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Continuously Improving Health Care Quality, Patient Safety and Service in Kentucky through Collaborations

Delivering the right care at the right time in the right setting is the core mission of Kentucky hospitals. KHA is committed to helping members improve the quality of care they provide every day. The Association has multiple initiatives and resources to further this goal. KHAQuality.com is dedicated entirely to the quality programs in which KHA and member hospitals are currently engaged. Hospital teams can access resources, toolkits, recordings of educational events and more. Community members can see the hard work Kentucky's hospitals are doing to improve they care they provide.

KHA Quality Team

Melanie Landrum

Senior Vice President, Data,
Operations and Innovation

Melanie Landrum, CPC oversees the KHA data program and assists with all the data for all quality improvement initiatives at KHA/KHREF. She has been in health care for over 20 years in both the inpatient and outpatient settings. Landrum graduated from Western Kentucky University with a Bachelor’s of Science Degree. Landrum is also a Certified Professional Coder through AAPC.

Quality Improvement Areas: Data – Kentucky Quality Counts, Opioid Stewardship – KY SOS, HQIC, Readmissions, Community Coalition, HQIC, Kentucky Perinatal Quality Collaborative and COVID-19 data reporting

Casey Franklin

Director of Quality and Health Professions

Casey Franklin, RN, BSN, CPHQ, WCC has 16 years of nursing experience, with a diverse health care background that includes hospital quality leadership, long-term care, clinical management, and home health and hospice services. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree from Lindsey Wilson College, and she is currently pursuing her master’s degree in Nurse Executive Leadership through Northern Kentucky University.

Deb Campbell

Vice President of Clinical Strategy &
Transformation

Deb Campbell, MSN, RN, CPHQ, T‐CHEST, CCRN alumna, leads the Kentucky Sepsis Consortium and the I-PASS Initiative for the Kentucky Hospital Association and acts as the liaison to the Kentucky Department of Public Health, as well as representing KHA on multiple boards and committees. Campbell earned her BSN at the University of Louisville and her MSN at Bellarmine University. She was a pediatric ICU nurse and CCRN for over 20 years and director of a large Pediatric ICU and served as national faculty for the American Heart Association Pediatric Advanced Life Support program. She has also worked as a CNS for a large pediatric cardiology practice, as a legal nurse consultant and as nurse consultant and nurse faculty for the Children’s Hospital Association’s Quality Transformation Network and the National Pediatric Cardiology Improvement Collaborative. Campbell also served on the Steering Committee for the Children’s Hospital Association (CHA) Improving Pediatric Sepsis Outcomes Collaborative and is a Past President of the Kentucky Association of Healthcare Quality. Campbell currently serves on the Sexual Assault Response Team Advisory Committee (SART-AC) and board of the Kentucky Organization of Nurse Leaders (KONL). She is a member of the Maternal Morbidity and Mortality Review Committee (MMRC), the RETAIN Kentucky’s Inclusive Worker Health Leadership Network (IWHLN) Committee, Kentucky Colon Cancer Advisory Committee, Kyana Health Collaborative Measurement Strategy Team among others.

Quality Improvement Areas: Sepsis, Patient Safety, Health Care Legislation, Health Care Professional/Workforce Issues

Rochelle Beard

Infection Preventionist

Rochelle Beard, MSN, RN, CPN, CIC has worked as the KHA Infection Preventionist since January 2021. She came to the Association with over five years of experience in infection prevention and quality improvement in both acute and long term care. Beard obtained her Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) from Xavier University in 2009 and her Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) with an emphasis in public health from Grand Canyon University in 2016. She has been a registered nurse since 2009, spent seven years at the bedside as a pediatric nurse, has been certified in pediatric nursing since 2011, and obtained her Certification in Infection Control (CIC) in 2021. Beard is an active member of the local Kentuckiana APIC chapter, serving in a variety of leadership roles, and is currently a member of the Communications Committee at the national APIC level.

Quality Improvement Areas: CAUTI, CLABSI, MRSA, C‐diff, Sepsis, NHSN, Antibiotic Stewardship

Jessica Covington

Quality Program Pharmacist

Jessica Covington, PharmD, BCPS graduated from the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy with a Doctor of Pharmacy in 2003, then obtained Board Certification in Pharmacotherapy in 2017. Her expertise includes direct patient care in long-term care and acute care hospitals as a clinical pharmacist. Covington works as a Quality Program Pharmacist at Kentucky Hospital Association (KHA) providing support for the Kentucky Hospital Research and Education Foundation (KHREF) quality program and initiatives. She assists the quality team in reducing rates of preventable harm through promotion of best practice.

Quality Improvement Areas: Adverse Drug Events, Antibiotic Stewardship, C. Difficile, Sepsis, Readmissions, Venous Thromboembolism Prophylaxis

Adam Isaacs

Quality Process Improvement Specialist

Adam Isaacs, BSN, RN, HACP-CMS has been a nurse since 2014. He has cared for patients on the spectrum from pediatrics to adult, most of which were spent in the emergency department pediatric population and in the adult stepdown unit. Prior to being part of the KHA team, he was a clinical quality nurse. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree from the University of Louisville.

