March 31, 2022 • 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM ET

Prior to founding Health Design Plus in 1988, Ruth Coleman experienced patient care from the bedside to the C-Suite, including hospital and health plan operations, education, and marketing. Coleman used this breadth of knowledge to create a full-service Third Party Administrator (TPA) providing highly effective management for employer sponsored health benefit plans.

Recently retiring as CEO, Coleman established Health Design Plus – now Contigo Health – to deliver value to clients through emphasizing right care, right place, right time, right price. She created and managed direct employer – provider relationships, including full replacement direct contracted networks for employers as early as 1989 founded on documented quality and shared risk. She contracted bundled rates with specialty providers as early as 1992 and has extensive experience bringing employers and providers together in partnerships that meet the “quadruple aim.” Under her leadership Health Design Plus became the national leader for Centers of Excellence, serving organizations such as Walmart, Lowe’s, McKesson, and Boeing Corporation. Programs include traveling patients to carefully selected medical centers for heart surgery, spine evaluation and surgery, bariatric surgery, joint replacements, transplants and cancer evaluation and treatment.

As Principal of ValTrans Health she consults with healthcare organizations – both health systems and payors – on executing value-based care, productizing direct employer relationships, and creating value-based transformation. She is co-author of Harvard Business Review articles on Employer direct purchasing of healthcare for their employees, published in June 2017 (“Why GE, Boeing, Lowe’s and Walmart are Directly Buying Healthcare for Employees”), and March 2019 (“The Big Idea: Transforming Healthcare”).

Under her direction, Health Design Plus was named to the prestigious Inc. 500, as well as the Weatherhead 100 for eleven consecutive years. She was named one of the Top Ten Women Business Owners in Northeast Ohio, and currently serves on the Board of Trustees for Aequum, and the STEM Advisory Committee for Girl Scouts of NE Ohio. She was named a Woman of Distinction by Girl Scouts of Northeast Ohio for 2021. She holds a BSN from Widener University, and an MA from The Ohio State University.

Brian Thompson is an expert benefits consultant with a demonstrated ability to grow profitable books of business and increase client revenue. With 29 years of experience in benefit consultation in the Health Insurance industry, Brian is skilled in financial analysis and benefits research.

Brian has spent the last 16 months working at OhioHealthy building OhioHealth’s Provider Owned Health Plan, as the Sr. Sales Account Executive for all of OhioHealthy’s ASO business. In this role, he is responsible for developing relationships and educating advisors and consultants in central Ohio on the benefits of OhioHealthy and its Provider Owned Health Plan. Brian leads the development of products and services to create the most effective and cost-efficient benefit offerings for employers in Central Ohio. Brian has also worked for 26 years with private and public organizations helping them build benefit programs to retain and attract valuable employees, allowing them to be "Best in Class" in their industry.