Maria Alexander is the senior director of government channels for Mount Sinai Health System, where she oversees Mount Sinai’s participation in the Medicare Shared Savings Program and advises on other government payer programs and policy. Prior to joining Mount Sinai in 2018, Ms. Alexander spent six years at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), most recently as a division director in Innovation Center. During her time at CMS, she helped develop the Pioneer ACO Model, the Comprehensive ESRD Care Model, and worked on several initiatives focused on dual eligible populations. Ms. Alexander holds a BA from Tufts University.
Mohamed Arif is the director of Medicaid Strategy at Aledade. He is responsible for the development and execution of Aledade’s Medicaid growth strategy, including expansion of Medicaid value-based care contracts with an emphasis on addressing health equity, and laying the foundation for Medicaid success through policy influence and strategic payer engagement. Mr. Arif previously worked at Arizona’s Medicaid agency (known as AHCCCS), where he served as the agency’s primary liaison to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and developed the state’s strategic Medicaid value-based payment initiatives.
Daniel Bair, FACHE, currently serves as regional executive director of Trinity-Health Mid-Atlantic’s Clinically Integrated Network (CIN), which includes Quality Health Alliance, Mercy Accountable Care, and Delaware Care Collaboration. Prior to the regional role, he served as executive director of Mercy Accountable Care, where he oversaw startup and expansion of the ACO and CIN. Previously, Mr. Bair served Mercy Health System as the administrative director for the cardiovascular service line and was appointed vice president for the cardiovascular and radiology service lines. Prior to joining Mercy, he served as chief operating officer for Westfield Hospital. He holds a master of science degree in healthcare administration from St. Joseph’s University and a bachelor of science degree in biology/respiratory therapy from Millersville University. He is a fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives.Daniel Bair, FACHE, currently serves as regional executive director of Trinity-Health Mid-Atlantic’s Clinically Integrated Network (CIN), which includes Quality Health Alliance, Mercy Accountable Care, and Delaware Care Collaboration. Prior to the regional role, he served as executive director of Mercy Accountable Care, where he oversaw startup and expansion of the ACO and CIN. Previously, Mr. Bair served Mercy Health System as the administrative director for the cardiovascular service line and was appointed vice president for the cardiovascular and radiology service lines. Prior to joining Mercy, he served as chief operating officer for Westfield Hospital. He holds a master of science degree in healthcare administration from St. Joseph’s University and a bachelor of science degree in biology/respiratory therapy from Millersville University. He is a fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives.
Mike Barbati is currently the vice president of government and value-based programs at Advocate Aurora Health, where he oversees the strategy and operations of the organizations to Medicare ACO’s, BPCI-A program and commercial bundles strategy. He also leads Advocate Aurora’s population health innovations work, which is focused on using human-centered design to leverage technology and change management principles to improve the quality and cost position of Advocate Aurora’s value-based contracts. Prior to his current role, Mr. Barbarti served in several progressive roles with Advocate Aurora Health’s corporate office related to supply chain, finance, clinical cost reduction, large-scale change management and value-based care. He is an active member of the American College of Healthcare Executives and a former faculty member at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement.
Britainy Barnes is Aledade’s policy specialist focused on improving how value in health care is measured and shared while creating a sustainable future for independent primary care. During her time at Aledade, Ms. Barnes has performed multiple analyses of the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP), including quantifying the effect of the “rural glitch” at the program level. At the height of the pandemic, she helped Aledade’s partner practices access and report on the use of federal, state, and local funds available to health care providers. This included SBA, PPP, and HHS programs, and resulted in practices being able to remain in business while facing significant economic threats. She is also a subject matter expert on Primary Care First and ACO REACH. She oversees Aledade’s ACO REACH program and was responsible for recruiting 15 independent primary care practices and over 200 providers to participate in the program. Ms. Barnes conducted undergraduate research on the impact of dual-language exposure on language development in infants living in Spanish-English households. She has a BA in human biology with a concentration in health policy and management from Stanford University.
Henish Bhansali is a physician executive in Medicare Advantage (MA) and a practicing internist. He joined Duly Health and Care (FKA DuPage Medical Group) in 2021 as their Senior VP of MA, overseeing care model design and delivery, TCoC management, HEDIS, payor relationships, risk adjustment, and MA expansion. Prior to Duly, he was Oak Street’s SMD and VP of Care Navigation leading clinical strategy for diagnostic and specialty care for 100K+ patients across 20 states. Prior to Oak Street, he led primary care education of 50+ internal medicine residents as an Associate Program Director with the University of Chicago for 5 years. Dr. Bhansali trained in internal medicine and was chief resident at Washington University-Barnes Jewish Hospital (WU-BJH) in St. Louis. Post-residency, he directed BJH’s readmission reduction program and WU’s Global Health Program. Dr. Bhansali’s interests are incentivizing outcomes centered, value-based medicine to achieve one goal: happier, healthier patients. His current focus is on improving the MA care model and he is pursuing a Masters of Public Policy from the University of Chicago. He is a fellow of the American College of Physicians, a member of the AOA Medical Honor Society and is board certified in both internal and obesity medicine.
