R. Allen Coffman, Jr., MD, FAAP
Medical Director
The Pediatric Healthcare Improvement Initiative for Tennessee
Contact Information:
E-mail: allen.coffman@tnaap.org
Website: http://tnaap.org/phiit
Dr. Allen Coffman is a full-time, primary care pediatrician with Highland Pediatrics in Hixson, TN. Dr. Coffman also serves on the clinical faculty of Children’s Hospital at Erlanger in Chattanooga Tennessee. Dr. Coffman is a graduate of the Georgia Institute of Technology and the Medical College of Georgia. He completed his residency at the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.
Dr. Coffman began his experience with process improvement as an engineering science student at Georgia Tech. He took this process design approach into the medical field while working with the Sheppard Spinal Center in Atlanta and, later, for Ethicon, Inc. as a manufacturing engineer. While in residency in Cincinnati, he was well mentored in the application of quality improvement and process change to patent centered person-to-person healthcare delivery challenges. He came to Highland Pediatrics and developed their first Quality Program in 2002.
Dr. Coffman is the immediate past president for the Tennessee AAP chapter. He used his time as president to develop a quality network involving state Medicaid leaders, payer representatives, the Department of Health, academic medicine, schools of public health and practice leaders. This group was formally brought together at the end of 2013 as the Pediatric Healthcare Improvement Initiative for Tennessee (PHiiT). PHiiT recently received a three-year, $1.5 million grant from TennCare to expand its work.
Dr. Coffman is a leader in new strategies of local healthcare delivery systems. In 2012, he was a founding member of the board and first president of a local Chattanooga Pediatric Health Coalition. This coalition is working to build partnerships between all community groups invested in the health and well being of children. This group is currently leading the development of a school-based comprehensive health delivery system.