A go-getter and an entrepreneur at heart, Dr. Karu was the Founder of Karu Clinical Trials, Inc., where she served as the CEO.

Notable Achievements

During her time at Arrowhead, Dr. Eshani  Karu MD served as the leader of the team for healthcare accreditation and compliance. In this role, she oversaw fifty different departments and used Lean Six Sigma methodologies to develop and implement corrective action plans for each department, resulting in ARMC’s successful attainment of Joint Commission Accreditation. Dr. Karu also went on to lead the stroke team to similar success, resulting in their attainment of HFAP Stroke Certification without any deficiency. In her role at ARMC, Dr. Karu also made use of her effective interpersonal and negotiation skills, when she acted as a bridge between the California Department of Public Health and ARMC, in developing and implementing action plans to address patient complaints and concerns.

Prior to her time at Arrowhead, Dr. Karu put her leadership skills to use when she served as a policy advisor to Supervisor Hagman in San Bernardino County. During
her time in this role, Dr. Karu became aware of the poor cardiovascular disease outcomes in the county, and organized a health fair to promote education about cardiovascular fitness to the county, and help link the community to health care resources. She conducted fund raising, solicited vendors,procured physicians and local officials to speak at the event, and overcame a last minute power outage to ensure a successful event. Dr. Karu also analyzed legislation and data in this role to provide policy recommendations in telemedicine and emergency medical services, which resulted in the SBC Board of Supervisors development of new policies and laws in telepsychiatry and emergency medical services.

Dr. Karu’s accomplishments in the health care field as a leader are not limited to San Bernardino County. At the beginning of her administrative career, she served as Assistant Clinical Administrator at Kindred Hospital Los Angeles. In this role, she oversaw clinical operations for the entire 81 bed long term acute care hospital . Under her leadership, the hospital was able to develop and implement a program to improve the quality of the care delivered to the patients, notably, a reduction in hospital acquired infections to below national benchmark levels. Dr. Karu was also instrumental in redesigning the dialysis program to improve compliance with Medicare and Joint Commission regulations, resulting in a 10% increase in compliance with pre-procedural informed consent and credentialing. Her work on the dialysis program also helped it to run more efficently, reducing overtime by 20%. Dr. Karu, as a leader, never forgot about the people in the trenches, the employees — needless to say, her work included ensuring that the system met employees safety needs, resulting in a reduction in annual injuries by 17%. As a physician herself, Dr. Karu was an invaluable asset to Kindred Los Angeles in this role — Indeed, during her time there, she was able to interface with physicians such that they improved their interactions with patients, resulting in an increase of 6% in patient satisfaction as measured by the HCAPHS survey.

Dr. Karu has notably served as a leader in administration in the private practice field as well. During her tenure as Practice Administrator of the Family Practice Group of Pomona Valley, she developed and implemented improvements in the processes of daily operations that not only improved patient satisfaction, but also improved profitability. Her focus on providing high quality care to the patients was the key factor that led to increased compliance with regulations such as the HEDIS quality measures, which had been an area of deficiency until she came along. Her ability to understand both the clinical and administrative sides of practice made her an incredible asset in this role, as she was able to come up with changes which would improve patient outcomes and patient satisfaction, and, more importantly, which could be readily implemented , given the difficulties that physicians face in practice.