Asaf Bitton, MD, MPH, is the executive director of Ariadne Labs, a health systems innovation center at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. He is also an associate professor of medicine and health care policy at both Harvard Medical School and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Dr. Bitton has served as a senior advisor for primary care policy at the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation since 2012. He currently serves on the Center for Strategic and International Studies Bipartisan Commission on Strengthening America’s Health Security, the National Advisory Council for Healthcare Research at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality in the U.S., and is an elected member of the International Academy of Quality and Safety. He is a core founder and steering committee member of the Primary Health Care Performance Initiative, a partnership that includes more than 20 countries and the World Bank, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, The Global Fund, and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation dedicated to improving the global provision of primary health care. Dr. Bitton practices primary care at Brigham and Women’s South Huntington clinic, a team-based community primary care practice in Boston that he helped found in 2011.
Chiquita Brooks-LaSure is the administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), where she will oversee programs including Medicare, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and the HealthCare.gov health insurance marketplace. A former policy official who played a key role in guiding the Affordable Care Act (ACA) through passage and implementation, Ms. Brooks-LaSure has decades of experience in the federal government, on Capitol Hill, and in the private sector. As deputy director for policy at the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight within the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and earlier at the Department of Health & Human Services as director of coverage policy, Ms. Brooks-LaSure led the agency’s implementation of ACA coverage and insurance reform policy provisions. Earlier in her career, Ms. Brooks-LaSure assisted House leaders in passing several health care laws, including the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 and the ACA, as part of the Democratic staff for the U.S. House of Representatives’ Ways and Means Committee. Ms. Brooks-LaSure began her career as a program examiner and lead Medicaid analyst for the Office of Management and Budget, coordinating Medicaid policy development for the health financing branch. Her role included evaluating policy options and briefing White House and federal agency officials on policy recommendations regarding the uninsured, Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.
Tori Bratcher is director of alternative payment models (APMs) for Trinity Health. She is responsible for the strategy and operations of Trinity’s National alternative payment models including being the ACO executive for the Trinity Integrated Care MSSP, one of the nation’s largest ACOs. Within the ACO, she is accountable for compliance, quality reporting, network management, and ACO governance. Ms. Bratcher works collaboratively with system and local physician and business unit leaders to drive population health and clinical integration success with the providers and practices across the system. Prior to her role at Trinity, she was the executive director of population health operations at Indiana University Health where she managed a portfolio of risk contracts and the teams that drove population health success. Ms. Bratcher graduated with a master’s in health administration from University of Illinois Chicago and bachelor’s in biology & pre-med from Indiana Wesleyan University.
Evelyn Cayson is the market president for Mississippi at Aledade, Inc. She is a graduate from The University of Mississippi Medical Center and a registered nurse by training. After developing and running a successful diabetes management program in her hometown, she joined Aledade as a practice transformation specialist. Since joining Aledade, Ms. Cayson has worked as a clinical coordinator, executive director, and now market president.
Aneesh Chopra is the president of CareJourney, an open data and analytics platform delivering a trusted, transparent rating system for physicians, networks, facilities and markets on the move to value. He served as the first U.S. CTO and authored “Innovative State: How New Technologies Can Transform Government.” He serves on the boards of the Health Care Cost Institute, Virginia Center for Health Innovation, IntegraConnect, Upstream Care, International Digital Accountability Council, and chairs the George Mason Innovation Advisory Council. He earned his MPP from Harvard Kennedy School and BA from The Johns Hopkins University.
Rachel Corbitt is the chief operating officer of Aegis Medical Group and is backed by several accolades that validate her expertise at the role. After acquiring her bachelor’s degree in health care administration at the University of Central Florida, Ms. Corbitt built upon her knowledge base by perusing a master of science degree from Ashworth College specializing in health care administration. Along with several certifications and skills that Ms. Corbitt brings to the table, she too attended a Wharton Advanced Management program to further her professional exposure. Having 15 years of exposure to the health care industry has proven her passion and expertise in the field.
Kelly Cronin serves as deputy administrator and director of the Center for Innovation and Partnership at HHS’s Administration for Community Living. She has been with HHS since 2001, in a variety of roles at the FDA, CMS and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, which she helped establish as its first employee. For several years, she coordinated health IT programs and policies with health care payment and delivery system reform. In her current role, she oversees programs to support Medicare beneficiaries’ access to low income subsidies, health insurance counseling on their benefit options, as well as State No Wrong Door systems to enable access to long-term services and supports the state efforts to enable access to assistive technologies. Her Center also leads efforts to develop and integrate networks of community-based organizations into health care delivery to address social determinants of health. She holds a master of public health with a concentration in epidemiology and biostatistics and a master of science in health policy from the School of Public Health and Health Services at George Washington University.
Barry Dahllof Jr. is a healthcare leader with extensive knowledge and experience who brings creative solutions to each partnership. He strives to continuously innovate and make ChristianaCare “exceptional today and even better tomorrow.” Mr. Dahllof’s role is integral in enterprise-wide decisions to accelerate growth and transformation through value-based and risk arrangements. His efforts shine in ChristianaCare’s risk profile that continues to grow across their four-state footprint. His relationship development foundation sets the stage for financial and quality alignment between payor contracts and the ChristianaCare Population Health team. Mr. Dahllof leads the entire contracting process, including analytics, contract development, negotiations, pricing and compliance.
