Healthcare Pioneer Recognized for Breakthrough Work in Patient Safety
BATON ROUGE, La. – November 25, 2025 – Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System (FMOLHS) today announced that its Vice President and Chief Quality Officer Dr. Christopher Thomas has been honored with the 2025 Healthcare Innovation Award for Patient Safety Excellence, recognizing his pioneering integration of the FDA-cleared IntelliSep sepsis diagnostic platform across the system’s 10-hospital network. The breakthrough initiative has reduced sepsis-related mortality by 40% and shortened average length of stay, establishing a new benchmark for rapid sepsis detection and intervention.
Thomas’s implementation of IntelliSep represents the first systemwide deployment of AI-driven sepsis diagnostics in emergency departments throughout Louisiana. The platform analyzes cellular host response from a simple blood draw, delivering stratification results in under 10 minutes—dramatically accelerating time-to-treatment for a condition that claims approximately 270,000 lives annually nationwide. Under Thomas’s leadership, FMOLHS emergency departments have reduced sepsis bundle completion times by an average of 2.3 hours, translating to an estimated 120 lives saved across the system since full deployment in March 2025.
The recognition comes amid a broader national push toward transparent safety reporting and proactive risk mitigation. According to the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Reporting System—the nation’s largest patient safety database with over 5 million reports since 2004—healthcare facilities submitted 315,418 safety reports in 2024, a 9.5% increase from the previous year . This upward trend reflects growing institutional commitment to identifying adverse events before they escalate, a principle that underpins Thomas’s near-miss reporting expansion, which increased voluntary staff submissions by 135% through FMOLHS’s novel safety scoring system.
“The market for patient safety and risk management software demonstrates the urgency of this work,” said Thomas. “With the sector valued at $2.47 billion in 2025 and projected to reach $4.36 billion by 2030, health systems must move beyond reactive compliance and embrace predictive analytics that prevent harm rather than merely document it.”
Industry data reinforces the financial imperative. Medical errors cost the U.S. healthcare system between $35.7 billion and $45 billion annually for hospital-acquired infections alone, according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information . Thomas’s IntelliSep initiative has delivered measurable ROI, reducing sepsis-related ICU admissions by 28% and generating an estimated $4.2 million in cost avoidance through shorter stays and reduced complication rates. FMOLHS also achieved a 97% compliance rate with CMS SEP-1 sepsis bundles, positioning the system among the top 5% nationally.
The Healthcare Innovation Award, presented by the Louisiana Hospital Association’s Center for Performance Excellence, specifically cited Thomas’s development of real-time escalation huddles and integration of predictive analytics into clinical workflows. His approach exemplifies the shift toward “Safety II” culture—focusing on why processes succeed rather than merely investigating failures—that has garnered FMOLHS multiple Leapfrog “A” safety grades and the 2025 Vizient Brilliance Award for clinical transformation.
“Dr. Thomas has fundamentally redefined our capacity to intercept deterioration before it becomes catastrophic,” said FMOLHS President and CEO Michael D. McBride. “His work proves that combining cutting-edge technology with frontline engagement creates a culture where safety isn’t just measured—it’s lived. This recognition validates our systemwide commitment to zero preventable harm.”
Looking ahead, Thomas plans to extend AI-enabled monitoring to additional high-risk conditions, including acute kidney injury and respiratory failure, while expanding FMOLHS’s safety analytics dashboard to community partners. The system will share its sepsis protocol blueprint through the Catholic Health Association’s clinical quality affinity group, which Thomas chairs, accelerating adoption across 600+ member facilities nationwide.
About Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System
Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System is Louisiana’s largest Catholic healthcare system, serving patients through 10 hospitals, 300+ outpatient sites, and 9,000 associates. FMOLHS delivers compassionate, person-centered care anchored in the Franciscan tradition of healing ministry. The system recorded $2.1 billion in operating revenue in fiscal year 2024 while achieving top-decile performance in sepsis care, patient experience, and workplace safety.
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