AHA Honors Two Federal Health Care Leaders

WASHINGTON (April 26, 2022) – The American Hospital Association (AHA) today presented two federal hospital leaders with awards recognizing their outstanding service to the health care field. These awards recognize uniformed and non-uniformed federal health care leaders who have distinguished themselves through singularly significant or innovative achievements and leadership that have contributed substantially to the mission of the federal health system. The awardees were honored at the AHA’s 2022 Annual Membership Meeting.

“The women and men of our federal health systems make significant innovative contributions to our field by advancing care to better serve their patients’ needs,” said Rick Pollack, AHA president and CEO. “It’s our honor to recognize Colonel Kathy Naylor and Barbara Moidel for their demonstrated leadership, continued resilience and devoted service to their patients and communities.”

2021 Award for Excellence – Colonel Kathy A. Naylor, chief, Air Force Medical Service Transition Cell, United States Air Force, Falls Church, Va.

Colonel Naylor leads the Air Force Medical Service (AFMS) Transition Cell, charged with the smooth and seamless handoff of the health care delivery benefit from the Air Force (AF) to the Defense Health Agency (DHA). This transformation is arguably the largest and most significant organizational change in the history of the Military Health System, affecting 9.6 million under the authority of DHA and is paramount to the well-being and safety of patients under the principles of a high reliable organization. Colonel Naylor is the architect of continued direct support through agreements between AF and DHA as seven remaining functions mature to full operations. Under her guidance, the AF and DHA will agree when it can safely terminate direct support in these areas, to include patient safety and clinical quality/risk management, to assure gaps are resolved.

Prior to leading the Transition Cell, Colonel Naylor led the AF’s Medical Operations Center housed in the Pentagon, a 24/7 communication and operational node for the AFMS. She orchestrated takings for 4,504 deployable medical modules comprised of 46,688 Airmen to fill global requirements. In 2021, as the COVID pandemic surged on, Colonel Naylor’s team led 23,000 deployments and $116 million in CARES Act funding, serving 16 civilian hospitals across five states and 68 million people. Six hundred fifty-five AF medics provided welcome relief and assistance to overwhelmed hospital systems and ensured vaccines were put in arms.

2021 Special Achievement Award – Barbara I. Moidel, program manager for Healthcare Resolutions (retired 12/21), Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Defense Health Agency, Falls Church, Va.

Ms. Moidel was directly responsible for championing, designing and implementing the Healthcare Resolutions Program for the Military Health System. The Healthcare Resolutions Program was the first of its kind in any military hospital. The primary focus and responsibility of this program is to resolve complex health care issues that often arise between patients and providers following unanticipated/adverse outcomes of care in a neutral, non-legal venue, emphasizing full transparency/disclosure, fair and equitable resolution options for patients, providers and organizations, as well as peer support for involved providers. Under her leadership, the program expanded to 17 military treatment facilities worldwide, extending services globally to all military medicine providers and beneficiaries.

Ms. Moidel also designed and disseminated disclosure training for providers throughout military medicine in compliance with The Joint Commission standards, American Medical Association Code of Ethics, state apology laws and federal regulations regarding quality assurance documents. In addition, Ms. Moidel was one of the primary authors of the Defense Health Agency Procedural Instruction for Healthcare Resolutions, signed in 2019. She designed the training manual and operating protocols for all special assistants for healthcare resolutions. Ms. Moidel was able to receive endorsement of Healthcare Resolutions and Peer Support services for providers involved in adverse medical events at the highest levels of the Defense Health Agency (DHA) and Department of Defense Health Affairs Legal.

In 2021, Ms. Moidel and Healthcare Resolutions sponsored a peer support webinar for military medicine providers worldwide, led by one of the premier physician leaders in Peer Support in the country. Through Ms. Moidel's collaboration with the Defense Health Agency, Healthcare Resolutions was recently incorporated into the DHA organizational chart, with direct reporting responsibilities to the chief medical officer and director.

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Contact:      Marie Johnson, (202) 626-2351 mjohnson@aha.org
                    Colin Milligan, (202) 638-5491 cmilligan@aha.org