Ballad Health Medical Associates (BHMA) has announced several leadership changes, shifting some of the roles and duties among its current leaders.
KJ Gulson, MBA, has been promoted to the role of vice president, value-based strategy and innovation for Ballad Health Medical Associates, and Christy Gordon, MBA, has been promoted to assistant vice president, BHMA operations. Jessica Halsey, MBA, assistant vice president for BHMA operations, has added responsibilities as leader of the Ballad Health Neurosciences Service Line while maintaining her current duties.
All three leaders assumed their new duties in January.
KJ Gulson
Gulson has served as assistant vice president for BHMA operations since the formation of Ballad Health in 2018. In her new role, she will oversee strategic initiatives optimizing quality patient care as it relates to value-based agreements. She will work across all service lines, collaborating with various Ballad Health leaders to make sure the continuum of care is maintained, and effective standards of work are developed and implemented to optimize the care of our patients.
Gulson has been with the organization for nearly 16 years, serving as practice director, administrator and corporate director before stepping into the BHMA operations AVP role.
She was recognized as a Healthcare Hero by the Business Journal in 2018, based on her leadership in a project aimed at reducing opioid prescriptions in Ballad Health’s primary care practices. Gulson was also honored as part of the 40 Under Forty Class of 2020 by the Tri-Cities Business Journal.
She is a graduate of East Tennessee State University and earned her Master of Business Administration at Milligan University.
In her new role, she will report to Dr. Mark Patterson, president of Ballad Health Medical Associates.
Christy Gordon
Gordon has served as regional director for the Southeast (now part of the Southern Market) and Northwest markets since 2012, first with Mountain States Medical Group before the creation of BHMA, and served in leadership roles prior to that as a practice administrator, site supervisor and program coordinator. She began in 1998 as a collection supervisor, so she brings more than 23 years of experience to her new position.
Gordon is a graduate of Tusculum University and earned her Master of Business Administration from Milligan University.
In her assistant vice president of operations role, she will oversee primary care, pediatrics, urgent care, occupational medicine, business health and endocrinology. She will report to Chase Wilson, BHMA chief operating officer.
Jessica Halsey
Halsey will serve as administrative leader overseeing all aspects of the Neurosciences Service Line for Ballad Health, in addition to retaining her current duties overseeing a range of BHMA services. She will develop and implement strategy for the service line, work with each Ballad Health market to coordinate services and work to grow neurosciences.
Halsey has 30 years of experience in the field. She has been with our organization since 2013, serving as AVP of operations and overseeing day-to-day operations management for orthopedic, neurology, trauma, general surgery, gastroenterology, urology and pain management practices. Her experience prior to that includes 22 years in administration and business management at several area medical practices. She also spent time as a radiographer assistant at Smyth County Community Hospital.
She graduated from Old Dominion University and earned her Master of Business Administration at ODU, as well.
