From: To: Subject: Date: info@namss.org NAMSS - Yaguda, Alyssa NAMSS Health Care Hall of Fame Program Nomination Form Tuesday, May 17, 2016 9:48:49 AM Results From: NAMSS Health Care Hall of Fame Program Nomination FormSubmitted By: Unauthenticated User IP: 192.240.45.26 Nominator Name: Charleen DiPancrazio Nominator Address: 111 Colchester Ave MS 244BA1 Burlington, VT 05401 Nominator Email: Charleen.DiPancrazio@uvmhealth.org Nominator Phone: 802-847-2702 Nominee Name: Kathryn Sinar Nominee Address: 1283 S. Shore Dr. Southport, NC 28461 Nominee Email: Kathryn.Gaston@uvmhealth.org Nominee Phone: 252-531-5357 Relationship to the Nominee: Colleague Years Known the Nominee: 2.5
May 9 th, 2016 To whom it may concern: This is a letter of support the nomination of Kathryn Sinar Gaston for the NAMSS Health Care Hall of Fame Program. I had the pleasure of working with Kathryn as our temporary Medical Staff Office Manager during my 2 year tenure from 2013-2015 as medical staff president at the University of Vermont Medical Center, of which she provided leadership in our Medical Staff Office for one year as we struggled recruit and replace our departed previous MSO manager. At the time of Kathryn s arrival we had already had one prior temporary manager from an outside agency for several months who was unable to extend her time with us. This other woman had the advantage at least of having overlapped briefly with our previous long time manager, whereas Kathryn was now picking up the reins and the knowledge of our past practices second hand. What most impressed me with Kathryn and why she is deserving of consideration for the NAMSS Health Care Hall of Fame was the level of professionalism that she brought with her despite the challenging circumstances of picking up where another temporary manager had left off, and dealing with long standing challenges of the MSO and putting into place improvements during this time period. I greatly appreciated her ability to manage up within the organization and providing guidance of needed changes without judging or criticizing those that came before her. During this time period, the Joint Commission had increased the number of items that medical staff had to be compliant with, including OPPE. As a critical member of both the Medical Staff Executive Committee and the Medical Staff Credentialing Committee, she provided important continuity of discussions, action items, and organization of the agenda. Behind the scenes she worked to ensure progress on many of the action items, including revisions and standardization of some our credentialing documents. Equally important has been her continued work as needed as a consultant, but most of all, her willingness to mentor our current MSO Manager, who has been highly successful through her friendship and mentoring with Kathryn. During this time period, her husband became seriously ill, and Kathryn had to go back home to assist her husband periodically and yet she maintained her commitment to help our MSO and guided others in her interim absence. In summary, I believe Kathryn is deserving of being a member of the Hall of Fame. As a NAMSS member, she brought to the position experience, perspective, and a high level of professionalism. She kept chaos at bay while helping us to be a better organization in the Medical Staff Office, and provided mentoring to a new MSO manager. Her efforts have been above and beyond. Sincerely, Mark K Fung, MD PhD Professor and Vice Chair of Clinical Affairs, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Professor of Medical Laboratory and Radiation Sciences University of Vermont Colleges of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences Director of Clinical Laboratories Director, Transfusion Services (Blood Bank, Stem Cell Laboratory, HLA Laboratory) University of Vermont Medical Center PATHOLOGY and LABORATORY MEDICINE ACC MP1-111 111 COLCHESTER AVE, BURLINGTON, VT 05401 (802) 847-5114 Mark.Fung@UVMHealth.org
5/10/16 To: NAMSS Health Care Hall of Fame Program Re: Kathryn Sinar Dear Nominating Committee, Kathryn Sinar worked for UVM Medical Center on and off for the past two years. The first time Kathryn worked for us it was through a temp company. I had just freed up the future of my current medical staff office manager and I was desperate for help. With a medical staff of 1200 and roughly 30-45 appointments or reappointments processed every month I knew I couldn t do it on my own. Kathryn stepped in quickly and hit the ground running and was amazing. Not only did she keep on top of the normal day to day work she started looking at other internal processes including our privileging forms and bylaws and made lots of great suggestions as to how to clean them up. Unfortunately Kathryn could only stay a few months the first time around and I was forced to go back to the temp agency for other medical staff office managers. I went through three others and they were all terrible and didn t last very long. I begged and pleaded Kathryn to return from her home in North Carolina and come back to Vermont (including attempting to bribe her with the promise of buying her warmer clothes more suitable to our climate) and she was finally agreed to return--not once, not twice but three times. The second two times she was no longer working for the temp agency and we were able to contract with her directly. She has been absolutely outstanding to have around and if she were willing to move to VT from NC I would have hired her in an instant. She is the most knowledgeable, no-nonsense get-it-done person I ve ever met all packed in this little woman which a southern accent. I can t tell you how invaluable she was to me and my hospital at a time of great crisis and a pending Joint Commission visit! I really could not have done it without her help. She has become a good friend over the years and look forward for her continuing to do some work for us and visit us in Vermont. Thank you for your consideration, Patricia Fisher MD Medical Director for Case Management and Medical Staff Services
