Ms. Gocke has overall responsibility for the Risk Management & Patient Safety department at BETA Healthcare Group. Before joining BETA Healthcare Group in 2009, she was the Manager of Patient Safety and Clinical Risk in the corporate headquarters of a 42 hospital system where she was involved in a variety of system-wide risk management and quality improvement efforts focused on enterprise wide risk management. Ms. Gocke is a certified professional in healthcare risk management, is a registered nurse specialty certified in obstetrics and holds a certificate as a paralegal. She completed her Patient Safety Leadership fellowship in 2009 through the American Hospital Association and serves as Vice President of the National Certification Corporation (NCC) Board, a nurse certification agency. Ms. Gocke earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Healthcare Management and her Masters of Science degree in Patient Safety Leadership at the University of Illinois at Chicago, College of Medicine.

Ms. Sigl is a Risk Management and Employee Safety Specialist at BETA Healthcare Group. At BETA since 2017, she started in the Employee Safety division and was promoted to Executive Administrative Assistant supporting the Vice President of Risk Management and Safety and worked on multiple strategic initiatives and projects. In her current role, she uses her knowledge and education in risk principles, her organizational skills, and project management expertise to advance projects aimed at improving healthcare worker safety. Prior to BETA, she honed her administrative skills at technology and consulting firms. Completing English and Math coursework at Evergreen Valley College, Malinda earned her ARM (Associate in Risk Management) designation from The Institutes.

Jean-Marie Kane comes to BETA with 37 years of clinical experience and insurance experience in managed care. Her clinical experience as a registered nurse includes medical-surgical, operating room, critical care and nursing management. Ms. Kane has specialized in the field of risk management since 1989, having received her education and training at FOJP Service Corporation in New York where she was responsible for the training of risk management professionals and co-authored a web-based educational program for physicians.

Since moving to California, she has provided risk management, licensing, regulatory compliance and patient safety services to general acute care hospitals and introduced risk management best practices such as Just Culture and Executive Leadership Safety Walking Rounds. Ms. Kane is certified in training of communication in the face of adverse events. She has implemented high reliability concepts and provided education on risk and patient safety-related topics. Jean-Marie looks forward to serving our members with the dedication and commitment that are hallmarks of BETA’s risk management and safety team. Jean-Marie may be reached at jean-marie.kane@betahg.com.

Ms. Tarnow joined BETA in 2010, having working in the healthcare field for over 25 years, with the last 19 years being dedicated to Risk Management. In her previous roles as a hospital based risk manager and Director of Risk Management and Patient Safety, Ms. Tarnow was responsible for risk identification, loss prevention, sentinel event management, and development and implementation of reliable systems to promote patient safety throughout an integrated healthcare (acute care hospital, affiliated medical offices, and ambulatory surgery center).

Ms. Tarnow is a past president and current member of the California Association of Healthcare Risk Management (CSHRM). She is also a Certified Professional in Healthcare Risk Management (CPHRM) and completed the Institute of Healthcare Improvement (IHI) Patient Safety Officer training in 2006.

Mr. Stewart is a Registered Nurse and certified professional in healthcare risk management. Prior to joining BETA Healthcare Group, he oversaw the patient safety and clinical risk management programs of the eight VA health systems spanning the Pacific Northwest. Mr. Stewart earned his Master’s degree in nursing (health policy) from the University of California at San Francisco and his law degree with a certificate in health law from the University of Tulsa. He was a 2010-2011 VHA Inc. patient safety fellow and he holds a certificate in clinical bioethics from Loyola University Chicago. Mr. Stewart was the 32nd president of the American Association of Nurse Attorneys and is on faculty for the nursing program at California State University East Bay. He has previously served on the board of directors of the California Society for Healthcare Risk Management and on the editorial review board of the Journal of Healthcare Risk Management.

Mr. Duke brings over 13 years of emergency department experience to BETA. From staff nurse to department manager, he has served in all capacities in the ED at both urban academic settings to smaller community hospitals. Dedicated to patient safety and quality care, Al is a contributor to the development of core competencies in emergency nursing in partnership with the Emergency Nurse Association and published on this work. He has also presented both locally and nationally on TeamSTEPPS, simulation and the use of Lean/Six Sigma strategies.

Al received his Bachelor of Science in Nursing at Loma Linda University and Masters in Business Administration from the University of Phoenix. Additional certifications include: Certified Emergency Nurse, Lean Six Sigma Black Belt and Master TeamSTEPPS Trainer.

Al is located in the Glendale office and is available to answer all clinical inquiries related to the emergency department setting.

Ms. Fritz is a Masters-prepared RN with clinical skills spanning over two decades of service across the continuum of care and possessing a wealth of ergonomics and education experience. She has built successful, data-driven employee safety programs such as Safe Patient Handling and Mobility (SPHM), Slip/Trip/Fall prevention and Ergonomics. Prior to BETA, she served as the California Regional Manager for Injury Prevention and Ergonomics for Providence St. Joseph Health where she was responsible for 11 acute care facilities, additional offsite skilled nursing facilities, and outpatient services departments including clinics, home health and hospice.

