Margaret Kirkegaard, MD, MPH
Principal
Health Management Associates
St. Paul, MN
[javascript protected email address]
(312) 641-5007
Dr. Margaret Kirkegaard has extensive front line experience and an impressive breadth of knowledge about health care and its delivery.
A clinician and an educator, Dr. Kirkegaard is uniquely positioned to advise clients on physician engagement in health care reform, medical education, population-based health care delivery and underserved and vulnerable populations. When it comes to medical care integration and the development and transformation of primary care – especially implementation of the patient-centered medical home model – her guidance is rooted in her own real-world experience.
For more than six years, Dr. Kirkegaard served as medical director of a state-wide, start-up primary care case management program for 1.8 million Medicaid clients. She was responsible for network development, physician recruitment and practice transformation to the medical home model for 5,700 primary care providers and 2,300 specialist providers. During her tenure, the program developed multiple clinical quality management tools, a pay-for-performance program, and earned broad provider recognition as a beneficial model while client satisfaction ratings reached over 90 percent.
Prior to her work in Medicaid, Dr. Kirkegaard held several academic positions teaching in both graduate and undergraduate medical education institutions. In 2005, she was selected among nominees from all American medical schools for the National Golden Apple Teaching Award sponsored by the American Medical Student Association.
Dr. Kirkegaard is a board-certified family physician. She received her M.D. from the University of Minnesota and completed her family medicine residency at Hinsdale Family Practice Residency. She has a Master of Public Health with a concentration in health policy and focus on quality improvement.
A third-generation family physician with over 20 years of clinical experience, Dr. Kirkegaard continues to teach medical students and residents and provide clinical care to patients at the Hinsdale Family Medicine Residency. As an advocate for underserved and vulnerable patients, she also has volunteered at a local free clinic serving uninsured patients since 1999.
On the weekends, Margaret likes to get an early start to her days and go bird watching.