Robert Daley is a senior policy advisor at NAACOS where he contributes to developing the association’s federal advocacy strategy on a wide range of legislative and regulatory issues. Mr. Daley is a public policy professional with over a decade of experience advising Members of Congress and private sector government affairs stakeholders. He draws on this experience to help manage the association’s relationships with lawmakers and administration officials to ensure ACOs’ interests are being represented during the policymaking process in Washington, D.C. Prior to joining NAACOS in January 2022, he spent five years as a legislative director at Polsinelli PC, an Am 100 law firm, representing the public policy interests of a wide range of health care clients, including working to secure favorable legislative changes on several value-based care initiatives impacting ACOs and advanced payment models (APMs). Before that, Mr. Daley spent six years working on Capitol Hill for U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-WY) where he gained a thorough understanding of the legislative process and the role stakeholders play in the development and implementation of public policy. His experience as a former Congressional staffer and government affairs advisor helps him effectively communicate the association’s priorities directly to policymakers in Congress and the Administration. Mr. Daley is a graduate of American University, and a member of the Society of Health Policy Young Professionals. He is also a member of several state society organizations and continues to develop and maintain an extensive bipartisan network of contacts across Washington’s policymaking landscape.
Dave DeGandi has 37 years of IT experience, 34 of those working for Cambia Health Solutions in the health insurance industry. His technology expertise is in the design and implementation of distributed applications and systems integration. Mr. DeGandi was first introduced to HL7 at the 2014 Phoenix WGM when Cambia sent his entire clinical data team to gain some much-needed foundational knowledge. Mr. DeGandi brought with him a new enthusiasm to increase the payer presence at HL7. He has helped with the formation of the HL7 Payer User Group and planning for the HL7 Payer Summits. He is currently a senior interoperability strategist at Cambia Health Solutions and has been engaged in the HL7 Da Vinci project since its beginning. A two-time recipient of the Da Vinci Champions award, he has been successful in developing the internal and external partnerships needed to enable organizational transformation using payer to provider interoperability.
Christina Della Croce joined Atrius Health in January 2018. She serves as the executive director, acute and post-acute network performance overseeing Atrius Health’s hospital network of 15 hospitals and 25 skilled nursing facility networks along with post-acute programs (home care, home infusion, mobile integrated health). She partners with the medical director, hospital relations and in 2020 they ran the Boston Hope Hospital at the Boston Convention Center, where Atrius Health provided medical services to support patients recovering from COVID-19. She is an accomplished healthcare executive with an extensive track record for leading and building cross-functional teams to achieve strategic business goals. As a thought leader, she has successfully re-engineered departmental systems and processes to meet the changing needs of the healthcare delivery marketplace. Ms. Della Croce started out her career as an occupational therapist and practiced clinically for several years before transitioning into administration. She earned her MBA from Salem State College and her BS in occupational therapy from the University of New England.
Daniel Elliott, MD, is the medical director of eBrightHealth ACO and Christiana Care Quality Partners (CCQP), a network of physicians and other health care providers working to improve the quality and value of medical care in Delaware. Previously, Dr. Elliott served as the associate chair for research and scholarly activity in the Christiana Care department of medicine. He was the project co-director and director of evaluation for “Bridging the Divides,” a project funded by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation to develop care management services supported by information technology to improve the quality and cost of care for patients following coronary revascularization. Dr. Elliott earned a BA in economics and political science from Duke University, where he was a Howard Hughes Research fellow. He earned his medical degree at Jefferson Medical College as a Delaware Institute for Medical Education and Research scholar.
Dr. Robert Fields is a family medicine physician and serves as the EVP/chief population health officer at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. In this role, Dr. Fields leads a network of hospitals and physicians managing $3.5 billion dollars of medical spend for over 450,000 patients in the downstate region. He also leads system strategy for managed care and value-based contracting and revenues. Dr. Fields began his career as an independent primary care physician serving all ages with a particular concentration on underserved Latino patients in Western North Carolina. He held various leadership positions including serving as the CMO of the area’s first ACO. He came to Mount Sinai in March of 2018 as the SVP and CMO for population health. He serves as the board chair of the National Association of ACOs (NAACOS) and serves on the board of America’s Physician Groups (APG). He is also a member and chair for various national committees on quality and measure development for the National Quality Foundation and CMS. He earned his medical degree from the University of Florida College of Medicine and completed a family medicine residency at the Mountain Area Health Education Center in Asheville, NC where he was chief resident. Dr. Fields earned his master of health administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Ashley Fitch is the director of community partnerships and innovation at Mount Sinai Health System in New York. In this role she is responsible for developing innovative, community-based programs and partnerships that improve patient outcomes by solving problems related to social determinants of health. Prior to joining Mount Sinai, Ms. Fitch worked at a national non-profit to create community-clinic partnerships that address food insecurity. She also worked with policy makers to secure Department of Defense appropriations and Farm Bill funding to address food insecurity through produce prescriptions and SNAP incentives. Ms. Fitch holds a BA from Kenyon College, an MS from the Icahn School of Medicine and an MA from New York University.
Elizabeth Fowler, PhD, JD, is the deputy administrator and director of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation. Dr. Fowler previously served as executive vice president of programs at The Commonwealth Fund and vice president for global health policy at Johnson & Johnson. Dr. Fowler was special assistant to President Obama on health care and economic policy at the National Economic Council. In 2008-2010, she was chief health counsel to Senate Finance Committee Chair, Senator Max Baucus (D-MT), where she played a critical role developing the Senate version of the Affordable Care Act. She has over 25 years of experience in health policy and health services research. She earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania, a PhD from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, where her research focused on risk adjustment, and a law degree (JD) from the University of Minnesota. She is admitted to the bar in Maryland, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Supreme Court. Dr. Fowler is a fellow of the inaugural class of the Aspen Health Innovators Fellowship and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.
