Message from the system CMO: Briggs, Fitzpatrick appointed to system leadership roles

I am pleased to announce two new appointments to WVU Medicine’s senior leadership team. Frank Briggs has been named the system’s Chief Quality Officer and Karen Fitzpatrick, M.D., will take on the role of Medical Director of Ambulatory Quality. They will begin their new roles in January.

These long-standing WVU Medicine-WVU Hospitals employees will be focused on using evidence-based practice to improve and standardize the quality of care across the system.

Frank will be concentrating his efforts on ensuring that patients cared for at all WVU Medicine hospitals and clinics receive the same level of care. It won’t matter where a patient is seen – in Morgantown, Ranson, Keyser, or at any WVU Medicine location – the quality will be the same. By standardizing quality and patient safety efforts and constantly making improvements in these areas, we will help build the WVU Medicine brand – one of quality – across the state.

Karen will be concentrating on primary care practices across the system. She will drive primary care redesign and National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) recognition to help improve quality and the patient experience.

Frank has been a member of the WVU Medicine-WVU Hospitals team since 2002. He has served as Chief Quality Officer and Vice President of Quality and Patient Safety since 2012. Prior to that, he served in these roles: Director of the Center for Quality Outcomes and Medical Staff Affairs, and Assistant Director of Pharmacy and Coordinator of Pharmacy Residency Training.

Karen, who earned her medical degree from WVU and completed a residency here, has been a faculty member in the WVU Department of Family Medicine since 1994. She has led her department’s PCMH efforts, serving as a physician champion, and has developed a one-year PCMH fellowship program for physicians. Since 2012, Karen has served as medical director of both performance improvement and ambulatory informatics for WVU Medicine-WVU Hospitals.

Please congratulate Frank and Karen, and support them as they take on these new roles for WVU Medicine. And please remember that it takes all of us – those involved in direct patient care and those who support operations – to improve quality. Together, we can make a real difference in the lives of those we serve.