IHC - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- President / Hy - Vee, Inc.
Job Titles:
- Project Coordinator at Iowa Healthcare Collaborative
Adewale Tychus is a project coordinator at Iowa Healthcare Collaborative (IHC). In this role he supports the development and execution of quality initiatives projects for the IHC opioid network. Tychus holds a master's degree in public health from George Washington University and a master's degree in biology from Howard University in Washington, DC. He is a Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality and a Certified Health Education Specialist. Tychus has experience as a quality improvement consultant and project manager generating and implementing evidence-based healthcare education programs, managing projects and in root cause analysis for quality improvement.
Job Titles:
- Coordinator for the Hospital Quality Initiatives Team at Iowa Healthcare Collaborative
Amanda Donlon is a clinical improvement coordinator for the hospital quality initiatives team at Iowa Healthcare Collaborative. In this position she is responsible for the coordination and implementation of quality improvement initiatives. Donlon received a bachelor's degree in nursing from Mount Mercy University. She has 10 years' clinical experience in medical surgical, intensive care unit, nursey and postpartum, facility wide process improvement, quality reporting and as a diabetes program coordinator.
Job Titles:
- Education Coordinator
- the Iowa Healthcare Collaborative in 2021 As the Education Coordinator
Amber Rizzo has more than 17 years of front-line and healthcare education experience in a wide range of healthcare areas including: Intensive Care, Emergency Room, Recovery Room, Transplant ICU, Trauma Burn ICU, and Surgical ICU. Additionally, Rizzo has been an instructor for ACLS, PALS, BLS, First Aid, EKG Recognition and Management, Palliative Care, Simulation Lab, Sepsis Care and Management, Infection Prevention Course, Ventilator Management, Continuous Renal Replacement Therapy and Management, and Crucial Conversations. She received a bachelor's degree in science and nursing from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 2006.
Rizzo joined The Iowa Healthcare Collaborative in 2021 as the education coordinator. In this role she works with all departments within IHC to assist in creating and executing high quality education that meets contract criteria while ensuring content is scientifically rigorous and evidence based while utilizing and working with the nation's subject matter experts. She is responsible for the development and delivery of various modes of education including virtual, enduring material, and live in person conferences. She also manages IHC's Continuing Medical Education Office (CME) with obtaining and maintaining accreditation status and writing for Independent Medical Education (IME) grants for the program. Rizzo is dedicated to advancing the safety, equity, and quality of patient care across the healthcare continuum.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board Officers - Executive Committee
- Secretary
- Treasurer
Job Titles:
- Director of Community Quality Initiatives at Iowa Healthcare Collaborative
Cari Seddon is the director of community quality initiatives at Iowa Healthcare Collaborative. In this role she supports collaborative clinical and community partnerships driving sustainable healthcare quality improvements with focused attention on providing person-centered care throughout Iowa. Seddon received a bachelor's degree in dietetics from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and a master's degree in family and consumer science from Western Michigan University. Seddon is a registered dietitian and certified diabetes care and education specialist. She is six sigma lean certified and has over 19 years of experience in patient care and population health management.
Job Titles:
- Director of Hospital Quality Initiatives at the Iowa Healthcare Collaborative
Charisse Coulombe is director of hospital quality initiatives at the Iowa Healthcare Collaborative. In this position she is responsible for the management of IHC hospital focused projects, planning the delivery of programs and activities within Hospital Quality Initiatives and engaging hospitals for sustainable healthcare transformation. She is receiving a doctorate in organizational leadership from Concordia University in Chicago, has a master's degree in business administration from University of Phoenix and a master's degree in biology from Western Illinois University. Coulombe has provided leadership on many state and federal programs including providing strategy and technical support on federal government contract proposal writing and has previously led one of the CMS Hospital Improvement Innovation Networks.
