Laura Johnson, Nurse Practitioner in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Flagstaff Medical Center (FMC), and Jason Litzinger, Nurse Practitioner at Northern Arizona Healthcare (NAH) Medical Group Camp Verde campus, have been named NAH’s 2022 Advanced Practice Providers of the Year. Johnson and Litzinger are both recognized for their amazing attitude, respect for colleagues and for the skilled, compassionate care provided to patients.
This is the fourth year NAH is recognizing advanced practice providers. The recipients are nominated by colleagues and must exemplify the NAH values of doing amazing work, showing compassion, being better together, building community, and respecting differences. The award aims to select providers who not only excel at patient care, but who go above and beyond in patient safety and quality, and who are engaged members of the community.
“Laura and Jason are invaluable to the NAH teams in Flagstaff and Verde Valley,” said Josh Tinkle, acting CEO of NAH. “They give exceptional care, show compassion for patients and families, are dedicated to the task at hand, and we are pleased to honor them with this award.”
Johnson began her nursing career in 2004 at Saint Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix. She worked as a licensed practical nurse in the cardiac telemetry unit until she obtained her registered nursing degree later that year. She also worked as a RN Case Manager at Hospice of the Valley before she began travel nursing in 2012. She traveled to Kansas City and worked in the cardiovascular intensive care unit at North Kansas City Hospital before coming to FMC in 2013. Johnson earned her master’s degree in Advanced Practice Nursing from the University of South Alabama in 2016. In 2017, she was accepted into the Nurse Practitioner and Physician Assistant Post-Graduate Residency Program at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta. She served as a nurse practitioner intensivist in the surgical and liver transplant ICU at Emory before deciding to return to FMC at the end of 2019.
Litzinger is a board-certified family nurse practitioner who specializes in family medicine, including newborn and geriatric patients, and has extended experience with the veteran population. Litzinger also works as a provider informatics consultant at NAH, which focuses on diverse interactions with providers to streamline processes to increase efficiency and promote provider satisfaction. He earned his Doctor of Nursing Practice at Aspen University in Phoenix; his master’s degree in nursing and his family nurse practitioner license at Chamberlain College of Nursing in Downers Grove, Ill.; his bachelor’s degree in nursing at Slippery Rock University in Butler County, Pa.; and his Associate’s degree in nursing at the Community College of Allegheny County in Pittsburgh. He is a member of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners. He has been in the health care field since 2004. Litzinger believes in actively listening to each patient so he can utilize his knowledge and collaborate with the patient to create a plan of care together.