2017 Speaking Faculty

REED BJERGO has been with UnitedHealth Group for 24 years, serving in a number of leadership roles during his tenure. Reed currently is Vice President, Next-Generation Network-Based Products, for UnitedHealthcare’s Employer & Individual line of business, which provides a comprehensive array of consumer-oriented health benefit plans and services nationwide to large national employers, public sector employers, and mid-sized and small businesses, as well as individuals.

In his current role, Reed is responsible for strategic planning and development of next-generation health benefits offerings, including accountable care organization (ACO)-based products. He previously held positions in strategic planning and development for the commercial business, innovative product development, and sales operations.

Reed holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing from Bradley University, Peoria, Illinois. He is a graduate of UnitedHealthcare’s General Manager Program and Executive Development Program, and is a Pinnacle President’s Award winner, which recognizes UnitedHealthcare employees for exemplary performance and leadership.

Chris Botts is the Care Delivery and Payment Manager within the Professional Satisfaction & Practice Sustainability group at the American Medical Association (AMA). In this capacity, he supports the AMA’s multi-year journey identifying effective care delivery elements that help support high-quality patient care, physician satisfaction and practice sustainability. He manages the development and implementation of tools and resources that assist physicians in the adoption of new commercial and governmental payment and care delivery models. Additionally, he works with external partners such as coalitions, commercial payers, employers, patients, health care systems and hospitals, and electronic health record vendors in promoting new payment model concepts.

Prior to joining the AMA, he worked at the Health Care Reform and Innovation Administration within the District of Columbia’s Department of Health Care Finance designing and implementing new, innovative health information technology (health IT) programs. These programs worked to improve data integration and provide actionable information to reduce health disparities, enhance health care quality and outcomes, and promote wellness in DC. He also helped lead DC’s State Innovation Model grant from CMS charged with designing the District’s strategy for health care transformation. Mr. Botts also worked at the Center for Health Policy (formerly known as the Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform) within the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC where he supported the Center’s strategic planning and project coordination of payment and delivery reform initiatives including those related to Medicare alternative payment models and health plan innovations. Mr. Botts earned a Bachelor of Science (BS) in Neuroscience with a concentration in Premedical Studies from the College of William and Mary.

Sally has been with The Center, a national non-profit, for over 20 years developing technical assistance for rural providers and directing federal programs and operations of The Center in Duluth, Minnesota. As CEO she provides leadership and program development for rural health issues at the federal, state and local level by analyzing rural hospital, network and state needs to develop new programs and enhance current programs. Sally is the program director for the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP) cooperative agreement to provide information services to the Rural Hospital Flexibility Program that covers the Technical Assistance and Services Center (TASC), the Small Rural Hospital Performance Improvement Program (SHIP) and the Small Rural Hospital Transition (SRHT) project and provides technical assistance to State Offices of Rural Health, hospitals and rural health networks. She directs the development of The Center’s strategic plan with staff and the Board of Directors. Sally has performed evaluations for grant programs, foundation projects and hospital initiatives. Sally serves as a liaison to (FORHP) and other national rural health organizations and represents the organization on appropriate rural health committees and boards. Previously she directed outreach and education for the Regional Extension Assistance Center for HIT in MN and ND (REACH). Sally received Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Education and Kinesiology from the University of Michigan.

Ms. Wendy Cofran has been Chief Information Officer for Century Health Systems, Inc., the parent company of Natick Visiting Nurse Association (Natick VNA) and Distinguished Care Options (DCO) for over two decades. In this executive management role, Cofran has developed, and managed with unparalleled success cutting edge technology that is focused on enhancing quality, improving safety, reducing costs and increasing efficiency across the healthcare system.

As the national conversation turns to using technology to solve the challenges of improving health care outcomes, providing a 360 degree patient experience and driving down escalating costs Ms. Cofran's innovative, collaborative and “out-of-the-box” approach has set Century Health Systems and its affiliates apart from the crowd. In 2012 she developed and launched a Referral Management application wholly built on the Salesforce platform. This application allows Century's Care Transition Coordinators to update critical referral information, track patients as they are cared for by the healthcare team, and work closely with family members on coordinating care for their loved ones.

