Betsy McCaughey

Betsy McCaughey is a patient advocate, health policy expert, and former Lt. Governor of New York State. In 2005, she founded and is now Chairman of the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths (also known as RID), a nationwide educational campaign to stop hospital-acquired infections. RID has made hospital infections a major public issue. It has provided compelling evidence that preventing infection improves hospital profitability as well as saving lives, and RID has won legislation in 37 states and Washington, D.C. for public reporting of infection rates. RID has become synonymous with patient safety and clean hospital care.

Betsy McCaughey’s research on how to prevent infection deaths has been featured on Good Morning America, the CBS Morning Show, ABC’s 20/20, and many other national programs.

Betsy McCaughey is the author of more than one hundred scholarly and popular articles on health policy, infection, and Medicare. Her 1994 analysis of the dangers of the Clinton health plan in The New Republic won a National Magazine Award for the best article in the nation on public policy. Her most recent healthcare publication is The Next Pandemic, (Encounter Books, 2020).