Nicole Willis: Chief Executive Officer
Chicago, IL– Health care leader Nicole Willis has been promoted to Chief Executive Officer of Heartland Health Centers (HHC), a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) with 18 locations serving Chicago’s north side and nearby suburbs. In addition to serving as HHC’s Interim CEO, Willis has over 20 years of experience in the health care industry in a variety of clinical and operations roles in both large academic and community-based health care organizations.
Since being named Interim CEO in 2020, Willis has successfully led HHC through the COVID-19 pandemic. Under her leadership, she implemented remote patient care services, providing 65% of patient visits via telehealth, which is double the average for local and national FQHCs. She also executed drive-thru and community COVID testing services to meet the needs of health center patients and others within HHC’s service area, and maintained 95% of pre-pandemic patient volumes compared to other Illinois FQHCs.
Willis joined Heartland Health Centers in 2018 as Director of Community Health Centers and became Vice President of Operations in 2019. Her clinical background is in respiratory care with a focus on population health and respiratory disease management.
Heartland Health Centers (HHC) improves the well-being of the communities it serves by providing accessible, high quality healthcare. In 2019, HHC provided more than 27,000 patients with affordable and comprehensive primary care, oral health care, and behavioral health care services. As a medical home, HHC ensures comprehensive, affordable, quality, safe, and coordinated health care that is culturally competent and oriented to addressing all the health care needs of each patient.
