Owens to serve as Phoebe Health System chief quality officer

ALBANY – The medical director of neonatology at Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital is taking on a new role to help oversee quality improvement throughout Phoebe Putney Health System. Dr. Jack Owens has been appointed chief quality officer for PPHS. He already serves as chief medical quality officer for Phoebe Physician Group.

“I have a passion for quality improvement and for making sure we are doing all we can to offer each one of our patients the quality of care they deserve,” Owens said. “I am happy to take on this additional role to help our outstanding quality improvement team find new ways to serve our patients even better.”

Before joining Phoebe, Owens served as a medical director and neonatologist in Mississippi. He graduated from Emory University School of Medicine, completed a pediatric residency and a neonatal-perinatal fellowship at the University of Alabama-Birmingham and earned a master of public health degree in epidemiology from the University of Alabama.

“We are fortunate to have a physician with Dr. Owens’ level of expertise, experience and commitment to quality improvement as part of our team,” Dr. Steve Kitchen, Phoebe’s Chief Medical Officer, said. “Dr. Owens has already had a major impact on quality improvement measures at Phoebe, and his new responsibilities will extend his service to our patients as a champion for quality care.”

Through Owens’ leadership, the Phoebe Neonatal Intensive Care Unit joined – at the highest level – the Vermont Oxford Network, a collaboration of health care professionals from top NICUs around the world who share data and work together on research projects and education designed to improve quality care and outcomes for NICU babies.

“Dr. Owens has been instrumental in the excellence our NICU has achieved across a wide spectrum of quality measures,” Kitchen said. “He has shown great leadership in the NICU and by revamping our PPG Quality Council, and we believe he will lead our entire health system to similar quality improvement results.”

In his new role, and under the direction of the Chief Medical Officer, Owens will oversee quality improvement and patient safety initiatives, including the formation, implementation and monitoring of all quality and patient safety activities for PPHS. His duties will include optimizing the methodology of continuous quality improvement to help achieve specific departmental and institutional quality and patient safety goals and ensure they align with the overarching goals of the health system.