Job Titles:
- Chief Administrative Officer
- Chief Operating Officer
- Chief Operations Officer at Iowa Healthcare Collaborative
Chris Evans is the Chief Operations Officer at Iowa Healthcare Collaborative. In this role he oversees IHC internal operations and support processes. Prior to his role at IHC he held various positions in healthcare administration for CHI Health, including division director - emergency medicine and security service lines, vice president-operations, operations director - ancillary and support services and assistant administrator - retail and corporate clinics. Evans received a master's degree in health administration from the University of Iowa and a bachelor's degree in business marketing from Bethel University. He is board-certified by the American College of Healthcare Executives.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- President and CEO / Iowa Hospital Association
Job Titles:
- Chief Medical Officer
- Member of the Board
Job Titles:
- Clinical Improvement Consultant
- Consultant for the Hospital Quality Initiatives Team at Iowa Healthcare Collaborative
Christy Mintah is a clinical improvement consultant for the hospital quality initiatives team at Iowa Healthcare Collaborative. In this position, she is responsible for the coordination and implementation of quality improvement initiatives. Christy earned her bachelor's degree in nursing from Mount Marty College, Yankton, South Dakota and is a certified professional in healthcare quality (CPHQ).
Christy served as a quality manager at Avera Holy Family Hospital (2003 - 2022) and was a registered nurse (RN) for both Palo Alto County Hospital (1997 - 2003) and Rock County Hospital (1996 - 1997).
Christy has 26 years of nursing experience with 11 years in medical/surgery, emergency room, intensive care unit, obstetrics, house supervision. She also holds 15 years in utilization review, emergency preparedness, staff education, privacy, compliance, performance improvement, patient experience and quality. Additionally, Christy has led initiatives in pressure ulcer prevention, positive patient identification, readmissions, and adverse drug events in the hospital setting.
Job Titles:
- Director of Information Technology, CPSO
Job Titles:
- CEO
- Member of the Board Officers - Executive Committee
- President
- Vice - Chair
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Senior Associate Dean for External Affairs / University of Iowa
Job Titles:
- Consultant at Iowa Healthcare Collaborative
Jen Barber is a community health improvement consultant at Iowa Healthcare Collaborative. She has extensive experience working in various roles in behavioral health in several different states. Those roles include detox, crisis center, inpatient/outpatient substance abuse (MAT), and mental health programs. Barber received her Bachelor of Science in Corrections with a focus in Chemical Dependency Studies from Mankato State University and Master of Science Management from Kaplan University. She has been serving as an international alcohol and drug counselor since 2002 and is a certified lean healthcare professional.
Job Titles:
- Chief Clinical Program Officer
Job Titles:
- Chief Clinical Program Officer at Iowa Healthcare Collaborative
Jennifer Brockman is the Chief Clinical Program Officer at Iowa Healthcare Collaborative. She has more than 15 years of clinical nursing experience including long-term care, medical, surgical and emergency room, home care and hospice, cardiac rehabilitation, oncology, quality management and utilization review and infection prevention. Her areas of expertise include infection prevention, hospital wide process improvement and hospital quality reporting. She received a bachelor's degree in science and nursing from the University of Iowa and received a master's in healthcare administration from Walden University.
Job Titles:
- Lead Consultant
- Member of the Board
- President
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- CEO / UnityPoint Health - Grinnell Regional Medical Center
Job Titles:
- Clinical Improvement Consultant
- Consultant at Iowa Healthcare Collaborative
Jillian Schneider, a clinical improvement consultant at Iowa Healthcare Collaborative, is responsible for the coordination and implementation of quality improvement initiatives. She received a bachelor's degree in political science and a master's degree in healthcare administration from the University of Maryland University College. Schneider has extensive knowledge in healthcare having facilitated quality improvement and patient safety initiatives with ambulatory practices throughout the United States. She has overseen the development of two quality improvement web-based tools.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board Officers - Executive Committee
- Executive Committee Appointee / President and Founder
Job Titles:
- Data Analyst at Iowa Healthcare Collaborative
Karthik Abbineni is a data analyst at Iowa Healthcare Collaborative. His focus is on data analytics and visualization to help hospitals, clinicians and communities improve the quality of healthcare while reducing the cost. Abbineni received a bachelor's degree in electronics and communications from Vellore Institute of Technology, India and a master's degree in information systems from Iowa State University. He has extensive analytics experience and knowledge including requirement analysis, outlier detection and descriptive, prescriptive and predictive analytics to identify the best possible solutions with meaningful information.
