​September 10, 2015

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Christine Callahan, RN, MBA, Senior Risk Management Analyst and Clinical Advisor

Christine Callahan has worked with ECRI Institute for more than 10 years, most recently in a consultant capacity to ECRI's risk management, quality, and patient safety programs. Over the past few years, Chris has developed and presented webinars for HRSA grantees on test tracking and follow-up, managing short-term disruptions in care, and patient triage and she has reviewed risk management toolkits and other materials for dissemination on the Clinical Risk Management Program website. She has over 20 years of experience in health center daily operations for both primary care and specialty providers. Chris' past work experience includes Assistant Director of Operations in a federally qualified health center in the New England area and Director of Ambulatory Nursing for a large managed care organization in southern California serving 100,000 members in 17 health centers. More recently Chris works performing clinic assessments at both clinics and health centers where she targets areas where staff can improve operational efficiency, clinical, and risk management issues at the frontline level.

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Jennifer Comerford, MJ, OTR/L, CHC

Jennifer Comerford joined ECRI Institute as a Risk Management Analyst in 2015. Jennifer is a licensed occupational therapist in New Jersey and Pennsylvania with 15+ years' experience in a variety of settings including inpatient rehabilitation, schools, home care, and subacute/long-term care. Immediately prior to joining ECRI Institute, Jennifer served as an independent consultant providing compliance analysis, research and writing, accreditation survey support, and web-based education to small and mid-size healthcare organizations. She also led a rehabilitation team for Moorestown Visiting Nurses and Hospice in southern New Jersey for several years and has written medical policy for Independence Blue Cross. Jennifer received her undergraduate degree from Thomas Jefferson University and her Master of Jurisprudence with a concentration in Regulatory Analysis from Widener University School of Law; she is also a certified Health Care Compliance Professional.

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Jean Harpel, MSN, RN, GCNS-BC, CPASRM

Jean Harpel joined ECRI Institute's Patient Safety Risk and Quality Group in 2013, and she's presently a member of the Aging Services team where she provides environment-of-care safety and security, quality, and risk management consultation to aging services/post-acute care providers. She has also served as a consultant and educator with Michigan Hospital Association and the Michigan Hospital Engagement Network (HEN) as part of a multi-year contract with ECRI Institute and, in 2014, worked on health information technology (HIT) focusing on a project facilitating the identification of safety risks associated with HIT in hospitals and ambulatory practices. She provides education on an array of topics, most recently conducting a root-cause analysis workshop for the aging services provider members. Jean is a certified geriatric clinical nurse specialist and she received her MSN from Gwynedd Mercy University in Gwynedd Valley, Pennsylvania. She has worked in a variety of capacities in healthcare, acute care, and long-term care settings.

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Mary Beth Mitchell, MSN, RN, CPHQ, CCM, SSBB, patient safety analyst/consultant, ECRI Institute

Mary Beth Mitchell has over 25 years of experience in nursing, nursing leadership, quality improvement, case management, and managed care. Mary Beth joined ECRI Institute's Patient Safety, Risk, and Quality Group as a Patient Safety Analyst in 2013. She works under ECRI Institute's Patient Safety Organization (PSO) as a project manager as well as performing risk assessments, analyzing event data, and developing various resources for clients. Before coming to ECRI Institute, Mary Beth practiced as the Director of Quality at Mercy Suburban Hospital where she developed and implemented evidenced-based standards of care for which the hospital attained Joint Commission top 10% for Core Measure Compliance. She has held previous roles as Director of Case Management, Cardiovascular Service Line Manager, and Nurse Manager for Open Heart and Trauma.

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Lorraine Possanza, DPM, JD, MBE, patient safety, risk, and quality analyst, ECRI Institute

Lorraine Possanza joined ECRI Institute as a Patient Safety, Risk, and Quality Analyst in 2013. She supports the HRSA program and serves as a project manager for the pilot Partnership for Promoting Health IT Patient Safety. Lorraine is a board-certified podiatrist who has served on the staff of a number of hospitals, surgical centers, and nursing facilities and provided care in the Veteran's Affairs Hospital system. Lorraine attained her law degree while working full-time in her podiatry practice. She has also served as the Director of Risk Management at a 400-bed teaching hospital and has practiced law, defending physicians and hospitals in professional liability actions and working in a regulatory and transactional health law practice focusing on Stark, Anti-kickback, HIPAA, and HITECH issues. She is admitted to practice in Pennsylvania and before the United States Patent and Trademark Office and maintains an active podiatric medical license in Pennsylvania. Additionally, Lorraine holds a Master of Bioethics (MBE) from the University of Pennsylvania, with interests in clinical ethics mediation and end-of-life care.

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​Patricia Stahura, senior patient safety analyst and consultant, ECRI Institute

Patricia Stahura is a registered nurse with a Master's degree in Nursing of Adults and a Post Master's degree in Nursing Informatics. She has over 30 years of healthcare experience with 15 years in senior management for complex corporate health systems. For 10 years, she had the opportunity to lead accreditation, clinical quality, and patient safety initiatives for hospitals, nursing homes, assisted living, ambulatory and dental centers. She created strategic quality direction, measured improvements and ensured improvements were sustained. Pat is a member of several professional organizations including the National Patient Safety Foundation (NPSF), American Society of Professionals in Patient Safety, Association of Professionals in Infection Control, National Association of Healthcare Quality, and American Society for Quality. Pat achieved a Six Sigma Greenbelt and has been an ASQ Judge for the International Team Excellence Award. As a member of the American Society for Healthcare Risk Management (ASHRM), she has served on the Professional Technical Advisory Committee and was the representative to the Joint Commission.  She served as Adjunct Professor of Nursing at Barry University (Miami Shores, Florida) and achieved certifications as a Medical Surgical Nurse and Certified Rehabilitation Registered Nurse.

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