I am a Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality and have over 30 years experience in the field. I joined the Institute for Patient- and Family-Centered Care in 2011 as a Program and Resource Specialist and currently work as a Senior Policy and Program Specialist. My work with the Institute began in 2003 as guest faculty for an intensive training seminar. I am the lead author on a recently published Robert Wood Johnson Foundation funded report, Individual and Family Engagement in the Medicaid Population: Emerging Best Practices and Recommendations.
From 2008-2015 I was actively involved in Oregon’s health care reform work especially related to the primary care transformation. Serving on key state committees, I participated in efforts to integrate patients and families into clinic redesign efforts. The recommendations of a taskforce I led established the Patient Centered Primary Care Home (PCPCH) Technical Institute. It serves to support clinics across Oregon in meeting PCPCH standards.
With over 16 years experience with PeaceHealth managing diverse cross-regional projects focused on improving the patient experience of care, I systematically involved patients and family in quality improvement, safety and redesign initiatives. As a Project Director for a collaborative statewide effort in Oregon on patient and family engagement, I provided support to a Medicaid health plan and four primary care clinics in establishing patient and family advisory councils.
During my tenure with PeaceHealth, I worked in a variety of settings leading innovation projects across the continuum of care with an emphasis on partnerships for quality and safety. I worked closely with physician leaders in the hospital environment including PeaceHealth’s Sacred Heart Medical Center and St. Joseph Hospital.
My last PeaceHealth position was as the Quality Improvement Director for PeaceHealth Medical Group, a large multi-specialty practice in Eugene, OR. She was grant director for a Regence funded Medical Home pilot for PeaceHealth that has helped inform medical home implementation across the medical group.
Additionally, I was the Principal Investigator for an AHRQ funded-study on Medication Management at Home: Patient Identified Processes and Risk Assessment. Between 2001-2005, I worked as the Pursuing Perfection Project Director in the Whatcom County community to develop the vision of, and implement, a chronic care management system that is patient-centered and community-wide. My passion is bringing patients and family members into conversations about health care transformation because of the positive and powerful impact it creates for all involved.
When I am not working for IPFCC, I live on a 48 acre wetland restoration with my husband of 40 years, Mike, two kittens (Abby and Maggie) and two dogs, (Scarlett and Radar). I enjoy time with my grandchildren Ella Blair and Lilah Bell as well as my daughters Jenny and Jessie and son-in-law Evan. I enjoy hiking, gardening and reading.