Nick Frenzer is an implementation executive at Epic who brings experience leading large-scale software implementations around the country to his work coordinating the company’s global support for population health strategy and execution. In 2020, Mr. Frenzer led a team that helped health systems add more than 92,000 beds to treat more patients during COVID-19 surges, and later focused on Epic’s patient experience and interoperability efforts. He graduated from Arizona State University with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accounting, and served in the United States Marine Corps.
Jennifer Gasperini is the director of regulatory and quality affairs for the National Association of ACOs (NAACOS) where she works on federal regulatory issues facing ACOs. Ms. Gasperini brings 10 years of health policy experience on both the state and national levels. She came to NAACOS from the North Carolina Medical Society (NCMS) where she served as the director of health policy, working on a variety of state and federal health policy issues concerning physicians. Before joining the NCMS, she worked at the National Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) where she focused on federal legislative and regulatory issues pertaining to physician quality and payment including ACO issues, and value-based payment programs such as PQRS and the Value Based Payment Modifier. Ms. Gasperini holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism, minor in political science from the Pennsylvania State University and a master’s degree in legislative affairs from the George Washington University.
Chelsea Graves is the director of Medicaid Network at Aledade. Ms. Graves helps to ensure that primary care organizations have the appropriate tools and resources necessary to meet savings and performance goals in Aledade’s physician-led ACOs, thus positioning those organizations to deliver quality, cost-effective care to Medicaid recipients. Prior to joining Aledade, she served as the community relations principal for Louisiana Healthcare Connections, a Medicaid Managed Care Organization (MCO), where she led the community relations and member engagement strategies as well as a statewide, quality-focused approach to population health for Medicaid enrollees. She holds a Bachelor of Science and a master of public administration from Southern University A&M College.
Joseph Grice is the chief value officer for the Community Health Center Association of Mississippi (CHCAMS), which is the membership organization for Mississippi’s Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs). As a function of a messenger model Independent Practice Association (IPA), Mr. Grice facilitates value-based opportunities for health centers. Via the IPA, health centers in Mississippi are participating in value-based arrangements with Medicare, Medicare Advantage, and Medicaid Coordinated Care Organizations (CCOs). Additionally, he serves as director of operations for Mississippi Health Safe Net, which is a Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA)-funded Health Center Controlled Network (HCCN). Mr. Grice has a bachelor of business administration degree with a concentration in marketing from Mississippi State University and a master of public health degree with a concentration in epidemiology and biostatistics from Jackson State University.
Rhonda Holcomb, MHA, serves as the corporate director of engagement and optimization at ChristianaCare. She guides practices on the development and implementation of cohesive team-based care, enhances care pathways by optimizing technology and leveraging continuity of care through patient-centeredness to reduce total cost of care through engagement and optimization of quality, safety and patient experience. Ms. Holcomb has 25 years of experience in healthcare, population health and primary care. Her previous roles include manager of government program performance, senior clinical practice transformation coordinator and site supervisor of primary care. During her tenure at Geisinger she gained a diverse working knowledge of ACOs and primary care operations, efficiency, employee engagement and practice transformation. Ms. Holcomb earned her bachelor’s and master’s degree in healthcare administration from Colorado State University.
Nate Hunkins is the director of population health at Bluestone and executive officer of Bluestone ACO. Mr. Hunkins is committed to enhancing the value of health care for elderly and disabled patients who are traditionally underserved by the healthcare system. After receiving his master’s degree in public health from the University of Minnesota, Mr. Hunkins worked for MN Community Measurement for seven years developing healthcare quality measures and designing data collection systems to support state and federal healthcare quality measurement programs. Mr. Hunkins leads several initiatives with the common goal of laying the groundwork for Bluestone’s successful transition to value-based care. This includes maximizing Bluestone’s performance in quality and value-based programs such as the Medicare Shared Savings Program, and other alternative payment-based programs.
Dr. Doug Jacobs is a senior advisor to the director of Medicare at CMS. At CMS he is leading Medicare’s efforts to promote value-based care and advance health equity. He most recently served as the chief medical officer and chief innovation officer for the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, helping to oversee the state Medicaid and human services programs amidst the pandemic for the 16,000 person state agency. He was tapped by Governor Wolf to lead the state’s Whole Person Health Reform initiative, which included expanding value-based care, promoting health equity, and addressing the social determinants of health. He also helped lead the COVID-19 response for the agency, creating programs to protect long-term care facilities and roll out the COVID-19 vaccine to vulnerable populations. Dr. Jacobs is a practicing board-certified internal medicine physician and is an assistant professor of clinical medicine at the Penn State Hershey Medical Center. He is also an avid writer, having published pieces in the New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of the American Medical Association, New York Times, and Washington Post. He trained in internal medicine primary care at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and served as chief resident at the West Roxbury VA hospital, received his MD at the University of California San Francisco School of Medicine, his MPH at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and his BS from Brown University.