Following her passion of identifying, developing and executing solutions that improve both patient and clinician experience, Ms. Cofran partnered with Natick VNA's EMR vendor, Brightree, LLC to launch the homecare industry's first disconnected iPad EMR application that allows clinicians to document care in the home regardless of the presence of an internet connection. This application increases clinical staff efficiency, provides more timely clinical documentation, and leads to improved patient outcomes and experience with the homecare agency. As the federal government moves to Value Based Payment for all health care providers, these positive results are also helping decrease the overall cost of providing care. These technology innovations, coupled with a strong Telehealth solution are major factors in Natick VNA continually achieving the homecare industry's coveted, double 5-star rating by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Natick VNA is one of only 30 Agencies in the country to receive the 5 Star rating for both Clinical Outcomes and Patient Satisfaction!

A frequent and engaging presenter at industry related conferences, Ms. Cofran's recent presentations include:

• CIOHEALTH Boston-A moderated health panel where select CIOs take a tell-all position on a panel that explores the direction of health IT, the successes, failures, and celebrations that defined their paths as ultimate IT leaders.
• Congressional Home Health Caucus-Innovations in Home Health Care
• SINC Health IT Leaders Forum-Technology Advancements for Improved Patient Outcomes
• Boston Premier CIO Forum-Disruptive Technologies: An Innovator's Dilemma
• Salesforce-HealthForce Boston -"Innovation in Post-Acute healthcare"
• Featured in the Remington Report

In addition to her day to day responsibilities Ms. Cofran serves in leadership roles in the following organizations:

• Visiting Nurse Association of New England (VNANE)-Technology consultant
• Brightree, LLC Executive Advisory Committee-Home care product consultant
• Providence College-A member of the Boston President's Council

Ms. Cofran is a graduate of Providence College holding a Bachelor of Arts degree in Social Science.

Michele Fisher, MBA, FACHE, FACMPE, CSMC is the Chief Contracting and Payer Relations Officer of UW Medicine Health System. UW Medicine Health System includes Harborview Medical Center, University of Washington Medical Center, Northwest Hospital and Medical Center, Valley Medical Center & Clinics, UW Neighborhood Clinics, UW Physicians, UW School of Medicine and Airlift Northwest. Michele has over 20 years’ experience in health care leadership positions. She has worked in health care in the Puget Sound area for the over 26 years in various business development, revenue cycle focused and clinical roles. UW Medicine is an accountable health organization (UW Medicine ACO) and has created its own UW Medicine Accountable Health Network (UW Medicine ACN).

Michele began her career at UW Medicine serving at Harborview Medical Center as the Director of Contracting and Payer Relations for nearly a year. In her current position, for over 5 years, she is responsible for the relationships with Payers, ACO negotiation and implementation (both on the ACN formation side and on the ACO direct to payer/employer side) for both the UW Medicine ACO and the UW Medicine ACN. She is also accountable for, among other items, the actuarial relationship for UW Medicine and the negotiation process of payer contracts and all aspects of payer or employer contract reporting within UW Medicine including Harborview Medical Center, UW Medical Center, Northwest Hospital, Valley Medical Center, UW Neighborhood Clinics, UW Physicians.

Before coming to UW Medicine, Michele worked in progressive leadership positions in her approximately 20 years at Overlake Hospital Medical Center, Virginia Mason Medical Center and Valley Medical Center.

Michele is a Fellow in of the American College of Healthcare Executives (FACHE), a Fellow in the American College of Medical Practice Executives (FACMPE) of the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) Association, and CoC and CPC-h certified by AAPC (American Academy of Professional Coders). Additionally Michele is a Member of the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) and the Washington Mediation Association (WMA).

Michele has an Executive Certificate in Advanced negotiations from University of Notre Dame. She graduated from Taft University W. Edwards Deming School of Business with honors (Magna Cum Laude) with an MBA with an emphasis in Healthcare Administration, has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Finance and a Bachelors of Science Degree in Organizational behavior both from Central Washington University. Michele served several clinical roles as a Medical Assistant and ER Tech early on during her healthcare tenure.

Michele has been invited to speak locally to specialty focused special interest groups about healthcare contract trending, contract language interpretation and medical practice succession planning. Speaking nationally at ACO RISE (2013-2015) conferences and at CE events regarding Managed Care contracting. She has served as a volunteer speaker to the Washington State Academy of Pediatric Dentistry and volunteers at various venues throughout King County supporting community improvement projects and human rights.

Over her more than thirty years of experience in Home Health Care, Judy as held positions at the local, regional and national level for both for profit and non-profit corporations. She has extensive experience in quality and safety, performance improvement, regulatory and accreditation preparation and compliance across multiple health care domains including certified home health, infusion, respiratory, and durable medical equipment. In addition, she has been involved in consultation with international home care enterprises in the United Arab Emirates, QATAR and Egypt.

