NAHQ Elects New 2020 Board Members

Carole Guinane becomes President, Marian Savage elected President-Elect and Patricia Kirkpatrick as Secretary/Treasurer

CHICAGO (January 24, 2020) – The National Association for Healthcare Quality (NAHQ) announces its new board members: Carole Guinane, RN BA MBA CPHQ, Cedars-Sinai, as its 2020 president; Marian Savage, MSN RN NEA-BC CPHQ PMP, Virginia Hospital Center, as president-elect; and Patricia Kirkpatrick, MJ RN CPHQ, Amerigroup Community Care/Anthem, as secretary/treasurer.

“Carole, Marian, Patricia and the entire NAHQ Board represent strong leaders in healthcare quality who are leading the way as NAHQ aims to advance foundational and universal competency standards for the healthcare quality workforce,” said Stephanie Mercado, CAE, NAHQ CEO and executive director. NAHQ’s Board knows that in order to reduce variability in healthcare delivery, we must first reduce variability in healthcare quality competencies that leverage the workforce across the country and the world. Delivering on the promise of value, better processes, reduced costs and improved patient safety will only be achieved when we work from common healthcare quality competency standards.

Carole Guinane, RN BA MBA CPHQ, executive director at Cedars-Sinai in Beverly Hills, CA, has more than 25 years of healthcare quality experience in senior leadership roles, where she has increased revenues and market share and achieved reduced costs. As a change agent, Guinane has created and implemented strategic and restructuring plans, including a system-wide orthopedic strategic plan for a not-for-profit healthcare organization in Virginia that resulted in 3.1 percent overall orthopedic system volume growth.

“Knowing that my work makes a difference in the lives of patients is incredibly rewarding,” said Guinane. “And, what is foundational for me is quality science because it’s the bedrock for improvements and innovations that happen for our stakeholders, adding value to what we provide in service, process and outcomes. NAHQ is another way for me to make a difference because as the leading organization in healthcare quality, it has a finger on the pulse of change; if the paradigm of healthcare is changing, then we must also change the paradigm of workforce development against quality standards. NAHQ does not advocate for change just for the sake of change, but rather instills change that matters the most, advancing a coordinated, competent healthcare quality workforce.”

Marian Savage, MSN RN NEA-BC CPHQ PMP, associate vice president at Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington, VA, has strong skills for analyzing existing processes and implementing innovative and compliant reforms to vastly improve patient services and outcomes. Savage is responsible for overall quality, infection prevention and patient safety operations and budget. In addition, she sets the strategic direction for compliance and regulatory initiatives. Her organization has been named a Leapfrog Top Hospital for high quality patient safety and has attained the CMS 4 Star Quality rating for excellence in mortality, quality and patient outcomes.

“NAHQ’s vision is that the healthcare quality profession is recognized and valued as essential,” said Savage. “This is such important work as we take quality to the next level and while we have made tremendous strides in this area, there is still much work to be done. By having a workforce that is skilled in NAHQ’s industry-standard competencies, organizations can know they have solid, indispensable quality teams that will ask the tough questions and lead the changes that are needed.”

Patricia Kirkpatrick, MJ RN CPHQ, quality director for Amerigroup Community Care/Anthem in Nashville, TN, has expertise in regulatory compliance, health policy, team building and building metrics-driven systems improving overall population health within all aspects of the healthcare system. In her current role, Kirkpatrick has contributed to the organization receiving a number of Medicaid recognitions that include achieving the first NCQA LTSS Distinction for Anthem plans, a perfect CAHPS Survey Score of 13 points, NCQA rating of “Excellent” and improving its Medicare STARS rating from 2.5 to 3.5.

“NAHQ continues to increase access to new tools and resources that support healthcare quality professionals and raise awareness of the benefits of earning our gold-standard certification, the Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality^® (CPHQ),” said Kirkpatrick. “Serving on the NAHQ Board leverages me to do my part to support programs that benefit our professionals and help ensure that we have a coordinated, competent healthcare quality workforce that can reduce expenses, improve patient safety and deliver on the promise of value.”

About NAHQ
NAHQ is the leader in healthcare quality competencies. NAHQ provides a strategic advantage to healthcare professionals and the organizations they serve by developing and evolving competencies in healthcare quality that result in better patient and financial outcomes to support the goals of healthcare value. NAHQ offers the industry-standard certification in healthcare quality, extensive educational programming, networking opportunities and career resources to help healthcare professionals meet the challenges they face. Learn more about NAHQ at NAHQ.org.