Officers
Lake Superior
Leland Babitch, M.D., MBA, is the President and CEO of MPRO in Farmington Hills, MI. MPRO is the CMS-designated Quality Improvement Organization for the state of Michigan. With twenty years in healthcare, Dr. Babitch brings a demonstrated expertise in quality improvement, electronic health record technology, advanced analytics, health information exchange, population health, and hospital/medical group governance.
Prior to joining MPRO, Dr. Babitch served as an Executive Medical Director with Clinovations, a division of The Advisory Board Company. Additionally, he has served as a Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Information Officer at the Detroit Medical Center. There, his guidance and leadership contributed to the health system’s success in reaching Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society Stage 6, realizing more than $32 million in meaningful use incentives, as well as a $16 million Beacon award.
Dr. Babitch has worked as a Medical Director for United Healthcare of Minneapolis, MN. At the Wayne State University School of Medicine and the Detroit Medical Center, Dr. Babitch served in many roles including as the Director of Ambulatory and Information Services for Children’s Hospital of Michigan, as well as the Chief Compliance Officer for University Pediatricians. Dr. Babitch continues to practice clinically and teach as an Assistant Professor at the Wayne State University School of Medicine in the Department of Pediatrics.
Dr. Babitch holds a Doctor of Medicine degree from Wayne State University School of Medicine, a Master of Business Administration from Michigan State University, and a Bachelor of Arts in genetics and developmental biography from Northwestern University. He is a Certified Medical Practice Executive (MGMA), and a Felllow of the American College of Healthcare Executives. Dr. Babitch is board certified in Pediatrics, as well as Medical Informatics.
Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer
West, HSAG
Rick Potter is the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Health Services Advisory Group, Inc. (HSAG). Mr. Potter is responsible for overseeing HSAG’s Federal Division and State & Corporate Services Division, including the Medicare Quality Innovation Network-Quality Improvement Organization (QIN-QIO) contracts and all of HSAG’s state Medicaid external quality review contracts.
Mr. Potter, who has been with HSAG since 2003, has extensive experience in, and knowledge of, healthcare quality systems and managed care programs as they relate to performance based contracting, and in Medicaid reimbursement systems. As a principal with William M. Mercer, Inc., he managed projects to establish risk-adjusted rates, conducted operational and financial health plan reviews, managed quality assurance programs, developed capitation rates, and conducted health plan rate negotiations. As deputy director of the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS) from 1990 to 1998, Mr. Potter designed, planned, and implemented Arizona’s Children’s Health Insurance Program, “KidsCare.” Mr. Potter was also responsible for financial and operational oversight of the AHCCCS acute care health plans, long-term care program contractors, and regional behavioral health authorities. While deputy director, he served as chair of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Medicaid Managed Care Technical Advisory Group from 1996 to 1998.
Mr. Potter earned a Master of Business Administration from Arizona State University, located in Tempe, Arizona. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from California State University at Northridge, California. Mr. Potter is certified by the National Committee of Quality Assurance (NCQA) as a Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS) Compliance Auditor.
Directors
Chief Executive Officer
Quality Insights
Dr. Sven T. Berg is the Chief Executive Officer at Quality Insights, Inc. where he is responsible for oversight of a diverse range of large federal, state and commercial projects focused on health care quality improvement and assurance. He leads a team of more than 300 employees and independent contractors whose skills include quality improvement, data analysis, Health Information Technology implementation, and clinical practice transformation.
Quality Insights, Inc. is the lead organization of a five-state Quality Innovation Network-Quality Improvement Organization (QIN-QIO) chartered by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Under CMS’ End Stage Renal Disease Network (ESRD) program, Quality Insights improves care for kidney patients in three regions. Quality Insights also abstracts records for the Department of Veterans Affairs and conducts nationwide quality reviews for the American College of Cardiology. Quality Insights has been involved in regional health extension center initiatives in Pennsylvania, Delaware and West Virginia, helping thousands of physicians adopt and meaningfully use electronic health records.
