The Center for Professionalism & Value in Health Care

Andrew Bazemore, MD, MPH

Co-Director; Senior Vice President for Research & Policy, ABFM

Andrew Bazemore, MD, MPH serves as the Senior Vice President of Research and Policy for the American Board of Family Medicine (ABFM). As Senior Vice President of Research and Policy, Dr. Bazemore’s areas of focus include leading the next phase of development of the ABFM research enterprise, co-leading ABFM’s Center for Professionalism and Value in Health Care and coordinating and developing ABFM career development activities for ABFM Scholars, Pisacano Scholars and Puffer Fellows.

Dr. Bazemore previously served as the Director of the Robert Graham Center for Policy Studies in Family Medicine in Washington, DC, and as its Assistant Director for seven years prior to that. Dr. Bazemore helped cultivate the growth and evolution of the Graham Center into an internationally-known primary care research center with diverse funding sources. He guided and participated in the Graham Center’s research with special interest in access to care for underserved populations, health workforce and training, and spatial analysis. Dr. Bazemore also led the Graham Center’s emphasis on developing tools that empower primary care providers, leaders, and policymakers. He developed HealthLandscape, an innovative data engagement platform entirely funded by grants and contracts, including the nearly $1.5 million/year federal Uniform Data System (UDS) Mapper contract that guides funding for all the nation’s Federally Qualified Centers.

Dr. Bazemore has authored over 150 peer-reviewed publications and helped to create the Starfield Summit series, the Embassy Series events and novel settings for the Primary Care Forum Series. He has served in national policy roles including the Family Medicine for America’s Health Research Tactic Team, and Board of Directors as well as important committee roles for North American Primary Care Research Group (NAPCRG), Society of Teachers of Family Medicine (STFM), the National Research Network, the Rural Training Track Consortium, the National Academies of Medicine, and the Council on Graduate Medical Education. He was elected as a member of the National Academies of Medicine in 2016 and named a Fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians last year.

Dr. Bazemore serves on the faculties of the Departments of Family Medicine at Georgetown University and Virginia Commonwealth University. He has also continued to see patients at Fairfax Family Practice Centers since joining the Graham Center in 2005. Dr. Bazemore previously served as an Associate Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Cincinnati and as a Professorial Lecturer of Health Policy at George Washington University School of Public Health. Dr. Bazemore graduated from Davidson College, received his Doctor of Medicine from the University of North Carolina, and his MPH from Harvard University School of Public Health. He also completed a Global Health Fellowship at the University of Cincinnati.

Jill Shuemaker, RN, CPHIMS

Director, Clinician Measures

Jill Shuemaker, RN, CPHIMS directs the Clinician Measure efforts at The Center for Professionalism & Value in Health Care.  She is the enterprise subject matter expert in the area of clinical quality measurement, quality measure interpretation and development, electronic data extraction, clinical informatics, and health information technology (HIT).  Jill facilitates the quality measure needs of primary care providers, researchers, PRIME Qualified Clinical Data Registry stakeholders, and internal and external collaborators.

Ms. Shuemaker is a registered nurse, clinical informaticist and a certified professional in health information management systems.  She has held leadership positions in the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) and Health Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS) national committees and task forces.  Jill was appointed to Co-Chair the Health Information Technology Advisory Committee’s (HITAC) 2021 EHR Reporting Program Task Force; is a member and past Chair of HIMSS’ National Quality and Safety Committee, and a current member of HIMSS Government Relations Public Policy committee.  She has served on National Quality Forum’s (NQF) Measure Feedback Loop Committee, American Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) Core Quality Measure Collaborative (CQMC) and CQMC Digital Measurement Workgroup; and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) clinical quality measure and health IT task forces. She is a national speaker and presenter on various clinical quality topics such as data driven patient care, quality metrics and reporting in value-based care, interoperability challenges to eCQM reporting, federal quality reporting provider value proposition, aligning eCQM compliance with improving care outcomes, and value-focused reimbursement. In recognition for her expertise in the field of healthcare and information technology, Ms. Shuemaker received the HIMSS Foundation Covert Award. She is uniquely qualified to provide key insights in the use of health IT in care delivery, quality measurement, and regulatory reporting.  Ms. Shuemaker is passionate about family care and using technology to advance health through research, and quality measurement to improve care quality and influence policy.

Denise M. Pavletic, MPH, RD

Deputy Director, Clinician Measures

Denise Pavletic is originally from New York State and currently lives in Washington, DC working at the ABFM Center for Professionalism and Value in Healthcare. Denise is an RD and holds an MPH from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. In additional, she holds national quality improvement certifications through the American Society for Quality. Denise started her career as an active duty army officer and has over 25 years of experience in healthcare and population health initiatives at the community, state and national levels. Denise lives with her husband Greg and rescue dog Simba.

