Advocacy and Health Policy
General Division E-Mail Address: ahp@facs.org
Medical Director
Don Detmer, MD, MA, FACS
Division of Advocacy and Health Policy
20 F Street, NW
Suite 1000
Washington, DC 20001
Phone: 202-337-2701
Fax: 202-337-4271
E-Mail: ddetmer@facs.org
Division Director
Christian Shalgian
Phone: 202-337-2701
Fax: 202-337-4271
E-Mail: cshalgian@facs.org
Advocacy and Health Policy Staff
| Staff | Issues/Responsibilities |
D’Arcey Johnson |
Washington Office Administrator including liaison for accounting services; IT; building facilities and vendors; budget preparation and division web page updates. Assistant to Director, Division of Advocacy and Health Policy. ACSPA-SurgeonsPAC Administrator. |
| Kelly Wilkins Staff Assistant Phone: 202-337-2701 E-Mail: kwilkins@facs.org |
Receptionist and staff support. |
| Regulatory Affairs Staff | Issues/Responsibilities |
| Bob Jasak Assistant Director for Regulatory Affairs and Quality Improvement Programs Phone: 202-337-2701 E-Mail: bjasak@facs.org |
Medicare physician payment and coverage, regulatory and quality issues, ambulatory and outpatient surgery, General Surgery Coding and Reimbursement Committee and AMA/RUC activities. |
| Vinita M. Ollapally, JD Senior Regulatory Associate E-Mail: vollapally@facs.org Phone: 202-672-1510 |
Privacy Federal regulatory matters, including Medicare, HIPAA, EMTALA, graduate medical education, OIG issues, physician self-referral issues. |
| Jenny Jackson Practice Affairs Associate E-Mail: jjackson@facs.org Phone: 202-672-1506 |
Liaison with: CPT editorial panel, AMA RUC, E&M documentation guidelines, Assistants at Surgery (payment policies), HIPAA-transaction information, socioeconomic tips, CPT Coding/Practice Management workshops and consultants, CPT hotline. |
| Jill Shelly Senior Quality Programs Associate E-Mail: jshelly@facs.org Phone: 202-672-1507 |
Representation with national groups such as JACHO, NQF, Leapfrog, AHA, AHRQ, surgical groups, industry (innovations). Manages the Surgical Quality Alliance (SQA). |
| Sana Gokak Quality Associate E-Mail: sgokak@facs.org Phone: 202-672-1517 |
Assists in monitoring federal and private sector quality initiatives affecting the practice of surgery, PQRI, e-Prescribing incentives and surgical patient experience of care survey. |
| Sarah Kurusz Regulatory and Quality Assistant Phone: 202-672-1505 E-Mail: skurusz@facs.org |
Provides administrative support to Regulatory and Quality Team in Washington, DC office. |
| Legislative Affairs Staff | Issues/Responsibilities |
Kristen V. Hedstrom, MPH |
Directs implementation of federal legislative, grassroots and political strategies that advance the College’s priorities including Medicare reimbursement, workforce, HIT and scope or practice. |
| Matt Coffron Government Affairs Associate Phone: 202-672-1516 E-Mail: mcoffron@facs.org |
Lobbies House Energy and Commerce (E&C), Senate Appropriations, and Senate Commerce Committees. |
| Shawn Friesen Government Affairs Associate Phone: 202-672-1502 E-Mail: sfriesen@facs.org |
Lobbies House Ways and Means (W&M) and Senate Finance Committees. |
| Kristin McDonald Government Affairs Associate Phone: 202-672-1509 E-Mail: kmcdonald@facs.org |
Lobbies Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) and House Appropriations Committees. |
| Sara Morse Manager of Political Affairs Phone: 202-672-1520 E-Mail: smorse@facs.org; ACSPA-SurgeonsPAC related e-mail to: acspa@facs.org |
ACSPA-SurgeonsPAC and political grassroots programs. |
| Catharine Harris Legislative Assistant Phone: 202-672-1511 E-Mail: charris@facs.org |
Legislative and Grassroots support, including the ACS Legislative Action Center. |
| State Affairs Staff | Issues/Responsibilities |
| Jon H. Sutton Manager, State Affairs Phone: 312-202-5358 (Chicago office) E-Mail: jsutton@facs.org |
State legislation and policy, state legislative action center, AMA House of Delegates and surgical caucus, AMA young physicians, health policy scholars, and scope of practice partnership. |
| Charlotte Grill State Affairs Associate Phone: 312-202-5363 (Chicago office) E-Mail: cgrill@facs.org |
State health policy/legislation tracking, state-level advocacy strategy development and training/workshops, STAR program, NCSL, and state-level trauma advocacy. |
Alexis Macias |
State legislative advocacy focus on Indiana, Iowa, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin; state-level advocacy strategy development and training/workshops; chapter advocacy development; state advocacy event planning and assistance; state trauma advocacy; and NCSL. |
Revised November 3, 2011