For almost fifteen years Judy Flynn has been the Vice President Patient Care Quality, Compliance Officer at Partners HealthCare at Home, part of the Partners Health Care system, founded by Massachusetts General and Brigham and Women’s Hospitals. In this role she has worked collaboratively with leadership within these flagships hospitals as well as the full spectrum of post acute care providers that are part of the Partners Health Care System. In her role she has oversight of patient care quality and safety, performance improvement, regulatory compliance and education for the company serving over 9,000 patients across its multiple service lines.

Prior to this role Judy was an Executive Consultant for The Corridor Group a national health care consulting firm. During her tenure Judy provided consultation on program development, regulatory compliance, Joint Commission survey preparation as well as leading several due diligence and merger and acquisition efforts. While she worked with agencies across the country her primary client was the largest VNA in the United States.

Prior to becoming a consultant Judy was Vice President of Clinical Operations for NMC Homecare, Inc. a national Home Health, Infusion, Respiratory and Durable Medical Equipment company. There she had oversight responsibility for development of local and national strategic plans for field operations, ensuring compliance with regulatory and Joint Commission accreditation requirements. In this role she led the development of several disease management programs, patient care pathways, national clinical, operations and finance audit tools, and policies.

Judy is a registered nurse who holds a Bachelors in Nursing, an MBA in Computer Science and is Certified in Healthcare Compliance. She has multiple publications and has presented at local and national venues. She has served on the Editorial board of Home Health Care nurse, and as Courtesy Faculty, Yale School of Nursing and Clinical Instructor for the MGH Institute of Health Professions.

Bill Gillis is the Chief Information Officer (CIO) for Beth Israel Deaconess Care Organization (BIDCO), a value-based physician and hospital network and Accountable Care Organization (ACO) in Westwood, Massachusetts.

In his role as CIO, Bill leads health information technology innovations that support BIDCO’s network of 2,500 physicians, including 600 PCPs, and eight hospitals in the delivery of high-quality, cost-effective care.

Bill has worked in health care IT for more than twenty years and specializes in electronic health records (EHR) and Health Information Exchange (HIE) interoperability strategies, technologies and deployments. Working directly with John Halamka, CIO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), Bill led the team that deployed the first ambulatory EHR system for BIDMC affiliates in 1997.

In 2007, Bill led the BIDCO team that architected and deployed what is believed to be the first cloud-based EHR offering in the country, enabling significant Triple-Aim improvements that helped the organization achieve ranking as the #1 performing Pioneer ACO in Massachusetts and #3 nationally in 2013, as well as the top-performing ACO in quality reporting in 2015. He is currently on the technical subcommittee for the Massachusetts Health Information Exchange (MAHIway).

Bill has shared best practices with the health care industry through numerous published articles and public presentations, including the 2015 Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) conference, CXO Think Tank, BIOMEDevice, and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) ACO Learning Collaborative. He has also delivered speeches for Harvard Medical School, Boston University, and Suffolk University. In the spring of 2018, Bill will be a featured speaker at the prestigious Becker’s Hospital Review Annual Meeting.

Along with his esteemed HIT accomplishments, Bill has competed in several international motorsports events such as the Daytona 200, Isle of Man TT, Baja 1000 and the Bonneville Speed Trails. He also works with several nonprofit organizations whose mission is to improve health care in developing countries through the use of technology.

Bill holds a Master of Science degree in Computer Engineering.

Trent Hadley, CPA began his career as a consultant in the Public Accounting industry working in advisory services, primarily with healthcare clients. Mr. Hadley transitioned to Baylor Scott & White with their accounting department and soon transitioned into a financial role. In 2013, Mr. Hadley moved to the Baylor Scott & White Quality Alliance (BSWQA) to help build the financial model and focus on the performance of value based contracts. Today, Mr. Hadley leads the finance and health economics teams for the BSWQA, focusing on value based contracting and population health level performance.

With a finance and accounting background, Mr. Hadley understands the complexities of the rapidly changing health care environment and effectively collaborates with the internal and external stakeholders (i.e. operations team/ system leadership/ brokers/ payers/ physicians) to achieve the Triple Aim. He helps lead the managed care team to execute these strategies with our partners, physicians, and system providers as well as help manage organizational finances and evaluate value based contracting. Mr. Hadley has recently focused his time on some business development activities, working with local employers, national payors, and employee benefit consultants on how the BSWQA can impact their stakeholders in the population health space.

