CHITREC Welcomes Kate Balsley as New Director of Operations and Quality Improvement

The Chicago Health IT Regional Extension Center (CHITREC) is pleased to announce that Kate Balsley, MPH, has assumed the role of Director of Operations and Quality Improvement for the regional extension center (REC). She will be managing all operational functions of CHITREC’s programs, which focus on assisting healthcare systems, clinicians, and their staff succeed with practice transformation initiatives.

Kate says, “CHITREC remains a vital resource for our provider community and I am excited to help enhance and expand its offerings.”

Previously serving as Program Manager – GLPTN for the Center for Health Information Partnerships (CHIP) at Northwestern University, Kate has a background in quality improvement in community health settings. Most recently, she worked with Illinois stakeholders responsible for recruiting 4,500 providers into the Great Lakes Practice Transformation Network (GLPTN), which aims to improve the quality and reliability of care.

“I have loved working as part of the Great Lakes Practice Transformation Network team within CHITREC, and welcome the opportunity to maximize our ability to respond to providers’ needs with technical assistance, including HIT optimization, federal reporting, and quality improvement,” explains Kate.

Before joining Northwestern, Kate was the Quality Improvement Manager at Erie Family Health Center, a large federally qualified health center serving patients on the west and northwest sides of Chicago. In that role, she supported over 100 providers in achieving Meaningful Use compliance, established one site with a patient-centered medical home designation, and maintained ongoing improvement initiatives for Erie’s diabetes and HIV programs.

Kate continues the mission of CHITREC, which was founded in 2010 to provide services to Chicago clinicians aiming to achieve Meaningful Use of electronic health records (EHR). The original REC grant has ended, but CHITREC, which is a part of CHiP, has secured new funding to continue bringing Chicago together through health IT. Its programs include:

• Healthy Hearts in the Heartland
• Great Lakes Practice Transformation Network
• Illinois Medicaid EHR Incentive Help Desk
• Quality Payment Program of Illinois

CHITREC Executive Directors Fred Rachman and Abel Kho, and CHITREC Director Theresa Walunas, are excited that Kate has taken on this new role and are looking forward to working with her to execute the next phase of the REC’s mission.