Pauline Lapin is the director for the Seamless Care Models Group (SCMG) in the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation at CMS. Ms. Lapin oversees and provides guidance in the development and implementation of innovative payment and delivery models related to advanced primary care and accountable care organizations, namely the Comprehensive Primary Care (CPC) and CPC Plus initiatives, the Pioneer ACO and Next Generation ACO Models, and the Comprehensive ESRD Care initiative. Her group also manages Health Care Innovation Awards related to primary care redesign, “hot-spotting,” and ACO-like models. She has been in federal service at CMS for over 24 years. Ms. Lapin has spoken at national conferences and written articles on health promotion and disease prevention for various journals and newsletters. She holds a master of health science degree from the Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Jennifer Leazzo, Duly Health and Care’s vice president of analytics, has 30 years of experience in healthcare and currently has oversight of analytics supporting financial risk, revenue cycle management, operational, quality, risk adjustment, and network analytics and reporting for all lines of business for executive and provider audiences. Ms. Leazzo’s wealth of actuarial experience includes financial modeling of reimbursement methodologies for the spectrum of healthcare services and a variety of risk. She is knowledgeable about industry standard reimbursement methods and a variety of carrier- and product-specific risk arrangements, such as Medicare Shared Savings Program and carrier-specific ACO’s. Ms. Leazzo holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Purdue University, is a member of the Academy of Actuaries and a fellow in the Society of Actuaries.
Yates Lennon, MD, currently serves as the president and chief transformation officer for CHESS Health Solutions. He is nationally known for his work in quality, previously serving on the American Medical Group Association (AMGA) Quality Leadership Council and presently on NAACO’s Quality Committee. Dr. Lennon’s background includes 23 years as a practicing OB/GYN and a fellow of The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. He served as chief quality officer for Cornerstone Health Care before joining CHESS in 2018. He has a deep understanding of practice transformation and how to engage physicians and their staff. His value-based care expertise allows him to translate his knowledge into initiatives that health care teams understand and can implement to ultimately transform patient care.
Lisa Leveque has served as the vice president of strategic alignment and care transformation for Bandera Healthcare, Arizona’s Ensign affiliated market for nearly six years. She currently supports 33 skilled nursing facility operations, four assisted living and four independent living operations. She graduated from Arizona State University with a bachelor of science and has worked in the healthcare industry for over 25 years. Ms. Leveque has been a servant leader in the Arizona long term care industry through various positions and has been a committee member for both the public policy and quality committee for the Arizona Health Care Association. She has also been the key driver of the HIE integration for the SNFs and ALFs for Bandera Healthcare as well as working closely with the state of Arizona during the COVID-19 pandemic to identify and provide solutions to relieve our healthcare system’s barriers.
Jessica Martensen is the vice president of population care management and the interim vice president for telecare and telehealth services for Essentia Health. She is responsible for the development and oversight of care management programs for around 190,000 value-based care beneficiaries and for the virtual care strategy for nearly 500,000 unique patients throughout Minnesota, North Dakota, and Wisconsin. She has a broad range of nursing leadership experience spanning ambulatory, public health, and post-acute settings and is passionate about quality, patient safety, and operational efficiency. Ms. Martensen graduated with a BS in nursing and a BA in Spanish from Dickinson State University. She has her master’s in business administration in rural healthcare from the College of St. Scholastica, and is a fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives.
Melanie Matthews is the CEO at Physicians of Southwest Washington (PSW) and president at MultiCare Connected Care. She brings more than 20 years of operations, financial, human resources and product marketing experience in health care services for specialty populations. She has expanded business lines to include MSO services including credentialing, coding and compliance and the implementation of CMMI innovation models such as the Next Generation ACO. Previously, Ms. Matthews served for three years as vice president of operations for Prestige Care, Inc., where she was responsible for regulatory and financial operations and outcomes for 38 skilled nursing facilities and two Medicare home health agencies in a four-state northwest region. She serves as co-chair for APG – Risk Evolution Taskforce. She holds a master of science, social gerontology, degree from Central Missouri State University and a bachelor’s degree in human development and family studies from Pennsylvania State University.
Naomi McMackin, MD, a board-certified internist and geriatrician, is the regional chief medical officer of the clinically integrated network for Trinity Health Mid-Atlantic’s PA region. Dr. McMackin is the medical director for the BPCI-Advanced at St. Mary Medical Center and is the physician leader for the Colleague Health Plan Alternative Payment Model. Her areas of interest include care of vulnerable populations and caregiver support for patients with serious illness.
Lyn McMullen is the compliance officer for Equality Health and is responsible for developing and operationalizing Equality Health Direct’s compliance program for all CMMI Models. In addition, she is the compliance officer for all Equality Health programs. Ms. McMullen has over 25 years of compliance and healthcare leadership experience and most recently served as the corporate compliance officer for 78 physician clinics in Arizona. Ms. McMullen has extensive knowledge in URAC and NCQA accreditations and has successfully managed over eight accreditations. She currently chairs the URAC Accreditation Committee.
Robert E. Mechanic, MBA, is executive director of the Institute for Accountable Care, where he is responsible for leading its research agenda, data analytics, and health care learning and improvement activities. The Institute for Accountable Care is an independent 501(c)3 organization with a mission to build and disseminate evidence on the impact of accountable care delivery strategies on both quality and cost. Mr. Mechanic is also a senior fellow at the Heller School of Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University, where he serves as executive director of the Health Industry Forum. His research focuses on health care payment systems and the adaptation of organizations to new payment models. He has helped hospitals, physician groups and integrated delivery systems evaluate financial, strategic and policy considerations under risk-based payment models. Mr. Mechanic was previously senior vice president with the Massachusetts Hospital Association and was vice president with the Lewin Group, a Washington D.C.-based health care consulting firm. His work has been published in The New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, and Health Affairs. He is a trustee of Atrius Health, an 800-physician multispecialty group practice and Next Generation ACO in Eastern Massachusetts, and he is a senior fellow of the Estes Park Institute. Mr. Mechanic earned an MBA in finance from The Wharton School and a BS in economics with distinction from the University of Wisconsin.