Prior to coming to Quality Insights, Dr. Berg served as Chief of Clinical Services at the United States Air Force’s largest and most complex hospital—Wilford Hall Medical Center at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas. In this position he oversaw delivery of over one million outpatient and 25 thousand inpatient encounters annually. His accomplishments included merging the professional and clinical services staff of two major medical centers, launching a physician engagement initiative that boosted productivity by 15% in its first year, and chartering 12 organization-wide lean events to improve efficiency and improve health care quality and patient safety.
Previously as Chief of Clinical Services for a Medical Operations Group, he was responsible for setting and ensuring standards of professional practice for over 400 group physicians, and also overseeing process improvement and patient safety activities. He coauthored a five-year, $65 million plan for a congressionally funded diabetes prevention and treatment project and ultimately established a diabetes center of excellence.
Dr. Berg earned his MD at Cornell University Medical College and a Masters in Public Health-health Services Administration at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. He completed a residency in Pediatrics at Wilford Hall USAF Medical Center and a fellowship in Pediatric Hematology-Oncology at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. Dr. Berg is a Fellow the American Academy of Pediatrics, and a Certified Physician Executive. He is licensed to practice in West Virginia, Ohio and Texas.
Vice-president of Federal Health Solutions
Telligen
Currently, as Vice-president of Federal Health Solutions at Telligen, she has senior leadership responsibilities over a portfolio of Telligen’s federal health contracts, and is actively involved in strategic planning, account management, operations, solution development and achieving client satisfaction.
Her recent major accomplishments include:
- Leading national practice transformation learning and diffusion, as well as, health and health care improvement and cost reduction efforts.
- Co-leading the reorganization and 11th Statement of Work Development for the CMS QIN- QIO and End Stage Renal Disease Network programs.
- Senior leader and co-founder of the Learning and Diffusion Group for CMS CMMI, overseeing the ground-breaking development of learning and diffusion approach for CMS CMMI models.
- Provided oversight of QIO and ESRD Network programs at regional level in thirteen mid-western states.
- Leading a bi-state employer and community-based health and healthcare improvement and cost reduction initiatives for depression and cardiovascular disease.
President and CEO at Kansas Foundation for Medical Care, Inc.
Sarah Irsik-Good, MHA is the President and Chief Executive Officer at Kansas Foundation for Medical Care, Inc. (KFMC), a not-for-profit organization focused on improving healthcare quality. Prior to her appointment as CEO, Sarah served as Director of Quality Improvement and then Vice President for KFMC, providing technical direction and operational leadership for the Medicare QIO work across Kansas. Sarah has been with KFMC since 2011.
Executive Director, IDIQ, NQIIC
Linda Kluge is the Executive Director for Alliant Quality, a division of Alliant Health Solutions. Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia and serving 17 states, Alliant Health Solutions is a nonprofit family of companies providing services including utilization management, program integrity and quality assurance in the administration of public sector health care programs.
Alliant Quality is a Network of Quality Innovation and Improvement Contractor (NQIIC) that implements Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contracts. The contract work supports quality improvement efforts to maximize impacts for QIN-QIO work, End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Networks, hospital-focused large scale improvements, clinician-focused technical assistance, and other quality improvement work.
Kluge has more than 40 years of experience in dietetics and quality management. She has held supervisory, management and clinical roles for a variety of health care providers. She joined Alliant Quality in 2003, then known as the Georgia Medical Care Foundation (GMCF), serving as a quality improvement and education specialist. Kluge then served as a home health/nursing home/quality team manager prior to begin promoted to the director of the QIO and serving as a member of the Alliant executive management team. She has extensive experience working with nursing homes, hospitals, and communities on several initiatives for patient safety, care transitions and beneficiary protection.
Prior to Alliant, Kluge held several positions at Beverly Enterprises, a long-term care, skilled nursing and rehabilitation provider, including serving as a senior director of its Quality Management department. She started her dietetics career as a dietary consultant for Judy Ford Stokes & Associates in Georgia and Florida.
After earning a bachelor of science degree from Hood College in Frederick, MD, Kluge completed the coordinated undergraduate program in dietetics at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, MD. She has received the Distinguished Service Award from Aging Services of Georgia, was the recipient of the President’s Mentor Award from the Florida Dietetic Association and the 2018 American Health Care Association Mary K. Ousley Champion of Quality award. Currently, she is a member of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Quality Leader Alliance and Quality Strategies Workgroup. Linda volunteers with Alliant staff at Open Hand Atlanta and is a dedicated member of the Dunwoody Evening Community Bible Study core leadership team.
