Kathleen
Catalano, RN, JD, FHIMSS
Catalano and Finch Compliance Advisors
Kathleen Catalano is a consultant with Catalano and Finch Compliance Advisors.
She specializes in healthcare regulatory compliance with expertise in patient
safety, risk management, The Joint Commission and CMS preparedness, performance
improvement, and American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (“ARRA”) . Ms.
Catalano authors articles to keep the healthcare industry abreast of new
regulations and legislative changes. She is a frequent speaker at national
conferences on subjects such as The Joint Commission, The Joint Commission’s
National Patient Safety Goals, Risk Management (Sentinel Events and FMEA),
pay-for-performance, core measures, ARRA, and the EMR/EHR.
Prior to Catalano and Finch, Ms Catalano was a
consultant at Perot Systems in the Healthcare Consulting Practice.
While with Perot Systems, she focused on the areas of patient
safety, risk management, medical staff and Joint Commission and CMS
preparedness. She enhanced Perot Systems’ client approaches to
managing complex clinical content and regulations.
Before accepting the position at Perot Systems, Ms. Catalano was the Director of
Regulatory Compliance Services at PHNS Inc. In this position, Ms. Catalano
developed and implemented the PHNS Regulatory Compliance, HIPAA, Quality
Management, and Advisory Services Programs. Before PHNS, Ms. Catalano was
Director of Administrative Projects at Children’s Medical Center of Dallas,
where she worked very closely with the medical staff to develop a new
Constitution, Rules and Regulations, and peer review process. She also updated
credentialing policies and procedures. Prior to her arrival at Children’s, Ms.
Catalano was a senior consultant for The Greeley Company and traveled throughout
the United States preparing various healthcare organizations for Joint
Commission Accreditation, CMS Validation, and AAAHC Surveys. Ms. Catalano has
also assisted many healthcare entities with issues such as sentinel events,
root-cause analysis and plans of action, quality improvement, risk management,
and medical staff issues.
Ms. Catalano is a HIMSS Fellow and also serves on the HIMSS National Patient
Safety Quality Outcomes Steering Committee. She has served on the Task Force
for Quality for the Federation of American Health Systems and was a member of
the Joint Commission’s Professional Technical Advisory Committee (PTAC) for
Hospitals. Ms. Catalano is also a frequent speaker at National conferences and
has written numerous articles.
Ms. Catalano has a Juris Doctor degree and a Bachelor of Science degree in law
from the Western State University College of Law, Fullerton, California, and a
Science Degree and Nursing Degree from Riverside City College, Riverside,
California.