Billie Delauder

Quality Process Improvement Specialist

Billie joins the KHA with over 36 years of nursing experience, with a background including Emergency Medicine, Medical-Surgical, and Quality Performance. She also taught several Associate Degree Nursing courses as well as being a clinical instructor since 2019. She obtained her Doctorate of Nursing Practice from Chamberlain College of Nursing and is now seeking to obtain her CPHQ certification at this time. Billie resides in Pikeville, KY with her 5 dogs, 3 cats, and chinchilla. In her free time, she enjoys time with her daughter, family dinners, watching crime shows, and hanging out with her close friends. Upon asking Billie about her new position at the KHA, she stated, ”Having worked within the healthcare field for so many years and over 17 of those in the quality department, this job at the KHA sounded like a dream come true. Now, instead of helping only one hospital to achieve quality and achievement, I now have the opportunity to assist so many others in the state of KY."

Shafrin Choudhury

Quality Improvement Data Analyst

Shafrin Choudhury, MPH, joined the Kentucky Hospital Association in 2021 as a Quality Improvement Data Analyst. In 2014, she received her Bachelor’s of Science in Biology from Centre College and later pursued her Master’s in Public Health, concentrating in Biostatistics in 2018. She has over 5 years of experience working with health care data in different capacities and continues to pursue her passion of helping patients through the use of data analysis and the ultimate goal of improving quality.

Quality Improvement Areas: Quality Data Reporting, NHSN and Care Compare

Emily Henderson

Pharmacy Consultant, KY SOS

Emily Henderson, PharmD, LDE has experience in both community and hospital pharmacy. She has been a pharmacist for over 20 years and is certified in pharmacist‐administered immunizations, MTM and naloxone training. Henderson graduated from the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy. She is also the project lead for the Kentucky Statewide Opioid Stewardship program (KY SOS). Henderson is an active member of both state pharmacy organizations, the Kentucky Society of Health-System Pharmacists (KSHP) and the KentuckyPharmacists Association (KPhA). Henderson also serves on the UK Alumni Association Board of Directors.

Quality Improvement Areas: ADE, Antibiotic Stewardship, Opioid Stewardship, Kentucky Statewide Opioid Stewardship (KYSOS) program, Readmissions and Community Coalition involvement (pharmacy related)

Stacy Allen

Pharmacy Consultant, KY SOS

Stacy Allen, PharmD has 16 years of experience as a pharmacist. She has a background focused on direct patient care in retail, long-term care and hospitals. Allen began her career in health care as a retail pharmacist for Walgreens. She then transitioned her focus into clinical pharmacy in longterm care and inpatient hospital care. She has worked as a clinical/staffing pharmacist for the last 13 years with UofL Health- Mary and Elizabeth Hospital, formerly Sts Mary and Elizabeth Hospital. Allen works as a pharmacy consultant of Kentucky Hospital Association (KHA) with the KY Statewide Opioid Stewardship program (KYSOS). She earned her Doctor of Pharmacy degree from Samford University McWhorter School of Pharmacy in Birmingham, AL. Stacy is committed to ensuring safety and quality for her patients.

Quality Improvement Areas: KY SOS

Shanna Jaggers

Pharmacy Consultant, KY SOS

Shanna Jaggers, PharmD graduated from the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy in 2005. She has experience in both community and clinical pharmacy practice, and is certified in immunizations and naloxone training.

Quality Improvement Areas: KY SOS Outpatient primary care clinics

Marilyn Connors

Physician Consultant, KY SOS

Marilyn Connors, DO is a Board-certified family physician with 30 years of clinical experience in primary care. She graduated from University of Pennsylvania and holds a Master of Science degree in Biomedical Engineering from Rutgers University. She was chief medical officer (CMO) of the Kentucky Primary Care Association (KPCA) and director of clinical integration. She developed an Ending the HIV Epidemic (EHE) program and worked under the KORE grant to integrate substance use disorder (SUD) treatment with medication (MOUD/MAT) in multiple primary care clinics throughout the state of Kentucky. Dr. Connors was Medical Director at the Big Sandy maximum security prison in Inez, Kentucky. She owned a private solo practice in Abingdon, Va. Prior to that, she worked in rural upstate New York (Cooperstown) at Bassett Hospital System as a Medical Director and Director of Performance and Quality Improvement.

Quality Improvement Areas: KY SOS Outpatient primary care clinics

Mary Beth Ecken

Pharmacy Consultant, KY SOS

Mary Beth Ecken, PharmD graduated from the University of Cincinnati College of Pharmacy in 2010. She has experience in community and long-term care pharmacy practice. She is devoted to patient care and working in collaboration with other health care professionals to ensure best practices are met.

Quality Improvement Areas: KY SOS ED Bridge Program

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Quality Programs

Kentucky's hospitals are involved in a number of initiatives to improve quality and patient safety.