John Morehouse, MD
“Dr. Morehouse is an excellent communicator and team-builder. He brings clarity to complex problems and implements solutions in a creative yet systematic way.” — Judith Park, MD, Physician-in-Chief
“I believe that people respond more to a call to inspired action than a call to required action,” says John Morehouse, MD, in describing his approach to leadership.
As Site Chief for Richmond’s Emergency Department, Dr. Morehouse’s talent to inspire action was — and continues to be — critical in the wake of the 2015 closure of Doctor’s Medical Center in San Pablo. “Our ambulance arrivals virtually doubled overnight,” he recalls.
Almost immediately, Dr. Morehouse helped launch an expansion of the Richmond ED. Within just seven months, the first part of a planned three-part expansion was finished and receiving patients. He oversaw the addition of staff and guided his team in “the creation of very highly efficient workflows they could believe in.” He helped create transfer arrangements with Oakland and other hospitals, worked with the county to establish alternative care venues, and developed a plan with EMS to handle a surge response. Faced with a doubling of trauma patients, he helped devise and implement an alert process within the hospital to stabilize these patients until they could be safely transferred to a definitive trauma care center.
Dr. Morehouse’s leadership during a time of intense pressure helped avert a community health crisis and enabled the Richmond ED to continue providing high quality, safe, and effective treatment.
He has also served as the Regional Clinical Lead for Sepsis and currently serves as the Regional Director of Inpatient Quality.