Kathleen Catalano, RN, JD, FHIMSS
AORN Works Consultant

Kathleen Catalano specializes in healthcare regulatory compliance with expertise in the 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.

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.