core faculty for the Physicians’ Executive MBA program at the University of Tennessee and has co-authored a widely used textbook on health care quality improvement, Principles and Methods of Quality Management in Health Care, now in its second edition.

Over the course of his career, Dr. Lighter has led the formation of two IPAs and three HMOs, as well as a physician-hospital organization of university physicians. He has also served as a consultant to the Board of the American Academy of Pediatrics on medical informatics and has received the Academy’s highest award for his work in medical information systems.