The process redesign advisory group comprises independent, third-party observers for the national center, advising and coaching the director and the executive team on process and infrastructure design and implementation strategies for national transformation.
Members are individuals with significant expertise and demonstrated track records for results in quality improvement and outcomes achievement, including metrics and measures, design and implementation of protocols, development of criteria for analyzing performance and outcomes and expertise in convening and quality improvement.
The process redesign coaches are convened by Frank Cerra, MD, former senior vice president for health sciences and medical school dean, University of Minnesota. According to Dr. Cerra, “These are professionals who have led major change in their organizations. They understand how to make change happen and will be valuable contributors to achieving the center’s goals.”
Coaches include:
Jim Chase, MHA, president, Minnesota Community Measurement
Jim Chase, MHA, has served as President of MN Community Measurement since the organization’s inception in 2004. With more than 25 years of experience in health care management, he is a nationally-recognized expert on performance measurement and health care transparency. Prior to joining MNCM, he served as Director of Health Purchasing at the Minnesota Department of Human Services. He has held roles at multiple health plans and provider organizations throughout Minnesota. And he has taught courses at the University of Minnesota in the School of Public Health’s Health Administration program for many years.
He is the past chair of the Network of Regional Healthcare Improvement, a group of leading regional health organizations working to improve the quality and value of health care in their communities. He currently serves on the Boards of Directors of the National Quality Forum, the Institute for Clinical Systems Improvement and Apple Tree Dental.
Jim completed his undergraduate studies at Washington University in St. Louis and earned a Master’s Degree in Health Administration from the University of Minnesota.
Deborah Gardner, PhD, RN, FAAN, consultant, Health Policy and Leadership Consultant, LLC
Deborah B. Gardner, RN, PhD, FAAN, FNAP, has over 35 years of health care experience as a clinician, manager, trainer and consultant delivering care across diverse institutional and community settings. Dr. Gardner practiced as a psychiatric mental health clinical nurse specialists for 15 years. She received a PhD in Nursing Administration and Health Policy from George Mason University.
Dr. Gardner has served in numerous leadership positions. At the National Institutes of Health, Clinical Center she established and held the position as the Director of Organizational Planning and Workforce Development for 10 years. She served at the Bureau of Health Professionals, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) as a senior consultant collaborating on the implementation of the ACA (2010-2012). As the Director of the Hawaii State Center for Nursing she led the State’s Campaign for Action Coalition, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Initiative to support the Institute of Medicine’s Future of Nursing report.
Beginning in the fall of 2012 she served as a member of the Hawaii Governor’s Healthcare Transformation Steering Committee and to co-lead the health professionals workforce development committee to assess and refocus Hawaii’s healthcare workforce for alignment to the ACA goals.
A Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing and in the National Academy of Practice, she was instrumental in developing the public private partnerships, setting the groundwork to establish of the National Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education in Minneapolis Minnesota. She was the recipient of HRSA Administrator’s Special Citation for National Leadership in Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice in 2011.
George J. Isham, MD, MS, chief health officer and plan medical director, HealthPartners
Dr. Isham is currently Senior Advisor, HealthPartners and Senior Fellow, HealthPartners Institute for Education and Research. From 1993 to 2012, he was Medical Director and Chief Health Officer at HealthPartners. He is currently co-chair of the Institute of Medicine’s Roundtable on Population Health Improvement and co-chair of the National Quality Forum’s Measurement Application Partnership, which advises CMS on the use of quality measures for incentive payments. Dr. Isham is a member of the Boards of Directors for Presbyterian Health Systems in New Mexico and the Marshfield Clinic System in Wisconsin.
Dr. Isham was former chair of the Institute of Medicine’s Roundtable on Health Literacy and a former founding co-chair of the National Committee for Quality Assurance’s Committee on Performance Measurement, the steward of HEDIS. He was a member of the CDC’s Task Force on Community Preventive Services, AHRQ’s United States Preventive Services Task Force and the Advisory Committee to the Director of CDC. Dr. Isham participated in a review of the Public Health Portfolio of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in 2012 and on RWJ’s advisory panel on the spread of a Culture of Health in the United States in 2014.
In 2003, Dr. Isham was appointed as a lifetime National Associate of the National Academies of Science in recognition of his contributions to the work of the Institute of Medicine and in 2014 was elected as a member of the institute of Medicine.
