The Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC) has announced its newly named officers and results for three elected positions to its board of directors for the 2021-2022 term. An integral part of AAAHC governance, new leadership is comprised of a peer-based team with extensive experience in various facets of patient-centric ambulatory care to help drive AAAHC strategic initiatives. The tenured group will further enable AAAHC to focus on engagement and innovative growth opportunities across an array of medical specialties and help guide clients along a path to 1095 Strong, quality every day through accreditation.
“AAAHC’s collaborative approach provides a framework within which peer-based innovations in quality improvement can flourish,” said incoming Board Chair Edwin Slade, DMD, JD. “I look forward to working alongside our officers and new directors to help AAAHC and our accredited organizations improve health care quality and patient safety through accreditation.”
The new Board Officers will serve one-year terms beginning November 15. Officers bring diverse expertise from a range of ambulatory settings.
- Edwin Slade, DMD, JD, Board Chair brings a wide range of experience from nearly 20 years serving in various capacities and leadership positions within AAAHC. Dr. Slade graduated from the University of Connecticut and received his dental degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine. He was a resident in Dental Medicine and Surgery at the Medical College of Pennsylvania and completed his residency in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at the University of Connecticut/Hartford Hospital. Dr. Slade received his law degree cum laude from Temple University School of Law. Dr. Slade is Board Certified by the American Board of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and the National Board of Dental Anesthesiology. In addition, Dr. Slade is a Fellow of the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons (AAOMS) and the American and International College of Dentists. He has served in numerous leadership positions within oral and maxillofacial surgery, including president of both the Pennsylvania and Delaware Valley Societies of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and as trustee and treasurer of AAOMS.
- Timothy J. Peterson, MD, Immediate Past Board Chair specializes in primary care and has gained valuable insight through his more than 30 years in private practice. Dr. Peterson is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin Medical School and completed his residency in family medicine at the University of Minnesota. He served at Thomas-Davis Medical Centers from 1987-1998 in Tucson, AZ., where he held various roles, ultimately serving as president and chief executive officer. Subsequently, he served as the medical director for Pima Health System from 1999-2006, was vice president of medical affairs for Bridgeway Health Solutions from 2006-2007 and served as medical director of UnitedHealthcare Community Plan, overseeing the care for Arizona Long Term Care members. Dr. Peterson currently serves as a quality management and quality improvement consultant in the state of Arizona for the Division of Developmental Disabilities.
- David Shapiro, MD, Board Chair-Elect, through his years as a department chair, medical director, and board member of several ambulatory surgery centers, contributes extensive experience. A Florida-based anesthesiologist, Dr. Shapiro currently serves on the boards of both the Florida Society of Ambulatory Surgery Centers (FSASC) and the Ambulatory Surgery Center Association (ASCA) and is a past president of ASCA. Additionally, he is a Board member of the Ambulatory Surgery Center Quality Collaboration (ASC QC), which develops, measures, and publicly reports national ASC quality data. Further, he serves on the Board of the Facility Guidelines Institute (FGI) and participates as a member of their Health Guidelines Review Committee (HGRC). Additionally, Dr. Shapiro applies his expertise as a member of the Florida State Consumer Health Information and Policy Advisory Council (SCHIP), an appointed position within the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA). He is credentialed as a Certified Administrator Surgery Center (CASC) and Certified Professional in Healthcare Risk Management (CPHRM), is licensed in Healthcare Risk Management (LHRM) by the state of Florida, and is certified in Healthcare Compliance (CHC) as well as in Healthcare Quality Management (CHCQM).
Additionally, Lawrence Kim, MD, will serve the first year of his two-year term as AAAHC Secretary/Treasurer.
