Chief Medical Officer, Population Health
University Hospitals
Shaker Heights, Ohio
Patrick Runnels serves as the Chief Medical Officer of Population Health for University Hospitals in Cleveland OH, which has the fifth largest accountable care organization in the country, serving more than 540,000 individuals. In that role, his primary task is to oversee all efforts to transition from tranditional fee-for-service care toward value-based care, including a special focus on issues related to mental health, addictions, behavior and social influencers of health. Throughout his career, he has held numerous adminstrative positions, including director of adult psychiatry, director of ambulatory psychiatry, and medical director for emergency psychiatry at University Hospitals, as well as medical director for The Centers for Families and Children, a large community mental health center in Cleveland. In all those efforts, his career has focused on transforming systems of healthcare to focus on value instead of volume, improve access to care for the most vulnerable, and develop leadership skills amongst psychiatrists.
He attended medical school at the University of Missouri, Columbia, completing psychiatry residency at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, and the Public Psychiatry Fellowship at Columbia University. He also completed his Executive MBA at Case Western Reserve University Weatherhead School of Management.
Academically, he is an Associate Professor at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine where he is director of the Public and Community Psychiatry Fellowship, which has graduated more 60 fellows over the past 11 years, and which has pioneered models of interprofessional training with psychiatric nurse practitioners and distance learning. He is the Chair of the National Council Medical Director Institute and Chair for the American Psychiatric Association’s Council on Government Relations; in these roles, he has focused on championing efforts to increase access to psychiatric services. He has served in the past on the Board of Trustees for the American Psychiatric Association, The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), Ohio Chapter, and the American Association of Community Psychiatrists.
Patrick is a native St Louisan, but currently lives with his wife and two children in Shaker Heights near Cleveland, Ohio. He is an avid fan of board games, is currently a red belt in Tae Kwon Do, and loves the cinema.
PRECON3 - Value-based Payment Contracting
Sunday, April 26, 2026
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM MDT