Linda Michaelsen is Optum’s director of healthcare interoperability standards. She has over 25 years of experience in the healthcare industry. Ms. Michaelsen is the key voting member representing Optum’s HL7 membership and leads United Health Group’s interoperability community of practice. With her recent promotion to a senior principal engineer within Optum’s technical leadership career path, she hopes to share even more widely how standards can benefit healthcare. Since 2008, she has worked with Optum Data Exchange (ODX) as a subject matter expert. She is certified in the most common HL7 standards, v2, CDA and FHIR and has experience with the IHE transactions. Before working with clinical healthcare data, Ms. Michaelson was a part of the Claredi startup which created the HIPAA X12 validation products. She has worked with all HIPAA and several non-HIPAA X12 standards including the X12 275 attachment transaction. Prior to her career with Optum, she was part of the WebMD. Her career started working for a pathologist during high school and college and later worked for a world-renowned spine surgeon.
Jen Moore has over 20 years of healthcare leadership and operations experience and is dedicated to building effective teams with a strong focus on strategy and organizational development. Ms. Moore joined the MMC-Physician Hospital Organization (the precursor to the MaineHealth ACO) in 1999. She leads ACO operations including payer contracting, network management, data operations and analysis, performance improvement programs, and practice support activities. She also oversees all activities associated with the Medicare Shared Savings Program and several commercial ACO contracts. Ms. Moore holds a masters of business administration degree and serves on the board of directors for NAACOS.
Stephen Nuckolls is the chief executive officer of Coastal Carolina Health Care, PA, and their ACO, Coastal Carolina Quality Care, Inc. His responsibilities include the direct management of the 60 provider multi-specialty physician-owned medical practice and its ACO. They currently participate in the MSSP’s Enhanced Track and have value-based contracts with Medicare advantage as well as commercial plans. Mr. Nuckolls facilitated the formation of the group in 1997 and has served in his current role since that time. Prior to the formation of this organization, Mr. Nuckolls helped guide physicians and integrated hospital organizations in the formation of larger systems. Mr. Nuckolls earned his BA in economics from Davidson College and his MAC from UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School. He is a founding member of the National Association of ACOs and served in a number of roles on the executive committee including board chair from 2016-2017. In addition to these responsibilities, he serves on the board of Community Care of NC as well as several advisory boards and committees for the North Carolina Medical Society.
Andrea Osborne has been working in the healthcare field for over 20 years. Ms. Osborne works for VillageMD having had multiple roles including managing director of operations for the Indianapolis market and the national vice president of post-acute care. She currently serves as senior vice president of delegated services overseeing operations of Medicare CMMI models, claims payment, and utilization management for multiple commercial and MA payers. In her tenor of operating models under CMMI, she has managed multiple at-risk programs across the nation including MSSP, Next Generation ACO, and DCE programs. Currently, Ms. Osborne manages 6 Global Direct Contracting models with over 70,000 Medicare beneficiaries.
Beth Patak is the executive director, ACO for Equality Health Direct. For the past year, she has been developing and operationalizing Equality Health’s ACO that participates in CMS’ Global and Professional Direct Contracting. In addition to standing up the ACO, Ms. Patak is leading the organization’s evolution into ACO REACH and managing growth strategies to expand the ACO. Prior to joining Equality Health, Ms. Patak had accumulated over 22 years of healthcare leadership experience with a wide breadth and depth of experiences. She most recently designed and managed Bon Secours Mercy Health’s Population Health strategies across five states in the Midwest, including risk coding, quality, and utilization improvement playbooks. She also directed government payment programs such as the Comprehensive Primary Care Plus (CPC+), Medicare Shared Savings Program, Oncology Care First and the Ohio CPC Program.
John Pilotte, M.H.P.M., is the director of the Performance-based Payment Policy group (P3) within the Center for Medicare at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Mr. Pilotte manages policy development and operations teams for the Medicare Shared Savings Program, Medicare’s national ACO program with over 500 ACOs accountable for over 10.9 million Medicare beneficiaries. He also managed the development and implementation of Medicare’s Physician Value Modifier, the predecessor to the current Merit-based Incentive Program (MIPS), as well as resource use measures for physicians, hospitals, and post-acute settings. Prior to joining P3, Mr. Pilotte served as the director of the division of payment policy demonstrations in the predecessor of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation where he managed the development and implementation of the physician group practice demonstrations and care coordination demonstrations. Prior to joining CMS, he was a senior healthcare consultant for PricewaterhouseCoopers and part of the government relations team at the National Association of Children’s Hospitals. Mr. Pilotte has a master’s in health policy and management from Johns Hopkins University and a Bachelor of Science from Indiana University’s School of Public and Environmental Affairs.
Aisha Pittman, MHP, is the senior vice president of Government Affairs. In her role, Ms. Pittman leads NAACOS’ work to promote legislative and regulatory policies that will advance ACOs. She has 19 years of experience in healthcare payment, alternative payment models, healthcare quality measurement, and health information technology. She was previously vice president of policy with Premier, Inc., a group purchasing organization of more than 4,400 hospitals and 225,000 other provider organizations, since September 2019. During her eight years with Premier, she was responsible for working with policymakers, providers, and other healthcare stakeholders to reduce costs and improve the quality of healthcare. Prior to Premier, Ms. Pittman held senior management roles with the National Quality Forum, the Maryland Health Care Commission and CenterLight Healthcare, in addition to experience at the National Committee for Quality Assurance. She holds a BS in biology, a BA in psychology, and a Master’s in public health from The George Washington University. Ms. Pittman received GWU’s School of Public Health and Health Services Excellence in Health Policy Award.