Ms. Fritz received her RN from Pierce College in Woodland Hills, CA, her designated Teaching Credential from UCLA, her BSN from Cal State Fullerton, Human Factors Engineering coursework from University of Michigan and her MSN from Walden University in Minnesota. She is an active volunteer with the Cancer Support Community and the Emergency Medical Reserve Corps.

Ms. Matheny brings more than 15 years in the healthcare field to BETA, with the last 6 years being dedicated to Risk Management, Quality Management and Perinatal Patient Safety.

In her previous role as Quality Coordinator for Kaiser Permanente she was a member of the Perinatal Patient Safety Program, lent her expertise to the direction of the Critical Events Training Team (CETT), investigated cases and managed the peer review process across multiple care areas.

Ms. Matheny also spent 12 years at the bedside as a registered nurse and clinical supervisor in Maternal-Infant Care with the majority of her experience garnered in high-risk Labor & Delivery. At California Hospital Medical Center Ms. Matheny led multiple perinatal patient safety initiatives that included training all OB/neonatal areas in crew resource management principles, creating and implementing hospital-wide emergency response protocols and implemented various quality improvement strategies introduced through the Institute for Healthcare Improvement.

A graduate of San Diego State University with a B.A. in Psychology, she also holds a B.S.N. degree from the University of Southern California.

Kathryn Andrews, MPA, has 20 years of healthcare risk and safety experience specializing in strategizing and delivering risk solutions that are based on data trends, current legislation, and research, and is currently a Director, Risk Management and Safety at BETA Healthcare Group. At BETA, she serves as expert risk consultant and Safety Engineer to over 250 healthcare entities insured by BETA Risk Management Authority. She partners with members to advise on the psychological and human factors of healthcare, and strengthen their culture of safety, event and incident management, risk analysis, claims management, and operations in support of their enterprise risk management initiatives.

Prior to BETA, Ms. Andrews led employee safety programs and loss prevention initiatives for large, multi-location hospital, healthcare services, behavioral health, and skilled nursing and rehabilitation care entities to reduce and mitigate staff injuries and workers’ compensation expenses.

She is a graduate of Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania with a B.S. in Safety Management and also holds a Master of Public Administration degree from the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy.

Mrs. Balderrama has been in the healthcare field for more than 16 years and has spent the last 4 years with BETA Healthcare Group as an Employee Safety Manager.

Her prior experience as a Licensed Vocational Nurse working at the bedside in an acute care setting in addition to working in a clinic setting, has given her the background and knowledge to address many different aspects of employee safety.

As a Human Resources Partner, she has also been involved with Workers’ Compensation claims management, accident investigation, policy writing, and program development all with the mindset of keeping employees safe.

A graduate of the University of Phoenix with a B.S. in Healthcare Administration and Management, she also holds a Masters in Healthcare Administration from Colorado State University System. Additional certifications include: Licensed Vocational Nurse (LVN), Certified Ergonomic Evaluation Specialist (CEES), and Just Culture Champion. She holds membership in the American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP), Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), and Professionals in Human Resources Association (PIHRA).

Dr. Leslie Pickett brings to BETA members 26 years of healthcare experience. Her clinical background as a physical therapist includes inpatient care (all areas), out-patient clinical, long and short-term care, and wound care practice. She left clinical practice in 2007 to pursue organizational leadership and program development in Ergonomics and Injury Prevention, working for organizations from 12,000 – 300,000+ employees (Swedish Medical Center Seattle, Providence Strategic Management Group, Amazon.com).
Dr. Pickett’s educational background includes a Clinical Doctorate of Physical Therapy from Rocky Mountain University of Health Professionals with an emphasis in Strategic Management. Additionally, she holds a B.S. in Physical Therapy from University of Washington, and a double B.A. in Psychology and Romance Languages from University of Oregon. She is a Certified Professional Ergonomist (CPE), holds a Lean-Six-Sigma Green Belt and volunteers as an associate editor for the Journal of Ergonomics in Design.

Mr. Kooyman has worked in the workers’ compensation space for more than 16 years and has spent the last year and a half with BETA as an Employee Safety Manager.

Todd has dedicated the past 12 years of his career focused solely on healthcare training our members on workers’ compensation, supervising a 9-person team and working as a Senior Claims Examiner on highly complex litigated claims. He brings a passion for reducing employee injury and is highly attuned to the adverse impact an injury can have on an organization. His vast experience dealing with many types of healthcare-related injuries and the time it takes to recover, fuels his desire to assist our members in their loss control efforts.
Todd has SIP, Just Culture and ARM accreditations and graduated from San Francisco State University with a B.A. in Psychology.