- Lawrence Kim, MD, Secretary/Treasurer specializes in gastroenterology (GI) and has developed wide knowledge of AAAHC through experience as a surveyor and committee chair. The first gastroenterologist to join the AAAHC Board of Directors, Dr. Kim is a partner at South Denver Gastroenterology, a 24-physician independent GI practice in Colorado. A graduate of Princeton University, he received his medical degree from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. His postgraduate training included an internal medicine residency at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston and a GI fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco. He is the current secretary-treasurer of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) and previously served as a clinical practice councilor on the AGA Governing Board. He is also a member of the Board of Directors for the Digestive Health Physicians Association, an advocacy group for independent GI practices. Dr. Kim focuses on improving the quality of digestive care worldwide and has demonstrated his commitment by leading or serving on multiple medical missions to Vietnam, Cambodia, and Peru.
The three elected directors, whose terms expire in 2024, will also assume their positions on November 15, further enabling AAAHC to focus on engagement and growth opportunities across an array of medical specialties:
- Steven Butz, MD practices pediatric anesthesiology in the Milwaukee area. He holds board certifications in anesthesia and pediatric anesthesia by the American Board of Anesthesiology. Dr. Butz graduated from Northwestern University Medical School and proceeded to complete a residency in anesthesia training at Emory University and a pediatric anesthesia fellowship in Chicago at what is now Lurie Children’s Hospital. He is currently a professor of anesthesiology at the Medical College of Wisconsin where he acts as medical director of the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin Surgicenter.
- Jan Davidson, MSN, RN, CNOR, CASC, CNAMB, elected for a second three-year term on the Board, worked as a perioperative registered nurse for over 40 years. In addition to her OR experience in a large metropolitan trauma center, Ms. Davidson has served as clinical director of a free-standing ambulatory surgery center where her role included management of the clinical staff, staff education and training, risk management, employee health, and infection prevention. Ms. Davidson also was the practice administrator for a plastic surgeon who had a AAAHC-accredited, office-based OR. She has also been employed in professional liability, risk management, and patient safety roles throughout her career. This has afforded her the opportunity to provide education to both the nursing staff and the medical staff on a variety of clinical and ethical issues. Until her recent retirement, she was the Director of the Ambulatory Surgery Division at Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN).
- Valerie Kiefer, DNP, APRN, ANP-BC contributes 35 years of experience in health care, which includes critical care, emergency transport, special procedures, internal medicine, and primary care. Dr. Kiefer has extensive experience in quality improvement, quality assessment, and peer review and has been the primary researcher in multiple quality improvement projects throughout her career. She presently works as a nurse practitioner at UConn Student Health and Wellness. She is chair of its quality improvement program and manager of their laboratory services department. Dr. Kiefer graduated with her Doctorate from the University of Connecticut and received the Josephine A. Dolan award for the Scholarship of Application for her Doctorate project entitled “The Effect of an Evidence-Based Peer Review Process on Antibiotic Prescribing Behaviors of College Health Providers.”
In addition, the board of directors appointed a new director in August due to a vacancy on the Board.
- Kristine P. Kilgore, RN, BSN assumed her position on the Board of Directors August 21, 2021, with a term ending November 2023. Ms. Kilgore graduated from Grand Valley State University in 1984 and started her nursing career working in a hospital on a Medical-Surgical Unit for one year and then transitioned to the OR as the head nurse of the ENT, Eyes, Oral Surgery, and Plastics Team for five years. She then applied her knowledge to help design and build the Surgical Care Center of MI (Ophthalmology ASC). Ms. Kilgore’s employment with this organization spans 32 years as its administrative director.
“Supporting the AAAHC 1095 Strong, quality every day philosophy, our Board leadership sets strategic direction, provides necessary resources, and makes key decisions to meet the needs of our accredited facilities and those seeking accreditation,” added Noel Adachi, MBA, president and CEO of AAAHC. “All of our new Board Directors have supported the organization for decades serving as Surveyors, committee members, and faculty to share their knowledge and expertise with organizations seeking to achieve or maintain their accreditation.”
For more information, visit www.aaahc.org.
