Dr. Chaim Bell is an associate professor of medicine at the Institute for Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto. He is a hospital-based general internist and physician-in-chief at Sinai Health System. He is also a senior adjunct scientist at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES) in Ontario and a core member of the University of Toronto Centre for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety. Dr. Bell's research focuses on the quality of patient care in hospitals and their transition to the community. As well, he has many papers on ophthalmologic health services research. Chaim has also authored several publications examining the quality and methodology of cost-effectiveness analyses as well as how they should be incorporated into health policy decisions.
Dr. Bell sits on Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care expert advisory panels on Most Responsible Physicians in Hospitals, Avoidable Hospitalizations, Medication Viewer and Medication Reconciliation, and the Vision Strategy Expert Panel. He co-chairs the COPD Expert Panel to establish quality based funding for hospitals. He previously sat on the expert panel for cataract surgery wait times and led the ICES reports on cataract surgery rates and waiting times as part of the provincial wait times strategy. He was a member of the Ontario Health Technology Advisory Committee (OHTAC), an economic reviewer for the Committee to Evaluate Drugs (CED), and was a member of the Committee to Evaluate Drugs/ Cancer Care Ontario subcommittee for the funding of new cancer drugs and the Ontario Ministry of Health/Ontario Medical Association Guidelines Advisory Committee. He now sits on the pan-Canadian Oncology Drug Review. Dr Bell recently became a medical consultant to the Health Quality Branch of the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care. He is one of the medication reconciliation faculty for Safer Healthcare Now!, a national campaign to improve healthcare delivery and patient safety across Canada. Dr. Bell directs the Toronto site of the veteran's affairs quality scholars fellowship training program. He is also an associate editor of the journal BMJ Quality and Safety.
Dr. Bell received his MD from the University of Toronto and completed his specialty training in internal medicine and clinical investigation at the University of Toronto. He was a visiting fellow in medical economics and cost-effectiveness analysis at the Harvard School of Public Health and then received his PhD in clinical epidemiology and health services research from the University of Toronto. Dr. Bell holds a joint Canadian Institutes of Health Research and Canadian Patient Safety Institute Chair in Patient Safety and Continuity of Care.