AHQA Board of Directors & Staff

Ms. Alessi joined Mountain Pacific in 2023. Headquartered in Helena, MT, Mountain Pacific holds federal, state and commercial contracts to support improved population health and health care services, including the Medicare Quality Innovation Network-Quality Improvement Organization (QIN-QIO) contract for the states of Alaska, Hawaii, Montana and Wyoming and the U.S. Pacific Territories of Guam, American Samoa and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

Before joining Mountain Pacific, Ms. Alessi held various leadership positions in agencies related to health and in clinical settings. She has also served on multiple boards of directors, working collaboratively to support community health and well-being. In 2022, the Women’s and Children’s Alliance awarded Ms. Alessi the Tribute to Women and Industry (TWIN) award, which recognizes professional women who have excelled in their fields and made significant contributions to the business community in executive, managerial and professional roles. Ms. Alessi, a licensed registered nurse, earned her master’s degree in health care administration from Southern New Hampshire University and her bachelor’s degree in nursing from Villanova University.

Prior to joining Qsource, Mary-Lyn was as the CEO of Kindred Health Care’s Greensboro LTAC Hospital in North Carolina. She successfully guided the hospital to exceed earnings goals and achieve the company’s highest and most prestigious Quality Award for three consecutive years. She also served as the CEO of Unity Home Care, Vice President of Operations for the Home Health Division at Amedisys Home Health Services, District Sales Manager for Eisai Pharmaceuticals Senior National, and Director of Business Development for the Hospital and Home Health divisions at LifeCare Partners.

Mary-Lyn has always been a motivated, results-oriented company leader. She has excelled in fast-paced workplaces by adapting and implementing company-specific methods. She improved organizational growth and performance by increasing measurement and accountability tools for business development strategies and projects. Most importantly, she spearheaded development, company initiatives and oversaw transdisciplinary teams, to provide high quality, patient-centered care.

Mary-Lyn has been a consistent advocate for patients receiving the highest quality care. She states that having a united purpose among an organization's members is the single most important factor in determining its success. Giving one's all to a shared objective while keeping in mind to enjoy one's time at work is the surest way to succeed, in her opinion, because mediocrity destroys self-esteem. Her experience along with perspective from customer and service provider viewpoints uniquely qualify her to lead Qsource in its mission of improving healthcare quality through patient-centered, provider-focused solutions that enhance the patient’s quality of life.

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.

Jeff holds a masters in biomedical engineering from the University of Iowa and a masters degree in management from Creighton University.

Prior to joining KFMC, Mrs. Good has served in a variety of healthcare roles with more than 20 years’ experience.  Most recently, she was the Risk and Quality Manager, Education Coordinator and Corporate Compliance Officer for a 25-bed Critical Access Hospital and healthcare delivery system in Rural Kansas.  Sarah has worked in acute care settings (both critical access and larger system affiliated PPS facilities), ambulatory care settings, and both outpatient and inpatient behavioral health.  She earned her Bachelor of Science in Legal Studies with an emphasis in Health Care Operations from Kaplan University and her Master of Health Administration from Ohio University. KFMC has served as the state-based QIO designated by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) since the program's national inception, most recently as a local quality improvement partner operating under the Health Quality Innovation Network (HQIN) umbrella. KFMC is also the External Quality Review Organization (EQRO) and Independent Review Organization (IRO) for the state of Kansas. Additionally, KFMC contracts with many private companies to provide health information technology (HIT), quality improvement and practice transformation consulting services, along with a variety of review, abstraction, programming and analytic services across multiple states. Throughout various contracts, KFMC works with healthcare providers and organizations to develop ways to improve care delivery and health consumer processes.

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.

He holds an engineering degree from Oklahoma State University and is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine, where he also completed his residency. He served as the Paul Tietze Endowed Chair in Family Medicine at the OU School of Community Medicine in Tulsa and was a longterm faculty member at the Ramona Rural Residency Program. His current clinical practice is providing street medicine within homeless encampments throughout the Kansas City metropolitan area with the nonprofit Care Beyond the Boulevard. In addition to his clinical and administrative work, he is the current Speaker of the Congress of Delegates for the American Academy of Family Physicians and is a Colonel and Chief Flight Surgeon in the Air National Guard, where he currently serves as State Air Surgeon for the state of Missouri.

Steven comes to Constellation Quality Health from Atrium Health in Charlotte, NC, where he served as a Vice President within Atrium Health's Quality Division. His responsibilities included the comprehensive oversight for accreditation/certification activities, medical staff services/quality, Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (Patient Non-Discrimination), and the Insurance and Payor Quality of Care Complaint process. He served as a member of the Joint Commission's Health Systems Liaison Advisory Council and as Deputy for the COVID-19 Surge Operations Leadership Group at Atrium Health. His additional prior leadership roles include Vice President for Business Development/Senior Consultant at Courtemanche & Associates, Inc., and Director of Quality Management at Carolinas HealthCare System. Steven also served as a Hospital Surveyor with The Joint Commission. During his career in accreditation and certification activities, he led successful efforts in achieving and maintaining premier distinctions from CMS, DNV GL Healthcare, NCQA, The Joint Commission, and many others.

Steven's 25-year healthcare track record relevant to improving quality, driving excellence and his team's outstanding national achievements included winning the 2019 American Hospital Association's Quest for Quality Prize and a two-time winner of The Joint Commission's Ernest Amory Codman Award.

Steven holds a Masters in Health Administration from the Medical University of South Carolina and a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Wofford College. His credentials include Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives (FACHE) and Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality (CPHQ).

Providing leadership in a number of national and state healthcare organizations, Mr. Will is a Fellow of both the American College of Healthcare Executives  (ACHE) and the New York Academy of Medicine; a member of the American Board of Quality Assurance and Utilization Review, and has served on the ACHE Regents Advisory Council. He is a past Board member of the  American Health Quality Association (AHQA), Mr. Will previously held the office of Treasurer of the AHQA Board of Directors and was a member of the Chief Executive Officers’ Section of AHQA.  Mr. Will was awarded the first Annual Healthcare Quality Improvement Distinguished Executive Leadership Award. The award, which is sponsored by the James Q. Cannon Memorial Endowment, was presented at the 1999 American Health Quality Association Annual Session. In 2007, he was honored with a Leon J. Warshaw Leadership in Health Care Award, presented by the Board of Directors of the Northeast Business Group on Health.

Mr. Will received a Master’s Degree in Public Administration, Health Policy, Planning and Administration from New York University.