PITTSBURG, Kan. — Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas Senior Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer Daniel Creitz has been selected to receive the Geiger Gibson Emerging Leaders Award for 2023. The award celebrates young leaders whose specific work has helped better the health of medically underserved patients, communities and special populations.
Candidates for the awards are nominated by their organization’s leadership, and awardees are selected by a committee drawn from the Geiger Gibson Distinguished Visitor Program. In collaboration with the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC), the Geiger Gibson awards are presented during NACHC’s annual Policy and Issues Forum, in Washington, D.C.
“I am incredibly humbled and honored to receive this award and be a part of CHC/SEK,” Creitz said in a press release. “Dr. Geiger and Dr. Gibson laid the foundation for the health center movement, a movement that CHC/SEK helps further every day in communities across Kansas and Oklahoma. It is an incredible mission and purpose, and I am very lucky to be a part of it."
Creitz became the first attorney employed by a health center in Kansas. He has reorganized more than 1,000 contracts, navigated a 300-plus page application for a USDA loan for clinic construction and singlehandedly managed the legal transition of six Mercy clinics to CHCSEK in less than 90 days.
“It was, he said at the interview, his dream job and set about demonstrating his value,” CHCSEK CEO Krista Postai said. “And that’s exactly what he’s done.”
Creitz now oversees CHCSEK’s risk management program, population health program, health information program, credentialing and contracting program, and pharmacy program, which includes six in-house pharmacies, plus 49 contract pharmacies. He has partnered with Washburn School of Law to create a first-of-its-kind medical/legal training experience that has benefited 12 students and hundreds of patients thus far. Building on this program’s success, he is now working with other Kansas health centers to provide FQHC-knowledgeable legal resources they can afford.
At the same time, he has laid the groundwork with local judges for a Drug Court as an alternative to imprisonment for non-violent drug-related crimes.
Creitz helped create two CHCSEK subsidiaries, including Building Health, Inc., devoted to the social determinants of health and serves as its president. CHCSEK’s newly-incorporated foundation, Inspire Health, Inc., is devoted to encouraging low-income students to consider professional careers in healthcare and law — both of which there is a shortage.
As CHCSEK ventured into more advanced diagnostics (mammography and CT scanning), he was instrumental in completing the accreditation process, which required creating multiple policies and protocols.
“I am so appreciative of what our leadership team and staff do every day for our patients and communities,” Creitz said. “While I am receiving this award, it is an award for all of us and a recognition of CHC/SEK’s mission to do all the good we can. Thank you to my family, friends, staff, and leadership team for their love and support. I am extremely blessed.”
Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas, Inc. (CHCSEK) based in Pittsburg, Kansas, provides medical, dental, behavioral health, pharmacy, care management, and support services with 15 sites in seven southeast Kansas and northeast Oklahoma counties.
