David R Renfro

Mr. Renfro joined VA Palo Alto health care in 1989, immediately following his service (1985-1989) in the United States Navy as a Hospital Corpsman, Second Class Petty Officer. Prior to joining VA, Mr. Renfro served in the Gulf War, and after a year at VA was recalled to active duty to serve in Desert Shield/Desert Storm at the Naval Hospital in Oakland, CA; Oak Knoll Naval Hospital. Prior to joining VA, Mr. Renfro served at the Naval Hospital Balboa, Naval Hospital in Oakland, and the USS Shasta AE-33. Mr. Renfro holds a Master’s Degree in Science with a focus on Nursing Administration from San Jose State University, and is nationally certified, Nurse Executive certification, through AACN.

Mr. Renfro is recognized as a servant leader who most recently has served as the Chief Nurse for Specialty and Hospital Based Services. In this role, he supervised the leadership for the Critical Care (2) and Medical Surgical units (3), Emergency Room, Case Management, Nursing Supervisors Office. Among his major initiatives he has led Project RED readmissions strategies, Avasys implementation, Vocera communication initiative, the Intermediate Care Technician (ICT) program, including the first national SkillBridge Program for active duty medics and corpsmen, and the newly implemented Clinical Command Center.

Mr. Renfro has a passion for improving the health care of Veterans through the use of evidence-based practice, Lean, and process improvement strategies. One of Mr. Renfro’s primary efforts at VA has been the implementation of Project RE-Engineering Discharge (RED) throughout the facility, and providing assistance with RED implementation in more than 13 VAs nationally. Mr. Renfro has presented his work at national and regional forums: Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), The Society of Healthcare Professionals (AMSUS), Stanford University International MEDX Conference, World Conference - Nurse Leader First Annual Conference, National VA Quality Scholars Sessions, National Data Analytics Conference, VISN 21 Nurse Excellence, and many other venues. He is recognized as a national resource for Project RED and readmission strategies, and for the ICT program development. Mr. Renfro is a graduate of Leadership Development VISN 21/22, and graduate of Leadership VA class of 2015. Mr. Renfro is active in his community and in 2020 was elected to serve as the Vice President for Leadership VA Alumni Association, building the future of VA leaders.