David Pittman is senior policy advisor at the National Association of ACOs, where he works on various regulatory policy and legislative topics involving ACOs and CMS Innovation Center models. He also works on communications matters for NAACOS. He joined NAACOS in August 2018 as health policy and communications advisor. Before that, he worked as a healthcare journalist for nearly a dozen years, including at POLITICO where he helped launch the website’s eHealth coverage in 2014. He was a fellow of the Association of Health Care Journalists in 2014, researching how states were adopting payment and delivery system reforms as budgets struggled to recover from the recession of the late 2000s. Mr. Pittman holds bachelor’s degrees in journalism and chemistry from the University of Georgia, where he graduated in 2006.
Bob Rauner splits his time between two jobs, chief medical officer of OneHealth Nebraska ACO and president of partnership for a Heathy Nebraska, as well as serving on the board of directors for both Lincoln Public Schools and the Nebraska Association of School Boards. Dr. Rauner received his undergraduate degree in philosophy at Creighton University, his medical degree at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, and his master of public health degree at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. He started his medical career as a family physician serving rural and underserved communities for 15 years, and then transitioned into health leadership and policy roles after finishing his MPH.
Tony Reed serves as the vice president of population health operations for ChristianaCare. Prior to this role, he served as the vice president of population health strategic solutions, clinical and network services at Ascension Medical Group (AMG) where he had responsibility for all value based health care programs and contracts for AMG. Mr. Reed is on the board of directors for NAACOS and has presented at many conferences including the leaders board for population health management, NAACOS conferences, The Hospital and Health System Association of Pennsylvania, xG Health Solutions, Inc and for the Marcus Evans Group. He is in his 23rd year of work in health care industry and his previous roles include, chief administrative officer for the Keystone Accountable Care Organization, AVP of accountable care initiatives at Geisinger Health, director of business development for Geisinger Diversified Services and program director for VITALine Infusion Pharmacy Services. He also served for seven years as a product director for B. Braun Medical, Inc. with product development responsibilities and gaining FDA and Health Canada approvals for their lines of infusion pumps and accessories.
Megan Reyna is system vice president, practice transformation and quality improvement for Advocate Aurora Health. Under her leadership, Ms. Reyna’s team leads clinical population health and value transformation projects to assist the organization in achieving national quality and financial targets. In her role, she oversees operations for three ACOs, including one of the largest ACOs in the country, that continue to achieve significant taxpayer savings and provide high quality care through the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP). The three MSSP ACOs include Basic Level E in Illinois with over 120,000 beneficiaries, Enhanced in Wisconsin with over 25,000 beneficiaries and Track 1 in Wisconsin with over 50,000 beneficiaries. Her responsibilities also include Bundle Payment Program operations, for both BPCI-A and CJR, and MACRA support and sustainment. Ms. Reyna currently serves as chair of the NAACOS Quality Committee. A registered nurse by background, she received her MSN from University of Illinois Chicago.
Katherine Schneider’s mission is to deliver better health, better care, and sustainable cost. As president and CEO of the Delaware Valley Accountable Care Organization, Dr. Schneider built and led one of the nation’s largest multipayer ACOs. She also served as chairman of the board of the National Association of ACOs. Previously, Dr. Schneider was executive vice president and chief medical officer of Medecision, and served as the senior vice president for health engagement at AtlantiCare. At Middlesex Health System, she spearheaded projects embedding chronic disease management in the delivery system and value based payment models, including Medicare’s Physician Group Practice demonstration project. She has also led several award-winning initiatives in community health improvement. Dr. Schneider is a former member of the National Advisory Council to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). She is a graduate of Smith College and Columbia University. She is a board-certified family physician with an additional degree in epidemiology and is also in the first cohort of US physicians to achieve subspecialty certification in clinical informatics in 2013.
Michelle Schreiber is currently the director of the quality measurement and value-based incentives group at CMS. Dr. Schreiber is a general internal medicine physician with over 25 years of health care experience. Most recently, she was the senior vice president and chief quality officer of Henry Ford Health System. She has also held senior leadership roles at the Detroit Medical Center, where she was the chief quality officer, and with Trinity Health System where she was the national system chief medical officer and acting interim chief medical information officer. In addition to her health system roles, Dr. Schreiber has served on numerous quality and boards of directors. She has worked with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) including as part of its leadership alliance, the Pursuing Equity initiative, and an initiative to enhance board of trustees engagement in quality through a partnership with IHI and National Patient Safety Foundation.
Pawan Shah has nearly two decades of experience in all things value-based care. He is currently the president of Physician Partners, a national value-based primary care physicians group and managed service organization focused on Medicare and Medicaid programs serving over 130k members. He currently leads all FFS value-based care programs (MSSP, ACO/ACO Reach). Previously, Mr. Shah was CCO/COO of Freedom and Optimum Healthcare, one of the largest privately held HMOs in the country. The Organization grew to 130k Medicare Advantage lives with a CMS star rating of 5, the highest of its kind. Mr. Shah has a bachelors in industrial engineering and a masters in engineering management. He also has an executive MBA from Kellogg School of Management. Mr. Shah also currently serves on the Board of Children’s Dream Fund and the Indo-US Chamber of Commerce.