Mr. Hadley is a Texas native who earned his Bachelors of Business Administration from Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama and holds a Master in Accounting from the “real UT”, University of Tampa.

Chief Health Innovation Officer – Independent Health, Buffalo, NY Physician Entrepreneur – Provider, Payer, Community and Consumer Integration

Dr. Haughton is the CHIO/Quality Officer at Independent Health plan in Buffalo, NY and the Innovation Officer for the Chautauqua ACO. In both roles, he is responsible for leading integration, innovation and information for coordinated care. John has over twenty-five years of experience as a clinician and entrepreneur in health research, patient care, clinical workflow and informatics – pursuing a better, faster, easier and more satisfying healthcare system by integrating information-supported team based care across place, time and organization. Past work and research initiatives include clinical practice, running startups and leading teams pursing care management, evidence-based clinical measures, population analytics, and pay-for-performance activities. Results include driving sustained decrease in medical costs within 12 months of 6-10%/yr and sustained quality improvement from 15-50%.

Background: Prior to founding CogniMed and DocSite in the ‘90s and ‘00s (first cloud-native patient registry/care coordination/longitudinal record system – improved chronic disease care 25-50% in 3 to 6 months; cut medical cost by 6-10%), Haughton was CMO and senior vice president for product for the company that created HCC risk adjustment - DxCG, Inc; senior vice president of Clinical Integration and Product Development with ActiveHealth Management, Inc; and vice president of Medical Affairs and practicing rehab physician in a New England-based integrated post-acute provider focusing on inpatient and outpatient geriatric rehabilitation. Dr. Haughton earned his MD and BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Michigan and finished his training at the University of Washington as Chief Resident in his PM&R; residency and there pursued an MS in Rehabilitation Medicine Research.

Personal: Married to Jennifer, blessed with three wonderful daughters – Sammie, Maddie & Lindsey Interests: Sailing, Learning, Fixing, Friends, Chautauqua, Developing Community

Advisory/Boards: Patient Advisory Committee, NIH. Chautauqua Institution Trustee.

David brings almost 20 years of experience within the healthcare industry with focus in the areas of analytics, reimbursement methodologies and alternative payment methodologies. The majority of David’s time has been spent on the vendor and consulting side of the healthcare ecosystem providing services both to Health Plans as well as Providers.

David joined Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana in June of 2015 in the role of Vice President of Provider Reimbursement and Payment Innovation. He now holds the position of Interim SVP of Medical Economics with responsibility for Alternative Payment Strategy, Reimbursement Methodology and Strategy as well as Provider Contracting, Credentialing and Communications. Prior to Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana, he worked at Trover Solutions as the SVP of Payment Integrity, Accenture as Healthcare Analytics Senior Manager, and OPTUM/Ingenix as VP/General Manager Payment Integrity, VP Hospital Solutions, and VP Data Analytic Solutions. Prior to OPTUM David worked at HSS, Inc., eHealthFirst and Health Process Management.

David did his undergraduate education at the University of Vermont graduating with two BS degrees, one in Mathematics and the other in Computer Science. He has a master’s degree from the University of Vermont in Mathematics and did PhD work in Applied Mathematics at the University of Arizona.

David lives with his wife Mitzi in Baton Rouge and enjoys golf and music.

Akil McClay is a System Director of APM Operations at Trinity Health. In this role, Akil is responsible for the implementation, deployment and operational CIN/ACO/APM activities across 7 states (Michigan, Delaware, Massachusetts, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and New York) with approximately 500,000 covered lives. Additionally, Akil serves as a lead for the Trinity Health Integrated Care MSSP Track 3 ACO. In Akil's prior role, he served as the System Director of Value?Based Care & Payment for SSM Health. Akil led operational oversight and implementation of population health initiatives across 4 states (Missouri, Illinois, Oklahoma and Wisconsin) and served as the lead for ACO and CIN operations. Some of Akil's experience includes the successful development and deployment of employee onsite clinics, primary care telehealth, ACO operations and CIN payer contract negotiations.

Prior to joining SSM Health, Akil served as the Administrative Officer of Research & Development for the VA St. Louis Healthcare System. In this role, Akil managed the daily operations of the Research & Development Department and Clinical Epidemiology Center. Akil was responsible for the budget, department operations, management of human research studies, animal protocols, and basic science studies as well as departmental standard operating procedures and personnel contracts. Akil also served the VA St. Louis Healthcare System in Extended Care and Rehabilitation Service, Budget Analytics, and Executive Office roles.

