Becker's Names Sanford Health's Dr. Jeremy Cauwels to Its List of Outstanding Chief Medical Officers
Jeremy Cauwels, M.D.
Becker’s Healthcare has named Jeremy Cauwels, M.D., chief medical officer at Sanford Health, to its list of 180 Chief Medical Officers to Know in 2025.
According to Becker’s, physician leaders like Cauwels play a pivotal role in advancing patient safety, maintaining high quality standards, bridging the gap between leadership and medical staff, and managing risk. As key drivers of continuous improvement, their efforts have earned numerous quality and safety accolades for their organizations.
“These recognitions are truly a reflection of the outstanding work done by the teams we have at Sanford Health,” said Cauwels. “My colleagues all share the same commitment to quality and safety, and when you have that unwavering dedication, it makes it easier to focus on the most important thing – putting the patient first.”
As chief medical officer for the nation's largest rural health system, Cauwels represents physician interests to the executive leadership team and board of trustees. He also chairs the quality cabinet, leads enterprise aspects of the medical staff and oversees the system’s graduate medical education program.
Cauwels has been a champion for creating a culture of safety through a systemwide safety initiative, Sanford Accountability for Excellence. The program focuses on implementing solutions to challenges in four key areas: clinical quality, patient safety, employee engagement and physician wellbeing. Under Cauwels’ leadership, quality and safety scores have significantly improved across the organization. Since 2019, serious safety event rates have dropped by 80% at Sanford Bismarck (N.D.) and Sanford Bemidji (Minn.), while Sanford Sioux Falls earned a 5-star CMS rating in 2023 and Sanford Fargo (N.D.) earned a 5-star CMS rating in 2024.
Cauwels has also played an instrumental role in overseeing an expansion of graduate medical education programs. In partnership with universities across our region, and thanks to a $300 million philanthropic gift, Sanford Health will fully fund 15 additional residency and fellowship programs for a total of 27 programs, which will train more than 350 residents and fellows a year by 2027. He has been a strong voice for Sanford Health's $350 million virtual care initiative and is committed to bringing high-quality, convenient care closer to patients.
Becker's Healthcare developed the list based on nominations and editorial research. Leaders do not pay and cannot pay for inclusion on this list.