Kristi Mitchell leads the Center for Healthcare Transformation.
She specializes in the use of clinical data for strategic decision-making across multiple industries, including life sciences, health plans, and professional societies. In this capacity, she provides strategic guidance for innovative collection and utilization of data as well as oversees the diffusion of best practice in quality measurement development, implementation, and evaluation across multiples industries.
Prior to joining Avalere, Kristi worked at the American College of Cardiology (ACC), leading the development of the National Cardiovascular Data Registry, most recently as the chief science officer. Prior to the ACC, she assessed the impact of public health policies, programs, and practices on health outcomes at Battelle Centers for Public Health Policy and Evaluation and at the Institute for Health Policy Studies at the University of California, San Francisco.
Kristi has an MPH in public health policy administration and epidemiology from the University of Michigan and an AB in human biology and public policy from Brown University. She sits on the FDA MDEpiNet Interim Advisory Committee and the Pew Trust Future of Medical Device Registry Stakeholder Group.
Authored Content
Mitigating the public health emergency (PHE) caused by SARS-CoV-2 requires a multifaceted approach.
As businesses across the country begin to reopen, navigating the COVID-19 pandemic will continually require employers to be resilient, flexible, innovative, and forward looking when it comes to returning employees safely to work sites. Among the myriad of concerns and considerations, organizational leadership will need tools that assist decision making and ensure compliance with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance.
Registries have played an important role in furthering our understanding of the diagnosis and treatment of diseases and have specifically proven valuable in the identification and management of pandemic diseases.
Citing alarming statistics that nearly 1 of every 2 older Americans is at risk of malnutrition and that disease-associated malnutrition in older adults is estimated to cost nearly $53 billion annually, a broad group of advocates has presented a updated roadmap for a continuing national effort to help millions of Americans who suffer from malnutrition or could be at risk as they age. The expected rising incidence of malnutrition amidst the current COVID-19 pandemic makes it even more critical to advance solutions across all points of care.
On March 25, the British Medical Journal Open Quality published an article, “Impact of an Interdisciplinary Malnutrition Quality Improvement Project at a Large Metropolitan Hospital,” co-authored by Kelsey Jones and Kristi Mitchell.
The growing prevalence and disparities in chronic diseases necessitate that health plans address food insecurity to improve patient outcomes. The combination of increasing need for access to healthy food and changes in the health policy and insurance landscape create opportunities to address food insecurity through a variety of payers.
As the shape and scope of America’s learning health system evolves, Avalere partners with industry leaders, engaging multiple stakeholders to formulate patient registry strategies that develop, evaluate, and utilize registry data – and help improve care in real time.
Avalere Health and the Endocrine Society launch hypoglycemia clinical tools.
Various national and local health policies aim to address food insecurity through both healthcare and community-based programs.
A wide variety of health plans, provider networks, and national corporations have recently developed and announced innovations and strategies to expand access to healthcare and to address needs that promote health across communities.
Avalere’s efforts to advance the national Malnutrition Quality Improvement Initiative featured in newly published supplement of the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
Avalere collaborates with the Endocrine Society and Pottstown Medical Specialists to launch a quality improvement intervention study aimed at addressing care gaps in the identification and management of hypoglycemia in older adults with type 2 diabetes.
Avalere experts hosted a lively discussion on current trends in digital health and the key steps necessary for stakeholders across the industry to successfully implement digital health initiatives.
Christie Teigland, PhD, has been invited to serve on the Pharmacy Quality Alliance (PQA) Executive Research Advisory Council (ERAC).
Avalere experts hosted a lively discussion on the 2019 outlook for the medical device industry.
Partnerships between traditional healthcare players and big technology companies seek to improve care delivery and patient outcomes in innovative ways.
On January 10, Avalere experts examined the top healthcare priorities to watch in 2019.
Over the past several years, Avalere has collaborated with the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics to establish and support the Malnutrition Quality Improvement Initiative (MQii).