Akil holds a B.S. in Psychology from Southern University, a M.S. in Neuroscience from Tulane University, and a M.H.A from the School of Health Management and Informatics at the University of Missouri.

Amy Mullins, MD, CPE, FAAFP, currently serves as the Medical Director for Quality Improvement for the American Academy of Family Physicians. She most recently served as both a practicing family physician and as medical director at Trinity Clinic in Whitehouse, Texas, where she worked from 2002 to 2013. Current responsibilities with the AAFP include liaison work with other national organizations in the quality arena, as well as national-level policy and advocacy work regarding payment reform. A native of Texas, she is a graduate of Abilene Christian University and The University of Texas Medical Branch.

Crystal Pike RN, MSN is the Manager for Quality Performance and Clinical Informatics, of Triad Healthcare Network (NextGen ACO). Her team is responsible for quality metric outcomes for all ACO Medicare Advantage risk contracts, the ACO NextGen population of Medicare, and coding related to Risk Adjustment Factor (RAF). Her team also works with ambulatory practices regarding EMR (44) connectivity, workflows, processes, and development and deployment of web based quality tools for providers to utilize for quality outcome improvements and population health.

Crystal is a Registered Nurse and holds her Masters of Science in Nursing- Education from Grantham University in Missouri. Crystal has more than 21 years’ experience as a nurse. Prior to holding her current position, her career has consisted of providing patient care and management in multiple settings (inpatient and outpatient), and progressive leadership/management in hospice care.

Crystal provides education, monitoring, team building, and serves as a resource for multiple physician practices.

Christine Samples BSN, RN, CCM is the Manager of Telephonic Case Management at Signature Medical Group, the largest convener of orthopedic episodes under CMMI’s BPCI initiative. Christine has been with signature since the initiation of this program in 2014. She oversees a team of Telephonic Case Managers, is an integral member of the Software development team, and leads regular monthly educational webinars, and Case Management orientation sessions on Care Redesign, and Case Management in BPCI.

Caroline Rossi Steinberg joined the Network for Excellence in Health Innovation as the Vice President for Programs in October of 2016. Prior to this position, she served as the Vice President for Trends Analysis at the American Hospital Association (AHA) for 14 years. In this role, Ms. Steinberg oversaw teams of researchers, data analysts and consultants in conducting policy research, trends analysis and data analytics to support AHA’s advocacy needs broadly defined to include regulatory, legislative, legal and public/media relations activities. Prior to moving to the AHA, Ms. Steinberg was a vice president at The Lewin Group, where she spent nine years working with both public and private provider organizations to develop strategies to confront changes in the health care environment. She also led the intensive site visit component of the Community Tracking Study under contract with the Center for Studying Health System Change. In prior consulting positions, she has worked to improve the operations of hospitals and health systems and conducted data-driven redesign of the health care benefit packages for unionized workers for a Fortune 500 company. She holds a masters of business administration (MBA) from the Tuck School at Dartmouth College where she was named an Edward Tuck Scholar and a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University.

Carol Vargo is Director of Physician Practice Sustainability in the AMA Physician Satisfaction and Practice Sustainability Strategic Initiative Group. In this role, Carol directs AMA development of resources to support sustainable physician payment and delivery reforms. She also develops external partnerships with hospitals, health systems, commercial payers, technology vendors and other key stakeholders to advance the AMA strategic agenda on implementation and adoption of new federal, state and commercial payment and delivery models, including the new Medicare Quality Payment Program.

Prior to this position, Carol worked at the AMA as an Assistant Director of Federal Affairs and Outreach, Advocacy Group. In this role, she developed and implemented internal and external policies and strategies to advance the AMA’s priorities with the Federal Executive Branch, including the White House, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the CMS Innovation Center, and the Office of Health Reform at the Department of Health and Human Service (HHS). She began her career in federal policymaking as a Legislative Assistant to U.S. Representative Jim McDermott (D-WA). Carol is a graduate of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, with a B.A. in Communications, and a recipient of a Masters in Health Sciences in health policy and administration from the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, in Baltimore, Maryland. She and her husband, Robert Blanchard, an electrical engineer and VP of Sales at Cisco Systems, have two sons, Gray, age 17, and Henry, age 11, and reside in the Roland Park neighborhood of Baltimore.