Job Titles:
- Consultant at Iowa Healthcare Collaborative
Kathy Collins, a clinical improvement consultant at Iowa Healthcare Collaborative, is responsible for the coordination and implementation of quality improvement initiatives. She received her bachelor's degree in nursing from University of Iowa and is a NAHQ certified professional in Healthcare Quality and a TeamSTEPPS master trainer. Collins has 15 years' experience as a quality director with clinical experience in labor and delivery, medical-surgical, long-term care, home care and ambulatory care. She has led and facilitated quality improvement and patient safety initiatives in several Iowa hospitals.
Job Titles:
- Consultant for the Hospital Quality Initiatives Team at Iowa Healthcare Collaborative
Lana Comstock is a clinical improvement consultant for the hospital quality initiatives team at Iowa Healthcare Collaborative. She received her master's degree in science of nursing education and has primary nursing experience in home care, long-term care and paralegal nursing. Comstock is an experienced nurse administrator with focus in nursing management, nursing education and organizational quality in various clinical settings. Her responsibilities within the HIIN included facilitation of the Falls Prevention Community of Practice and the Opioid Guardianship Project, as well as serving as a consultant to hospitals in Iowa, Illinois and South Dakota promoting all quality measures to improve safety across the board.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Executive VP / Health Equity
Job Titles:
- Data Analyst
- Data Analyst at Iowa Healthcare Collaborative
Lauren Fidler is a data analyst at Iowa Healthcare Collaborative. In this role she assists with daily analytical programmatic tasks that support the mission, vision and cornerstones of IHC. Fidler depicts analytical results in ways that are easily understood in a presentable manner and contributes to the successful achievement of program objectives through effective team involvement and proactive communication and collaboration. She acts as the Compass database manager and is skilled in Tableau, R and SQL.
Job Titles:
- Marketing and Communications Coordinator
- Project Support Specialist for the Hospital Services Division at Iowa Healthcare Collaborative
Lexie Hudachek is the project support specialist for the hospital services division at Iowa Healthcare Collaborative. In this role she supported hospitals in the Compass HIIN by providing user support and network communications to hospitals. Prior to her role at IHC she worked remotely as a marketing intern for Brand and Bash in Buena Vista, CO, a graduate assistant STEM Festival coordinator for the NE Iowa STEM Hub at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls and she currently serves as a photographer for Lexie Shannon Photography. Hudachek received a bachelor's degree in communication studies and a master's degree in general communication from the University of Northern Iowa.
Job Titles:
- Data Analyst
- Data Analyst at the Iowa Healthcare
Lori Paulson is a data analyst at the Iowa Healthcare collaborative where she is responsible for facilitating, assisting, designing and performing data management and analytical programming tasks. She received a bachelor's degree in family environment and zoology and a master's degree in family environment with a minor in gerontology and statistics from Iowa State University. Paulson has extensive knowledge and experience in the healthcare and research industries with prior experience as a senior data analyst developing Tableau reports for use across systems to monitor risk scores, utilization and quality metrics. She is a Certified Culture of Continuous Improvement facilitator.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board Officers - Executive Committee
Job Titles:
- Project Coordinator
- Project Coordinator at Iowa Healthcare Collaborative
Melissa Perry is the project coordinator at Iowa Healthcare Collaborative (IHC). In this role she supports the development and execution of hospital quality initiatives including Hospital Quality Improvement Contractor (HQIC) network. Perry, a licensed clinical social worker, received bachelor and master's degrees in social work from the University of South Florida. She is an experienced engagement professional with quality improvement and clinical experience working with patients and caregivers in ventricular assist devices (VAD), heart transplant, end stage renal disease, dialysis, mental health and substance abuse facilities and settings.
