Bio: Derek Feeley, a 2005-06 Commonwealth Fund Harkness Fellow in Health Care Policy, is head of National Planning for the National Health Service (NHS) in Scotland. Feeley is a career civil servant with a varied background in policy analysis. In previous posts he has provided advice to ministers on issues as diverse as local government finance and fisheries, as well as his professional area of expertise, which is human resource management. From 2002 to 2004, he spent two years as principal private secretary to Scotland's First Minister, where he acted as chief of staff in the First Minister's Office and provided advice on key issues. Feeley is a business graduate from the University of Strathclyde.
Placement: Kaiser Permanente
Mentors: Paul Wallace, M.D.; Jonathan Perlin, M.D., Ph.D., MSHA, FACP; Robert Crane
Project: Developing Health Services fit for 2020--Improving the Management of Complexity in Chronic Disease
Description: Derek Feeley explored questions surrounding care for patients with complex chronic disease, including what determines high utilization, what best practices can be applied, and how health care systems need to evolve to better meet their needs. He conducted case studies at two organizations (Kaiser Permanente and the Veterans Health Administration) undertaking systematic approaches to chronic disease management, where he interviewed managers, clinicians, and researchers.