He was a member of the Institute of Medicine Committee (IOM) and helped develop the National Healthcare Quality Report and Patient Safety Data Standards. He is currently a member of the Institute of Medicine Committee on Health Information Technology and Patient Safety.

He chaired the QUIC (Federal Safety Taskforce)/IHI Collaborative on Improving Safety in High Hazard Areas and was Co-chair of the Institute of Healthcare Improvements Collaborative on Perioperative Safety and the Surgical Safety Collaborative at the Institute of Healthcare Improvement (IHI). He was also a faculty member of the IHI/National Health Foundation Safer Patients Initiative in the United Kingdom. In addition, Dr. Classen is a developer of the “Trigger Tool Methodology” at IHI, used for the improved detection of adverse events, which is currently being used by more than 500 different healthcare organizations through out the Unites States and Europe.