Dr. Pitcher serves as the chief medical officer for Essentia Health, where she leads efforts to enhance quality, patient experience and clinician wellbeing through a holistic approach. With 15 years of experience in primary care for adults, Dr. Pitcher remains dedicated to serving patients as a practicing hospitalist. Previously, she held the role of chief quality and safety officer. Since taking on her current role, Dr. Pitcher has streamlined the medical staff executive committees across Essentia’s hospitals, ensuring consistency in bylaws and regulations crucial for guiding processes such as credentialing and privileging. Her leadership has led to significant improvements in quality measures, including achieving top performance in hypertension control and breast cancer screening. Under her guidance, several Essentia hospitals have earned 5-star ratings from the CMS.
