Abby Hegstrand, MSN, RN, CPHQ

Abby Hegstrand has been with STARS/ARS since September 2016. She came to the company with her MSN, three years of bedside nursing experience and five years of clinical quality and leadership experience. She was hired into a new position to create and implement the group’s first in-house quality program. Her potential was apparent early on as she utilized her clinical and quality knowledge to tackle the challenge of implementing structure to ensure success in the CMS Quality Payment Program (MIPS). This was her first foray into a private practice environment—and she quickly obtained the trust of the STARS staff and leaders as well as the physician leaders and board. As Abby’s excellent skills and leadership talent became clear, Abby’s scope quickly increased. She received three promotions in five years. 

In her current role as chief operations officer and interim compliance officer, she oversees multiple departments including human resources, coding, credentialing, compliance, practice performance and quality. She provides guidance to the entire organization and physician leaders and has taken on several large challenges such as strategic planning, goal setting and preparing an operational improvement plan for the practice. She has been involved in professional service contract negotiations and creation of dashboards to aid in communication with internal and external stakeholders. She recently worked with STARS leaders to create goals for the subsidiary to align with the overarching corporate goals. She also shares her skill set as an active member of the Great Lakes Chapter of the American College of Healthcare Executives and is a Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality.