| Hire
made for new position
Kristy Fresh, CMPE, MBA, was recently hired by St. Mary’s and Clearwater Valley Hospitals and Clinics as their Director of  Physician
Practice and Medical Home, a newly developed position. She recently
moved from Portland where she was Director of Operations for The Oregon
Clinic, a multi-specialty clinic with over 120 providers and multiple locations.
Her responsibilities included staffing, patient and provider education,
budgeting, strategic planning, recruitment and marketing. Fresh lived
in Deary, Idaho from 7th grade to the middle of her senior year.
“Although I enjoyed living in Portland I felt a smaller community would be a better place to raise my 12 year old son,” said Fresh. “My new position is a perfect fit for my interests, skills and experience. It was exciting to find two rural hospitals and clinics that are progressively doing things you don’t even see in larger, urban facilities. I’m very impressed with everyone I’ve met. Staff in every department are working hard to implement changes that will prepare us for the future including our new electronic medical record system.” Fresh will assume physician recruitment responsibilities when Kathryn Allen retires later this year. She will also manage further development of the medical home initiative underway in the hospitals’ eight satellite clinic system, oversee those clinics and develop a patient education program that will benefit patients and help the facilities comply with the ‘meaningful use’ criteria to receive federal reimbursement for the purchase of their EMR system. “One of my goals is to strengthen our work in the clinics to decrease the number of hospital readmits. We’re hoping to increase patient education and patient interest and ability to self-manage so they maintain better health which will result in fewer hospital stays,” said Fresh. “We’ll be aiming for consistency and cohesiveness within our clinics by setting similar goals and strategies to meet those goals.” In addition to her role at The Oregon Clinic, Fresh also established a nonprofit foundation to provide surgical education and Continuing Medical Education credits for surgeons, including a training and testing program in Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery. She will continue in that position until a successor is named. Fresh’s other employment positions include serving for four years as the Administrator of Surgical Specialists of Spokane, a surgical practice with 14 general, trauma, oncology, obesity and vascular surgeons in four city-wide locations. She also worked at Kootenai Medical Center in Coeur d’Alene as their Director of Patient Business Service/Patient Access. Fresh has a Masters in Business Administration from Webster University and has her certification from the American College of Medical Practice Executives. “Kristy will make a great addition to our administrative team. Her experience complements the programs and services we’ve already begun and those we hope to begin. She will help take us to the next level,” said Casey Meza, CEO, CVHC/SMHC. “She’s personable and her vision of healthcare will benefit our staff and, most importantly, our patients. When not working, Fresh enjoys running, participating in races, anything outdoors and practicing archery with her son, Patrick Michael, who is in the sixth grade. |
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