(Retired) U.S. Public Health Service
Nurse Consultant and Hospice Program Survey Lead, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS).

Thomas Pryor is a Nurse Consultant and Hospice Program lead for the CMS Division of Continuing Care and Acute Providers (DCACP) within the Quality Safety & Oversight Group (QSOG). In addition to his programmatic and policy oversight responsibilities, Thomas leads the development and implementation of program policies and processes that work to improve the survey process and ultimately improve the quality of care for hospice beneficiaries and their families.

Thomas recently retired as a commissioned nurse officer in the United States Public Health Service with over 20 years of active duty service. Before his assignment with CMS, he served in various leadership roles in support of the Office of the Surgeon General and assignments as a clinical and public health nurse within the Indian Health Services. As a nurse officer, Thomas has had the opportunity to serve on various humanitarian/natural disaster responses both nationally and internationally.  Additionally, he serves as a Board member of MD State Health Occupation Students of America (HOSA), HOSA 100 National Advisory Council, and the University of Phoenix College of Nursing Advisory Council.

Thomas holds a Master’s in Palliative Medicine from the University of Maryland, A Bachelor of Science degree in nursing from Linfield College, and a Bachelor of Science in Business from Oregon State University.

Founder + Managing Partner, TF Analytics

Torrie Fields, MPH, is managing partner of TFAnalytics, a total cost of care and population health management company that enables health plans, purchasers, and delivery systems evaluate the impact of care models and clinical workflows on achieving the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s Triple Aim. She currently serves as strategic advisor to the Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC), the Coalition to Transform Advanced Care (C-TAC), Center for Healthcare Strategies Better Care Playbook, and National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP). Her work includes analysis and development of state and federal policies that improve access to high quality care for people with serious illness and their caregivers. She works with State Medicaid agencies across the country to develop and evaluate care models and benefits and with Federal agencies to incorporate best practices into care model design and implementation. Her work includes the design and implementation of a community based palliative care benefit in California and Hawaii and workforce development projects to improve the lives of people with serious illness and their caregivers in Oregon, New Jersey, and New York. 

An accomplished measurement developer, Fields is a member of the National Quality Forum Core Quality Measures Collaborative (CQMC), a member of the Rand Corporation Technical Expert Panel Medicare Quality Improvement Program and serves as an advisor to the USC Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics. From 2015-2019, Fields served as the chair of the Serious Illness Quality Alignment Hub, focusing on the intersection between accountability and quality measurement for people with serious illness and their caregivers. She currently serves as co-investigator on a New Jersey Cancer Commission on Research (NJCCR) funded project to develop a state palliative care registry for people with cancer and principal on the American Heart Association’s Palliative Care in Heart Failure Initiative. She has also served as co-investigator on a PCORI-funded randomized control trial focused on expanding access to home-based palliative care models through health insurance benefits (2017), mentor to NIA/NIH-funded Pathway to Independence Career Development Award evaluating the clinician perceptions of delivering home-based palliative as a covered benefit (2017), and AHRQ-funded Management practices and quality of care in cardiac units (2012).

Fields holds a master’s degree in public health in health management and policy from Oregon Health and Sciences University, a certificate in gerontology from Portland Community College, a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Portland State University and a bachelor’s degree in communication theory from the University of California, San Diego.

BS, Mechanical Engineering, University of Maryland

MBA, University of Maryland

Masters of International Public Policy, Johns Hopkins SAIS

24 years of engineering research and development, 15 of which in project and program management. 20 years at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, two years civilian government service with the US Army, two years at a small contracting firm in Washington, DC. Primary focus area is technology development for US military and intelligence communities.