Chief Quality Office and Vice President
for Strategic Planning
IPRO Atlantic QIN
Edison A. Machado Jr., MD, MBA is IPRO’s Chief Quality Officer and Vice President of Strategic Planning. Serving in this capacity, Dr. Machado is responsible for corporate strategic planning, business development and proposal services, and overseeing the corporate quality management system. In addition, Dr. Machado acts as the medical director for IPRO’s Health Informatics team.
Prior to his current role with IPRO, Dr. Machado worked as Senior Director in the Strategic Partnerships Department at National Quality Forum where he was responsible for managing projects related to uses of healthcare performance measurement information for payment incentives, public reporting, accreditation and certification, and systems improvement. Dr. Machado has also worked as Medical Director for the Health Care Incentives Improvement Institute, Inc. (HCI3) where he oversaw the Bridges to Excellence (BTE) Care Recognition Programs, while assisting various stakeholders and partners (including the American College of Cardiology, American Board of Internal Medicine, the NYS Health Foundation, and NYC Dept. of Health & Mental Hygiene) in managing and supporting healthcare quality performance measurement program implementations.
Dr. Machado serves on a number of state and national advisory committees including the CMS MACRA Episode-based Resource Use Measures Technical Expert Panel, URAC’s Measures Advisory Group, and the NYS DOH’s Chronic Heart, Pulmonary, and Diabetes Value Based Payment Clinical Advisory Group.
Dr. Machado received his undergraduate degree in Biological Sciences from Cornell University and earned both MD and MBA degrees from Yale University. Dr. Machado undertook his clinical training in internal medicine at New York Presbyterian-Weill Cornell Medical Center.
University Graduate Program in Health Services Administration.
SVP Systemwide Quality Improvement
Juliana Preston is senior vice president of systemwide quality improvement at Comagine Health, which was formed following the merger of Qualis Health and HealthInsight in 2018. She directs the systemwide quality improvement division, including a broad range of multistate and statewide projects with federal agencies and state governments.
A seasoned leader with in-depth industry and organizational expertise, Ms. Preston is passionate about leveraging systematic quality improvement, analytics and health information technology to address complex problems. She is also active in the patient and family advisory arena and remains a constant advocate for including the patient voice as a catalyst to help solve challenges facing the health care industry. She led HealthInsight’s first patient and family advisory council and serves on the advisory board of PFCCpartners.
Before assuming her current role, Ms. Preston served in leadership positions at HealthInsight. She was Utah executive director, where she was responsible for governance, operations and community relations, and development; secretary of the Utah community board; vice president of Utah operations; and Utah quality improvement director. She received a Bachelor of Science degree in health care administration from Oregon State University and a Master of Public Administration degree from the University of Utah. She is committed to maintaining her connection to her local health care community and serves on multiple boards including Get Healthy Utah, Utah Hospital Association and chairs the quality committee of St. Mark’s Hospital Board of Trustees.
Vice President & Chief Operating Officer
Great Plains QIN
Ryan Sailor is the President & Chief Operating Officer of Great Plains Quality Innovation Network (GPQIN), a four-state partnership in ND, SD, NE, and KS. He has been with the QIO program since 2003, and past duties have included data analysis, supporting hospitals with their data reporting, contract performance monitoring, staff training and management, and leading quality improvement initiatives.
He also serves as the IDIQ Director, leading operations for GPQIN. Ryan’s current duties include providing executive and strategic leadership for successful performance of Task Orders under the IDIQ contract, overall supervision, strategic planning and direction, and policy development for the IDIQ contract and for other designated contracts/initiatives undertaken by GPQIN. His responsibilities include reporting outcomes to the GPQIN Board of Directors, regularly monitoring performance as compared to contract goals, convening leadership across GPQIN monthly via the Regional Management Committee. Another area of responsibility includes managing internal and external customer relationships with CMS, key stakeholders, providers, customers, and clients at the state, regional, and national level.
Ryan enjoys supporting healthcare providers and stakeholders across our region, and gets in an occasional round of golf between his kids’ various activities/sports. He received his Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Sioux Falls.