Sanne Magnan, MD, PhD, Senior Fellow HealthPartners Institute for Education and Research, and Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Minnesota
Sanne Magnan MD, PhD, is Senior Fellow, HealthPartners Institute for Education and Research, and Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Minnesota. From 2011 to 2016, she was President and CEO of the Institute for Clinical Systems Improvement (ICSI). Dr. Magnan was previously the president of ICSI (2006 to 2007) when she was appointed by former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty to serve as Commissioner of Health for the Minnesota Department of Health. She served in that position from 2007 to 2010 and had significant responsibility for implementation of Minnesota's 2008 health reform legislation, including the Statewide Health Improvement Program (SHIP), standardized quality reporting, development of provider peer grouping, certification process for health care homes, and baskets of care.
Dr. Magnan served as a staff physician at the Tuberculosis Clinic at St.Paul-Ramsey County Department of Public Health from 2002 to 2015. Her previous experience also includes serving as vice president and medical director of Consumer Health at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, where she was responsible for case management, disease management, and consumer engagement. She has served on a number of Boards including MN Community Measurement, and the board of NorthPoint Health & Wellness Center, a federally qualified health center and part of Hennepin Health.
Dr. Magnan holds an MD and a PhD in medicinal chemistry from the University of Minnesota, and is a board-certified internist. She earned her bachelor’s degree in pharmacy from the University of North Carolina. In 2004, 2008 and 2012, she was named one of the 100 Influential Health Care Leaders by Minnesota Physician magazine.
Currently, she serves as co-chair of the Institute of Medicine’s Roundtable on Population Health Improvement. She is participating in several Technical Expert Panels for CMS on population health measures (2015-2016), and is a member of the Population-based Payment Workgroup of the Healthcare Payment Learning and Action Network (2015-2016).
Eduardo Salas, PhD, Allyn R. & Gladys M. Cline Chair, Department of Psychology, Rice University
Eduardo Salas is a Professor and Allyn R. & Gladys M. Cline Chair in Psychology at Rice University. Previously, he was a Trustee Chair and Pegasus Professor of Psychology at the University of Central Florida where he also held an appointment as Program Director for the Human Systems Integration Research Department at the Institute for Simulation and Training. Before joining IST, he was a senior research psychologist and Head of the Training Technology Development Branch of NAWC-TSD for 15 years. During this period, Dr. Salas served as a principal investigator for numerous R&D programs that focused on teamwork, team training, simulation-based training, decision-making under stress, safety culture and performance assessment.
Dr. Salas has co-authored over 450 journal articles & book chapters and has co-edited 27 books. His expertise includes assisting organizations in how to foster teamwork, design and implement team training strategies, facilitate training effectiveness, manage decision making under stress, develop performance measurement tools and create a safety culture.
Dr. Salas is a Past President of the Society for Industrial/Organizational Psychology and the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and a recipient of the Meritorious Civil Service Award from the Department of the Navy. He is also the recipient of the 2012 Society for Human Resource Management Losey Lifetime Achievement Award, and the 2012 Joseph E. McGrath Award for Lifetime Achievement.
Joanne Spetz, PhD professor, Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies, Department of Family & Community Medicine and Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, and School of Nursing faculty researcher, Center for the Health Professions, University of California, San Francisco
Joanne Spetz is a Professor at the Institute for Health Policy Studies at the University of California, San Francisco. She also is Associate Director for Research at the Healthforce Center at UCSF, and Director of the UCSF Health Workforce Research Center. She has conducted research on nursing labor markets, education, shortages, and employment for 20 years.
Dr. Spetz has been the Principal Investigator of national and state surveys of registered nurses and nursing schools, including the 2008 National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses, and the ongoing California Board of Registered Nursing Surveys of RNs and Schools Surveys. She also has led research on the impact of the Affordable Care Act on the health workforce, organization of the hospital industry, effects of health information technology on hospital staff and patients, effect of medical marijuana policy on youth substance use, and quality of patient care.
Dr. Spetz was a member of the Institute of Medicine Standing Committee on Credentialing Research in Nursing and was a consultant to the Institute of Medicine Committee on the Future of Nursing. She is an Honorary Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing.