Our Consultants

Our consultants are experienced healthcare professionals with extensive real-world experience in all major segments of the industry, including community-based organizations, health plans, hospitals, medical groups, quality improvement collaboratives and state and county health systems. We have a multi-disciplinary team that possesses broad subject matter expertise in healthcare quality, compliance, planning and program development; practice redesign; change management; and PCMH transformation.

Jonathan Sugarman, MD, MPH. Qualis Health's consultants work under the direction of President and CEO, Jonathan Sugarman, MD, MPH. Jonathan is a recognized leader in the area of quality improvement and primary care redesign, and regularly serves as an advisor for government and private sector quality measurement and improvement initiatives. He is a frequent speaker to regional and national audiences on topics related to healthcare quality and accelerating healthcare transformation through implementation of models such as the medical home.

Diane Altman Dautoff, MSW, EdD, is a Qualis Health Senior Consultant whose focus is on leadership engagement and change management related to successful NCQA recognition and full implementation of patient-centered medical homes. With more than 25 years of experience in the healthcare industry, Diane's experience includes quality improvement; leadership coaching and board development; strategic planning; team building; and facilitation.

Susan Crocetti, RN, BSN, CPHQ, HEM, has over 20 years of industry experience in areas such as healthcare quality improvement, performance improvement, health information technology, patient safety, risk management and clinical care. This includes work specific to the PCMH Model of Care delivery, with a particular focus on development of PCMH practice readiness tools and completion of PCMH applications for NCQA PCMH™ Recognition.

Donna Daniel, PhD, trained with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) with emphasis in quality improvement methodology; registry development; measurement and data tracking; and spread theory. She currently leads Qualis Health's PCMH measurement and quality improvement programming.

Sharon Eloranta, MD, is a Senior Quality Improvement Consultant with more than 20 years of experience in healthcare. She provides training and consultation in the field of healthcare quality nationwide, and is a frequent speaker on quality and safety improvement methods. Under Sharon’s leadership, Qualis Health has conducted multiple local, regional and national Breakthrough Series Collaboratives on diabetes care; primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease; prevention of surgical site infections and nursing home improvement on pain and pressure ulcers.

Jeff Hummel, MD, MPH, is a General Internist with experience in primary care and health informatics. Jeff helped build a start-up delivery system of neighborhood clinics in the Seattle-King County area with the first electronic medical record system in the area. He specializes in meaningful use, specifically helping practices develop workflows which support the PCMH Model.

Regina Neal, MS, MPH, possesses more than 25 years of experience in the healthcare industry, including positions with health plans, public health departments and ambulatory health systems. Regina is well experienced in the areas of the PCMH Model of Care; quality improvement; strategic and business planning; governance; survey research and analysis; and team building and facilitation. She helps clients to deliver high quality, patient-centered care throughout their practices, including working with practice teams to reduce cycle times; creating access to appointments; and establishing patient-centered facilities and systems of care.

Kathryn Phillips, MPH, directs the Safety Net Medical Home Initiative, a national PCMH demonstration project, and provides guidance to a variety of clients and stakeholders on PCMH payment policy. Kathryn also develops PCMH transformation resources for practices and practice coaches. She has a decade of experience in public health research, policy and programming; healthcare purchasing and benefit design; and grants management.

Heather Russo is a PCMH Consultant with direct experience facilitating PCMH application for NCQA PCMH™ Recognition. Her background with primary care clinics also includes both overseeing day-to-day operations and participating in strategic planning.

Nirmala Sandhu, MPH, has extensive experience in data management and analysis, specifically in PCMH measurement and performance monitoring.

Sue Sirlin, CPEHR, Six Sigma Black Belt, has more than 25 years' experience in healthcare, with a focus on practice leadership as well as administrative and business aspects of ambulatory operations. She is also experienced in EMR software design and ongoing process improvement through redesign and standardization. Sue helps clients optimize their health information technology as a means to support PCMH transformation.

Nicole Van Borkulo, MEd, is a Senior Quality Improvement Specialist with more than 10 years of experience in designing and directing healthcare collaboratives. She also conducts training programs for PCMH practice coaches.

Karen Vest-Taubert, RN, BSN, MBA, Six Sigma Green Belt, possesses 20-plus years of clinical and administrative leadership experience in acute, home health, nursing facility and safety net environments. She is currently a senior consultant for Qualis Health, providing technical assistance related to medical home consulting. Prior to joining Qualis Health, Karen served as the chief nursing officer for a federally qualified health center where she managed a PCMH certification project.

Ginny Weir, MPH, is a Program Analyst with experience in education and training materials, as well as literature reviews and policy analysis. She manages education resources for Qualis Health.