Although malnutrition can lead to greater risk of chronic disease, frailty, and disability, and increases healthcare costs, patients’ nutrition status is rarely evaluated and managed as they transition across care settings.
The number of CMS-approved Qualified Clinical Data Registries grew by 40% in 2018, allowing specialties to have more opportunities to report on meaningful quality measures.
In this short video, Kristi Mitchell, Senior Vice President, discusses strategies to improve patient outcomes and excel in a value-based care environment.
Avalere experts discuss the need for unique stakeholder collaborations to facilitate success in the transition to a value-based care system.
Citing alarming statistics that show that nearly 1 of every 2 older Americans is at risk of malnutrition and that disease-associated malnutrition in older adults is estimated to cost $51.3 billion annually, a broad group of advocates laid out a roadmap for a new national effort to help millions of Americans who suffer from malnutrition or could be at risk as they grow older.
In June 2016, Avalere in collaboration with the American Society of Clinical Oncology, Cancer Support Community, Community Oncology Alliance, and Patient Advocate Foundation, and with support from Bristol-Myers Squibb, brought together a variety of healthcare stakeholders in a national Dialogue to discuss challenges and opportunities surrounding the advancement of quality in cancer care.
Earlier this year, Avalere led a work group of rheumatology, orthopedic surgery, psychiatry, sports medicine, and primary care clinicians to develop appropriate use criteria for the use of hyaluronic acid (HA) in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis (OA).
In the final episode of our podcast series for Malnutrition Awareness Week™, Avalere's Kristi Mitchell is joined by Bob Blancato to talk about the growing crisis of malnutrition care and its impact on older adults. Bob is the president of Matz, Blancato, and Associates, the national coordinator of the bipartisan 3000-member Elder Justice Coalition, and the executive director of the National Association of Nutrition and Aging Services Programs.
Avalere's Angel Valladares is joined by Dr. Ken Nepple in episode 4 of our maltnutrition podcast series discussing the implementation of eMeasures. Dr. Nepple is an associate professor in the Department of Urology at the University of Iowa Health System with great professional interest in nutrition care. He has led the MQii project at his facility as a measure testing site and participated in the hospital learning collaborative piloting the standardized toolkit.
New quality measures to address malnutrition among hospitalized older adults are now being evaluated by the National Quality Forum (NQF) for endorsement, and by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for inclusion in their Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting Program.
In epidode 3 of our maltnutrition podcast series, Avalere's Kelsey Jones is joined Dr. Karim Godamunne, Chief Medical Officer, North Fulton Hospital and member of the MQii Advisory Committee, sharing why a multi-disciplinary approach, high-quality measures, good data, and patient engagement are all needed to advance malnutrition care.
In episode 2 of our podcast series for Malnutrition Awareness WeekTM, Avalere's Michelle Bruno and Dr. Heidi Silver, research associate professor of medicine and director of the Vanderbilt Diet, Body Composition, and Human Metabolism CORE, discuss implementing a new MQii Toolkit across hospital departments at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. The MQii Toolkit provides practical, interdisciplinary tools and resources to help hospitals implement malnutrition best practices across all aspect of malnutrition care (e.g., screening, assessment, diagnosis, discharge planning).
For Malnutrition Awareness WeekTM, Avalere will be releasing a series of podcasts focused on new tools developed by the Malnutrition Quality Improvement Initiative (MQii)—a collaboration of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, Avalere Health, and other organizations dedicated to improving nutrition care. Listen to episode 1 featuring Dr. Alison Steiber, chief science officer at the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, and Dr. Beverly Hernandez, the director of clinical nutrition at Tampa General Hospital.
Avalere recently analyzed the quality measure landscape for rheumatoid arthritis.
Avalere recently analyzed the quality measure landscape for schizophrenia.
Avalere Health has developed a set of malnutrition quality measures in collaboration with the Academy of Malnutrition and Dietetics. Embarking on a journey to improve care to malnourished patients, the collaboration spurred formal multi-stakeholder dialogues to be conducted.
While Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act or MACRA seeks to stabilize Medicare and assure physicians a predictable stream of revenue given a schedule of expected physician payment updates, how can providers leverage MACRA to improve quality of care? Listen in as Kristi Mitchell suggests how providers can use MACRA as a springboard to develop and implement relevant quality measures to close the current measurement gaps across disease conditions and care settings.
Despite evidence demonstrating the benefits of optimal nutrition for healing and recovery, practice variation continues in hospitals for nutrition screening, assessment, diagnosis, and overall treatment and management of malnourished adults ages 65 and older. In response, Avalere launched the Malnutrition Quality Improvement Initiative (MQII) to support the delivery of high-quality care for older adults. The MQII not only aims to support the use of timely best practices for malnutrition care in the hospital setting but may also reduce costs associated with poor patient outcomes.
A new white paper from Avalere finds wide variation in how organizations develop and use clinical pathways (CPs)-multidisciplinary plans that provide specific guidance on the sequencing of care steps and the timeline of interventions. While CPs have the potential to improve quality and reduce cost, their growing use prompts a range of questions and concerns from patient advocates and healthcare providers. Specifically, Avalere's new work examines the lifecycle of a CP and explores the potential implications of growing use of these tools for payers, providers, and patients.
A new Avalere assessment of the quality measures landscape shows that many important medical conditions are not fully represented in Medicare pay-for-quality programs, which limits Medicare's ability to pay for value.
Need to Know: On June 10, Friends of Cancer Research held a public meeting to discuss how sponsors and FDA may be able to expedite rate-limiting steps in Chemistry, Manufacturing, and Controls (CMC) and current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMPs) for breakthrough therapy designated products, while ensuring an adequate supply of safe and efficacious product at the time of approval.
Cancer is a burden to patients and the healthcare system. Last year, an estimated 1.6 million new cancer cases were diagnosed in the U.S and the latest figures estimate that 13.4 million people, about 4 percent of the U.S. population, live with cancer in the U.S.1
Achieving a vision of patient-centered healthcare requires multi-stakeholder collaboration each step of the way. As national attention on the use of patient-reported outcomes (PROs) grows, significant progress needs to be made to ensure that they are fairly used for accountability purposes in the context of performance-based payment models.
By the end of 2016, HHS plans to make 30% of fee-for-service payments through alternative payment models, such as accountable care organizations and bundled payments, and tie 85% of all fee-for-service payments to quality or value. This places increasing urgency on healthcare organizations to make a fundamental shift in their approach to care delivery.
Avalere Health led the Pharmacy Quality Alliance's February 2015 Quality Forum Lecture entitled: A Look Ahead at 2015.
Avalere published an article this week on ASCO's plan to launch CancerLinQ™.
Despite its notable negative impact on patient outcomes and costs of care, malnutrition is an area that has largely remained unaddressed by national programs and initiatives.
Listen to Avalere's Debbie Lucas explain the complex world of quality measurement.
Listen to Debbie Lucas discuss how quality measurement can lead to improvements in the quality of care and the impact on providers.
The use of quality and performance measures in public reporting, value-based purchasing, and alternative payment models is altering clinical practice by providing incentives to improve quality measures performance and provide high-value care. Debbie Lucas helps many stakeholders seek to understand these measures, assess their business impacts, and use the information to guide decision-making.
Avalere’s experts will be presenting several posters at AcademyHealth’s Annual Research Meeting in San Diego.
Malnutrition is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality, especially among the elderly.
The Joint Commission and the American Medical Association (AMA) Convened Physician Consortium for Performance Improvement® released a report on July 8, which was previously under an embargo, focusing on the overuse of tests, treatments, or procedures that provide zero to negligible benefit and expose patients to risk of harm.
To drive down costs, focusing exclusively on managing chronic illness misses the boat.