Verlin Janzen, MD
Medical Director of Population Health and Medical Informatics, Hutchinson Clinic
Dr. Janzen is a family physician recently retired from patient care at the Hutchinson Clinic in Hutchinson, KS but continues in roles as Medical Director over Population Health and Medical Informatics. He also serves as Medical Director of the clinic's laboratory serving approximately 65 physicians, outreach clinics, and local nursing homes. Prior to 2018 he had a full-time family medicine and occupational health practice. Before joining the Hutchinson Clinic, Dr. Janzen practiced for 7 years in a two-physician practice in Nebraska City, NE.
Dr. Janzen's undergraduate training and bachelor's degree was in medical technology. He worked as a medical technologist for 3½ years while studying for a master's degree in laboratory management and administration. His M.D. is from the University of Nebraska Medical Center, and he completed his residency in Family Medicine at St. Joseph's Hospital in Wichita, KS.
Dr Janzen’s role in value-based care, population health and quality came in part with an interest in the changing environment in private-practice medicine and part by necessity as no one else in the group had any such interest. While at an EMR-related conference in 2016 with the Clinic CIO, we first heard about MIPS and MACRA, and CMS plans to change the way medicine in practiced and paid for in the US. Due the time needed for physician leadership over both value-based care strategies and oversight of the clinic’s EMR increased, Dr Janzen transitioned to a full-time administrative role in July 2021. He hopes to retire at the end of 2022.
With his prior training in both laboratory and clinical medicine, he has also been very involved in Physician Office Laboratory issues, and has served on a variety of lab related committees including the CAP Primary Care Lab Practice Committee, the AAFP Proficiency Testing Committee, the AAFP Health Care Services Subcommittee on Laboratory Issues, the CLSI Subcommittee on User Demonstration of Performance, the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Advisory Committee (CLIAC) at the CDC and the COLA Board of Directors. He has served on the Boards of the Nebraska and Kansas Academies of Family Physicians, is a Past-President of the Kansas Academy of Family Physicians and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians.