Kathryn R. Gaston 1283 S Shore Drive Southport, North Carolina 28641 252 531 5357 Krgaston55@gmail.com WORK EXPERIENCE HcPro/The Greeley Company January 2014 to March 2014 Interim Staffing Services June 2014 to August 2014 200 Hoods Lane Marblehead, MA Interim Manager, Medical Staff Services Responsibilities: Served as interim manager, medical staff services at the University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington, VT: Directed and performed the majority of activities of the medical staff office including processing of initial and reappointment applications received from the medical center CVO, performing all functions required for staff advancement to regular staff, entering and maintaining data in the VISTAR credentialing system, assuring compliance with regulatory requirements, managing functions of the Medical Executive Committee, Credentials Committee, and Bylaws Committee, developing methodology for a more organized medical staff office with process spreadsheets and guidelines, assisting leadership in recruitment of credentialing assistant who then was promoted to permanent manager of the medical staff office, providing guidance and education to credentialing assistant, and assisting leadership and others in identifying a more efficient, effective network credentialing data base system. Veterans Administration, Office of Quality and Safety September 2012 to November 2012 800 Capitola Drive, Suite 2 Durham, NC 27713 Health System Specialist (full time, temporary) Responsibilities: Conduct electronic audits of provider files completed for initial appointment and reappointment using the VHA VetPro credentialing data base, assist in processing applications for initial appointment, review VetPro Credentialing Coordinator user manual and provide recommendations for improvement. Vidant Health May 2007 to March 2013 2100 Stantonsburg Road Greenville, NC 27834 Risk Analyst (contract) Responsibilities: Manage corporate policies for the Vidant Health system, manage intranet site for corporate due diligence projects and permanent storage of due diligence
documents, conduct audits of employee handling and administration of narcotics to identify issues of diversion, process requests for malpractice coverage for providers employed by Vidant Health. Hardenbergh Interim Staffing Group January 2007 to April 2007 Medical Staff Consulting and Temporary Staffing 15879 Robinwood Drive Northville, MI Interim credentialing specialist Responsibilities: Served as an interim credentialing specialist at Delray Medical Center in Delray Beach, FL: Processed applications for initial appointment and reappointment with corresponding entries into the HealthLine data base. HcPro/The Greeley Company July 2006 to December 2006 Interim Staffing Services 200 Hoods Lane Marblehead, MA Interim credentialing specialist Responsibilities: Served as an interim credentialing specialist at Virtua Health in Marlton, NJ: Processed applications for initial appointment and reappointment, maintained credentialing data base, audited credentials files in preparation for an accreditation survey. Vidant Health, Vidant Medical Center June 1977 to February 2006 2100 Stantonsburg Road, Greenville, NC Administrator, Medical Staff Support (Progressive career advancement from Assistant Manager, Health Information Management to Manager, Medical Staff Support to Administrator, Medical Staff Support) Responsibilities: Served as Medical Staff Office administrator for a moderately large academic and private practice healthcare system for 30 years. Direct management of technical staff of six individuals serving as a Credentialing Verification Office, which included medical staff organizational functions, bylaws, policy manuals, and interaction with nine hospitals and healthcare entities for compliance with Joint Commission and NCQA standards. Direct responsibility for evaluation and selection, initial and ongoing set up, maintenance and integrity of medical staff credentialing information in a networked data base (Visual Cactus) for nine hospitals and healthcare entities. Direct responsibility for the Joint Commission survey process in the areas of physician credentialing, medical staff bylaws and policies, and medical staff organizational compliance.
Primary liaison with medical staff leadership on confidential issues of physician health and effectiveness, physician disciplinary actions and reporting of these issues to the statewide and national data bases. Responsible for fleshing out concepts into actionable working committees, including gathering resources, organizing goals and assuring completion of projects and presentation of finished results to leadership. SPECIFIC SKILLS Managerial attitude Liaison with different groups of professionals and support staff Goal oriented, independent project leader Advanced computer software and web-based skills Positive attitude and exceptionally strong work ethic EDUCATION/CERTIFICATIONS East Carolina University, Greenville, NC 1973 1977 B.S. Health Information Management Registered Health Information Manager 1977 Certified Professional Medical Staff Manager 1988 to present Certified Provider Credentialing Specialist 1997 to present PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES National Association Medical Staff Services (NAMSS) 1984 to 2015 North Carolina Association for Medical Staff Services (NCMSS) SUMMARY OF EXPERIENCE Responsible administrator/leader for a complex and dynamic credentialing process involving highly detailed and time critical information. Strong interpersonal skills assigning daily duties to departmental staff. Liaison with professional medical staff leadership (hospital chief of staff, chief medical officer) for design of complex tasks, assignment of resources and management of results. Responsible for complex, long term projects involving a variety of disciplines with a can do attitude for successful project management.