Christopher J. DeFlitch

As chief medical information officer, Dr. Christopher DeFlitch is responsible for design, deployment, expansion and adoption of health care delivery systems through technologies and informatics. Key areas of influence include electronic medical records (EMR), clinical decision support, documentation, patient/provider portals, interoperability, device strategy, clinical discovery/research and communications. DeFlitch assists Penn State Health advancement through EMR expansion/optimization, secondary use of data, clinical effectiveness, quality initiatives, population health, alternative payment models, exchange of health information and mobile applications. With system partners, he has advanced virtualized care in many service lines via telehealth.

DeFlitch also continues to practice emergency medicine. He has served in many leadership and innovation roles for Penn State in the Emergency Department, college and university. As a published and funded researcher, he founded the Penn State Center for Health Organization Transformation, which has sponsored nearly 100 students across the nation in the study of health care delivery science. He has been awarded best practice and technology innovation for his work on Physician-Directed Queuing and received the highest Penn State College of Medicine alumni honor, the Cheston M. Berlin Award for extraordinary service.

DeFlitch is a proud Penn State College of Medicine alumni. He completed his residency in emergency medicine at the University of Massachusetts, and practiced emergency medicine in Pittsburgh prior to returning to Penn State. He also earned a bachelor’s degree in physics from Gannon University.