Job Titles:
- Chairman
- Member of the Board Officers - Executive Committee
Job Titles:
- Executive Director
- Member of the Board Officers - Executive Committee
Job Titles:
- CEO
- Member of the Board
- President
Job Titles:
- Operations Coordinator and Executive Assistant at Iowa Healthcare Collaborative
Sharmie Russell serves as the operations coordinator and executive assistant at Iowa Healthcare Collaborative. She joined the IHC team as the receptionist and executive support. She was promoted to office manager, and now handles the day to day operations of IHC, assists with human resources, IT and many other various duties. She is a retired cosmetologist.
Job Titles:
- Iowa Healthcare Collaborative 's Director of Human Resources
Stephanie Muller is Iowa Healthcare Collaborative's director of human resources. She is responsible for the overall development and management of IHC's growing human resources department, including implementing HR practices that support IHC's long-term strategic objectives and enhancing the corporate culture. With more than 18 years of extensive hands-on experience leading HR initiatives, in both the for-profit and non-profit sectors, Muller brings expertise in employee engagement, rewards and recognition, talent acquisition and retention and compensation and benefits administration. She received her bachelor's degree in public agency administration from Northern Arizona University and holds certifications as a Professional in Human Resources (PHR) (from the Human Resources Certification Institute), a Certified Professional in Human Resources (SHRM-CP) (from the Society for Human Resource Management) and a Certified Professional in Human Resources (IPMA-CP) (from the International Public Management Association for Human Resources).
Tom Evans, M.D. has been President and CEO of the Iowa Healthcare Collaborative (IHC) since 2005. IHC focuses provider-led initiatives to improve statewide healthcare performance through engagement of stakeholders, rapid deployment of best practice, and public reporting of clinical performance data. IHC has been recognized as one of 26 national Hospital Engagement Networks (HEN) driving to achieve the CMS Partnership for Patients initiative goals.
Dr. Evans received both BA and MA degrees from Drake University. He received his MD degree from the University of Iowa in 1983 and completed his Family Medicine residency at Broadlawns Medical Center in 1986. He practiced family medicine for 13 years before serving as Chief Medical Officer for the Iowa Health System from 1999 to 2005.
Dr. Evans has served as President of both the Iowa Medical Society and the Iowa Academy of Family Physicians. He has also served on the delegations for both the American Medical Association (AMA) and the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP). Dr. Evans has served on the Board for the National Patient Safety Foundation (NPSF), and currently serves on the board of the Network for Regional Healthcare Improvement (NRHI). He is the chair of Iowa's Medical Home System Advisory Council, works with the National Quality Forum's (NQF) Measures Application Partnership and is leading the National Priorities Partnership (NPP) Medication Safety Affinity Group.
Dr. Evans is a faculty member with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, the College of Medicine at Des Moines University, and the College of Public Health at the University of Iowa. He also serves on the Board of Trustees for Bethel University in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Job Titles:
- Consultant at the Iowa Healthcare Collaborative
Venisha Lambert is a clinical improvement consultant at the Iowa Healthcare Collaborative. In this role she is responsible for the coordination and implementation of quality improvement initiatives. Lambert received a bachelor's degree in science and community health/exercise science from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. She is a Certified Behavioral Change Specialist and a Certified Health Coach. Lambert has prior experience as a public health advisor, wellness program manager and QIN/QIO improvement consultant managing and implementing evidenced-based practices and providing technical assistance to providers and stakeholders
Job Titles:
- Chief Academic Officer
- Member of the Board