Sarah Hajjar, MPA, PMP

Director, PRIME Registry

Ms. Sarah Hajjar is Director of The PRIME Registry. Since joining the ABFM in 2016, she has overseen the launch of The PRIME Registry and led its growth to nearly 3,000 Primary Care clinicians, with practices in 49 states. She has shepherded the integration of innovative tools within PRIME Registry that provide additional value to clinicians and practices such as the Population Health Assessment Engine, PHATE ™, and Patient Reported Outcomes.

Prior to ABFM, Sarah was Senior Manager, Six Sigma for Dynamics AX Implementations at Tempur Sealy International in Lexington, KY. She has an M.P.A from Eastern Kentucky University, is a Certified Six Sigma Blackbelt and a certified Project Management Professional.

Eric Bickelman

Registry Program Manager

Eric Bickelman joined the PRIME Registry team in April 2019 as the Registry Program Manager. Prior to joining the PRIME Registry, he founded the IBUO Group and served industry leaders in secondary, tertiary, and quaternary sectors as a consultant. He has experience providing organizations with leadership and change management in transition and growth periods while working with executives to improve organizational performance. Earlier in his career, he held a range of positions in sales and service management, supply chain management, information technology, new product development, pastoral care, education, and training. Eric holds a Master of Divinity from Asbury Theological Seminary and a B.A. in Anthropology from Humboldt State University.

Mikel Severson

Center Administrator

Mikel Severson serves as the Center Administrator for Center for Professionalism & Value in Health Care. Mikel started her career in the Intellectual Property field, primarily focused on Patent Prosecution. She holds a Bachelors of Arts in History from Salisbury University. Aside from her work with the CPVHC, she is a mother of three, an avid runner, NFL fanatic, and a podcast enthusiast. Mikel resides in Annapolis, MD with her husband, three children and two giant Great Danes.

Nathaniel Hendrix

Senior Research Scientist

Nathaniel Hendrix is a senior research scientist with the American Board of Family Medicine and their Center for Professionalism and Value in Health Care. His research focuses on cost-effectiveness analysis, pharmacoepidemiology, and artificial intelligence in primary care. Nathaniel holds a PharmD from the University of Washington School of Pharmacy, and a PhD from University of Washington’s Comparative Health Outcomes, Policy, and Economics (CHOICE) Institute, and was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Harvard University’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health from 2020 – 2022.

Christine Bechtel

Christine Bechtel is a well-known consumer advocate and the co-founder of X4 Health, a purpose-driven organization working to implement the Quadruple Aim of better health, better care, lower costs and better experiences for patients, families and professionals. Bechtel is a nationally recognized expert in patient-centered care, patient and family engagement, health IT, and quality improvement. Christine and the X4 team are the driving force behind 3rd Conversation, a program that is exploring ways to reinvent the provider-patient relationship as the foundation of meaningful systems change. The 3rd Conversation is working to put patients and clinicians back at the center of decision making, so they can build a system that actually creates health. An avid golfer, she lives in Maryland.

Lisa Kidd

Lisa Kidd, a Philadelphia native, mother and grandmother, parlayed her love of helping others, administrative experience, vast knowledge of resources, and personal experience with type 2 diabetes, into a career as a Community Health Worker. Ms. Kidd provides patients of the University of Pennsylvania Health System that reside in West and Southwest Philadelphia with resources, advocacy, and assistance navigating available services. She is a member of the IMPACT Inpatient Health Care team. Ms. Kidd especially advocates for better management of type 2 diabetes through the correct mix of diet, medications and smarter choices.

Linda A. McCauley

PhD, RN, FAAN, FAAOHN

Linda A. McCauley, PhD, RN, FAAN, FAAOHN, began her appointment as Dean of the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing (NHWSN) in 2009. Since then, she has launched a comprehensive strategic plan to position NHWSN at the forefront of nursing research and policy. Under her leadership, the school has risen from its No. 26 ranking in 2011 to its current position as No. 4 in US News and World Report’s “Best Graduate Nursing Schools” guide.

Dean McCauley is a thought leader at the intersection of environmental science and nursing. In 2015, she secured the largest NIH research grant in the school’s history—$5 million to develop The Children’s Environmental Health Center at Emory. Dean McCauley is an advocate for worker’s rights, occupational health, and environmental protections and has been called upon for Capitol Hill testimony regarding these issues. Additionally, she is an active elected member of the National Academy of Medicine (formerly the Institute of Medicine). She is a sought-after expert with features across nationally syndicated outlets such as Time, NPR, The Weather Channel, and Business Week.