About Us
Arizona's Perinatal Quality Collaborative
The Arizona Perinatal Trust, also known as the Arizona Perinatal Regional System, is the state’s CDC-recognized perinatal quality collaborative. Organized in 1980 as a 501(c) (3) nonprofit, the APT aims to improve the health of Arizona’s mothers and infants by improving perinatal health outcomes and targeting health disparities and equitable care through (a) oversight and operation of a voluntary hospital and facilities perinatal certification program (VCP), (b) statewide perinatal data collection, management, and analysis, and (c) educational offerings including an annual interdisciplinary conference. A volunteer professional board of almost 40 expert volunteer physicians, nurses, healthcare executives, and other state representatives provides governance and strategic direction through the Board of Trustees and the Board of Directors and participates in the certification process.
The Arizona Perinatal Regional System fulfills its mission by working in close partnership with numerous community partners and state agencies, including the Arizona Department of Health, Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS), regional health care systems, and other likeminded contributory stakeholders. The Voluntary Certification Program provides an in-depth, continual quality improvement process that ensures hospital/facility capabilities and capacity align with established rigorous guidelines through a self-assessment process and a site visit by a team of expert peer professionals. Approximately 95% of infants delivered in Arizona occur in VCP-certified facilities. Confidential and de-identified perinatal quality data then contributes to the strategic prioritization to address quality gaps.
The VCP program serves as the APT’s primary funding source. Additional sources of funding include the annual perinatal conference, charitable donations, and grant funding, including a 2023 award from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development IMPROVE Initiative: Implementing a Maternal; health and PRegnancy Outcomes Vision for Everyone.
Our Core Values
Collaborative
Working cohesively and synergistically with state and national constituents seeking to improve and sustain perinatal health
Outcomes Improvement
Driving all efforts through data analysis as a foundational objective
Equity and Inclusion
Providing the overarching framework that guides all decision-making and action
Leadership
Facilitating positive change by exemplifying a commitment to service, integrity, and humility beyond self interest
Education
Functioning as a resource of best practice through acquisition, contribution to, and sharing of knowledge
Volunteer Interprofessional Expertise
Providing a unique model for action through a voluntary certification program that values service for the common good
our mission
Our mission is to improve parent and infant health outcomes by promoting quality, safety, equity, and inclusion. The Arizona Perinatal Trust achieves these aims through advocacy, education, collaboration, and certification.
Our Vision
The Arizona Perinatal Trust promotes and facilitates quality health, wellness, and equity for all parents, infants, and families as a regional and national leader.
ACHIEVING OUR OBJECTIVES
- Hospital Certification
- Education
- Advocacy
Volunteer Boards
2024
board of trustees
- Chairman – Robert “BJ” Johnson, MD
- Vice Chairman – Rhonda Anderson, MPA, RN, DNSc, FAAN, FACHE
- Secretary – Richard Jutzi, CPA
Trustees
- Grayson Guzman, MD
- Melissa Day-Johnson
- Nancy Kinnard
- Kathryn L. Reed, MD
- Mark Shwer, MD
- William Sowders, Esq.
- Warren Whitney, MBA
Emeritus
- Michael Clement
- Joe Daily, MD
- Len Kirschner, MD, MPH, FACOG
Consultants
- Laura Luna Belluci, MBA, Chief, Bureau of Women's and Children's Health ADHS
2024
board of directors
- President – Alan Bedrick, MD
- Vice President – Mary Luster, MS-L, RN, NE-BC
- Secretary – Hugh S. Miller, MD
- Treasurer – Sarah Dent, MSN, RNC
Directors
- Teresa Anzar, MSN, RNC-OB
- Georgina “Gina” Barreras, MSN, RN
- Mary “Gina” Connelly, MD
- Curtis Cook, MD
- Dean V. Coonrod, MD, MPH
- Kimberly Couch, FNP, CNM, DNP
- Lynn K. Daugherty, MHA, BSN, RN
- Sarah Dent, MSN, RNC
- Andrea Hassler, RN, MSN
- Jan Hughes, PA
- Shelly Lanagan, MS, WHNP, RNC-OB, C-EFM
- Deb Ledington, MSN, NNP-BC
- Michael MacKinnon, DNP, FNP-C, CRNA
- Beth G. McManis, PhD, CNM, MS, FACNM
- Debra Pace, RN, BSN
- Lori-Ann Satran, MS-L, BSN, RN, ICBLCE
- Lori Throne, MSN, RN, NE-BC
- Kathy Walker, MS, BSN, RN, NEA-BC
Consultants
- Odette Colburn, RN, BSN - ADHS (Licensing)
- Eric Tack, MD, JD, MPH – AHCCCS
- Shadie Tofigh, Director Maternal Infant Health, March of Dimes
- Tina Pattara-Lau, MD, FACOG, LCDR, US Public Health Service