Senior Consultants:
Kenneth Busch, MD
Physician Consultant
Kenneth G. Busch, MD, is a board-certified Chicago psychiatrist. He is a graduate of Indiana University School of Medicine, and completed his internship at Evanston Hospital and his residency at the Northwestern Institute of Psychiatry. Dr. Busch worked as a Federal Surveyor for CMS in hospitals for 20 years from 1987 to 2007. He surveyed about 500 hospitals coast to coast during that time.
James Cernilia, MD
Physician Consultant
Dr. Cernilia surveyed nationally for The Joint Commission for six years previous to his affiliation with Patton Healthcare Consulting in 2012. In his role at The Joint Commission, Dr. Cernilia was certified under the hospital accreditation program. He functioned as team leader for on-site triennial surveys, performed innumerable on-site periodic performance reviews (PPRs) for hospitals, and was part of the corporate team leader cadre at The Joint Commission.
Fred Fehlinger, RN, PHRN, EMTP
Nurse Consultant
Fred Fehlinger is an RN consultant for survey preparedness, on-site support and remediation for hospital, ambulatory healthcare, critical access hospital, long term care and addiction/substance use programs under The Joint Commission, CMS, DNV and specific State programs. Mr. Fehlinger also has years of expertise in quality, patient safety, infection control, case management, environment of care, emergency preparedness, medical staff, provision of care, patients’ rights, organizational leadership and process improvement…
Kathleen Good, MSN, RN
Nurse Consultant
Prior to joining Patton Healthcare Consulting, Inc. Ms. Good worked at The Joint Commission for over 17 years. Throughout her career at The Joint Commission, she held such key positions as Surveyor for the Hospital and Home Care Accreditation Programs, Field Director for Surveyor Management and Development, and was a surveyor designee on the Surveyor Advisory Committee. In addition, Ms. Good has served as a content expert reviewer for Joint Commission’s Publications…
Elise Gropper, PhD, RN, CPHQ, NEA-BC
Nurse Consultant
Elise Gropper specializes in the areas of Joint Commission accreditation, CMS regulatory compliance, ANCC Magnet Recognition Program®, CARF accreditation, staff development, performance improvement, and patient care redesign. Elise Gropper has served as a consultant to hospitals, behavioral health organizations, home health agencies, long-term care facilities, ambulatory care centers, surgi-centers and physician offices since 1995.
Mark Halal, LCSW
Clinical Consultant
Mark Halal, LCSW has provided behavioral healthcare consulting support nationwide to psychiatric hospitals, addictions and behavioral health organizations seeking to achieve and maintain Joint Commission accreditation and CMS compliance. As a consultant, Mr. Halal conducts training, gap analysis, and mock surveys for his clients and provides them with hands-on direction and technical assistance pertaining to Joint Commission survey processes, compliance, and standards on quality and safety.
Missi Halvorsen, RN, MSN
Nurse Consultant
Ms. Halvorsen joins Patton Healthcare Consulting with more than 35 years of extensive healthcare industry experience serving in leadership and consultative roles. Missi began her RN career as Director of Nursing in both the Home Health Care and Pharmacy industries. After a successful decade of holding that position, she took on the role of Director of Corporate Compliance and Privacy at Baptist Health in Jacksonville, Florida for 20 years.
Nancy Kendrick, RN, MS
Nurse Consultant
Nancy has as extensive background and career in nursing through progressive education from an Associate’s Degree in Nursing, Bachelor of Nursing Science to a Masters Degree in Health Care Administration. Her work history includes hospitals, community health centers, and occupational health in the manufacturing industry, home care and accreditation organizations.
Gloria Legere, RN, MS, JD, CPHQ
Nurse Consultant
Gloria Legere is a hospital accreditation and patient safety consultant. Gloria has been a member of the Patton Healthcare Consulting team since 2012. Her focus is assisting clients to develop practical, long term strategies for continuous readiness with Joint Commission, CMS and AAAHC compliance. Previously, she was a consultant with the Greeley Company where she also provided accreditation and patient safety expertise.
Andy Morley, MD, FAAFP
Physician Consultant
Before joining Patton Healthcare Consulting, Inc., Dr. Morley was a Joint Commission Physician Surveyor for 9 years, leaving TJC in 2019. Dr. Morley has expertise in surveying hospitals, critical access, DoD, VA, and Primary Care medical facilities. During his tenure at TJC, he participated in the development of and teaching in the new training program for new surveyors as well as serving on the editorial board for the Leading Practice Library. Dr, Morley served as Team leader for many large healthcare systems including Mayo Clinic and HCA.
Andre Perlo, RRT, MBA
Clinical Consultant
Andre Perlo is a Registered Respiratory Therapist, licensed to practice in the state of Florida. He entered the field of Respiratory Care in 1973 following his graduation from the University of Massachusetts at Boston. He became registered and certified by the NBRC in 1974. His Respiratory Care experience started as a staff therapist in a community hospital and ended as director of Respiratory Care for a 600-bed regional institution. In 1981, following a successful career within the hospital setting, he entered the home care arena, never to look back.
Paul Vilar, MSN, RN
Nurse Consultant
Paul Vilar joined the Aurora Health Care System in 2007 as a Registered Nurse. He holds a Master’s Degree in Nursing, Clinical Nurse Specialist tract, from the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. Over the last 3 years, he has served as the Stroke Program Manager at Aurora St. Luke’s Medical Center (ASLMC), a 600+ bed Comprehensive Stroke Certified medical center in Milwaukee Wisconsin.
Debra Zak, PhD, RN, LAc
Nurse Consultant
Dr. Zak has more than 35 years of extensive experience in the health care industry with a successful record of increasing responsibility in various healthcare settings. Her experience spans from clinical and consultant experience in hospitals and home care organizations to progressive leadership experience at The Joint Commission related to accreditation products, programs, standards and survey processes.
Senior Leadership:
Les Cowel, MBA
Chief Financial Officer
Les Cowel joined Patton Healthcare Consulting, Inc. in 2015 as the organization’s Business Director and in 2019 became the Chief Financial Officer. In his current position at Patton, Les is responsible for every financial aspect of the business. This is including, but not limited to, employee and contractor payroll, yearly and quarterly taxes, business banking, overseeing fiscal activity, assuring legal and regulatory financial compliance, accounts receivable, and accounts payable, and all other general bookkeeping.
Christi Chavez, MBA
Director of Operations
Christi Chavez joined Patton Healthcare Consulting in 2019 as Director of Operations. She brings nearly fifteen years of healthcare, Joint Commission and CMS accreditation and regulatory readiness experience. Serving as the Accreditation Manager for Rush University Medical Center in Chicago for over four years, she was responsible for Joint Commission and CMS regulatory compliance, readiness rounds, and working with process owners to ensure patient safety and compliance were achieved.
Lauren Donaldson
Administrative Director
Lauren Donaldson joined Patton Healthcare Consulting in 2016 as the Marketing and Operations Manager and in 2019 she took on the role of Administrative Director. In her position at Patton, Lauren is responsible for, but not limited to, drafting onsite and offsite agendas, preparing final report files, website design, creating and revising files in a database of tools, composing Patton Blog posts, and designing and publishing the Patton Post Newsletter.