Karen Soja, CPA, is director of network operations for Christiana Care Quality Partners. Ms. Soja’s background includes nearly 30 years’ broad business experience in public accounting. She most recently was a senior compliance consultant for Highmark Inc., serving as a compliance liaison for Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield Delaware Health Options Inc. (Health Options). Her early health care experience began in hospital and health center finance, with more recent operational experience in the payor environment. She received a bachelor of science in accounting, cum laude, from the University of Delaware College of Business and Economics.
Nicole Sully is associate medical director for the Lehigh Valley Physician Hospital Organization, Inc./Valley Preferred and serves as associate medical director for the Lehigh Valley Hospital ACO. She provides oversight to the value based provider incentive program, Achieving Clinical Excellence. Dr. Sully is also accountable for Valley Preferred’s provider portal. In cooperation with a dedicated informatics team, she translates diverse program requirements into a cohesive, dynamic, and actionable reporting tool supporting clinician success. She has practiced family medicine at Parkland Family Health Center for the last 15 years. Dr. Sully graduated from the Robert E Cook Honors College at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania. She obtained her medical degree from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. She completed her family medicine training at Lehigh Valley Hospital where she served as chief resident during her final year of residency. Dr. Sully also earned her certified physician executive designation from the American Association of Physician Leadership.
Nina Taggart MA, MD, MBA, FAAO is the senior medical director for accountable care for the Lehigh Valley Health Network (LVHN) and medical director for the LVHN ACO. Bringing extensive health insurance experience to a provider network, she joined LVHN in July of 2015 to lead the design, development and delivery of LVHN’s Population Health initiatives in the Innovation Division. Dr. Taggart supports all aspects of Value Based Reimbursement programs (VBR) for the network including payer contracting, risk contracting design, analytics, and care management operations. In her role as medical director for the LVHN ACO, she leads a team of professionals on all aspects of MSSP program operations and strategy, including authoring recommendations under the Pathways to Success program. Dr. Taggart works to educate physicians in the PHO on key aspects of VBR performance. She supports the development and deployment of the PHO’s physician incentive program used as a method to align incentives and distribute VBR dollars to participating primary care and specialty physicians. She leads a clinical operational team dedicated to managing patients assigned through all VBR contracts, including both commercial and governmental programs. Dr. Taggart also works closely with Populytics, LVHN’s informatics and analytic subsidiary, to improve our system wide approach to Population Health. She provides clinical direction to Populytics and is responsible for the development of analytic processes to improve both the quality of care and financial performance under VBR programs. Prior to coming to LVHN, Dr. Taggart served in physician executive roles with increasing responsibility working for a regional Blue Cross plan, culminating with her position as chief medical officer. She has published/presented on computer graphics, molecular biology and ophthalmic plastic surgery as well as managed care and population health. She has held multiple leadership positions on medical staff and served on the Board of Penn Care Board and the Board of the Luzerne County Medical Society. Dr. Taggart holds degrees from Bryn Mawr College (AB), Haverford College (MA), Alvernia University (MBA) and Weill Cornell Medical College (MD) and is a certified professional in healthcare information technology. She completed her internship at Bryn Mawr Hospital, and her residency at New York Eye and Ear Infirmary. She is a board certified ophthalmologist.
Anna Taylor is the director of operations for MultiCare Connected Care (MCC) and leads the operational team in the day-to-day functions of the MCC governance committee structure and stewards the business side of the value-based technology platforms and their interoperability functions. She oversees the performance measurement for MCC’s organizational key performance indicators, strategic framework, and operational program management. Ms. Tayolor has been with MultiCare Health System for the 11+ years and has held positions in the Institute for Learning and Development, information services & technology, and strategic planning. She holds a BS from the UW School of Engineering in technical communication and a MS in clinical informatics and patient centered technology from the UW School of Nursing.
Kathy Vesley is the president and CEO of Bay Aging – a nonprofit Area Agency on Aging (AAA) serving the rural eastern coast of Virginia. In addition to traditional aging programs, Bay Aging provides senior housing, public transportation and in-home transitional health care. She was awarded the national John A. Hartford Foundation Business Innovation Award for forging a statewide coalition of Area Agencies on Aging, named VAAACares®. Prior to joining Bay Aging, she served several years as the deputy commissioner of the Virginia Department for the Aging, a term as the acting commissioner for Virginia’s Department for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing and in other state leadership positions. She graduated with degrees in history and sociology from The College of William and Mary and American Sign Language Certification from Gallaudet University.
Jessica Walradt manages Northwestern Medicine’s government value-based care portfolio, which includes BPCI Advanced, the Medicare Shared Savings Program, the Oncology Care Model, and components of the Quality Payment Program. Prior to this, she led the Association of American Medical Colleges’ policy, advocacy, and data analytic efforts surrounding alternative payment models. She directly supported approximately 60 hospitals’ and provider groups’ efforts to implement Medicare bundled payment programs. Ms. Walradt holds an MS in health policy and management from the Harvard School of Public Health and a BA in political science from the University of Richmond.
Brandon Webb, MD, FAAFP, is a family physician and provider/owner at Primary Care Partners. He is also the medical director of OneHealth Nebraska ACO, a physician owned multi-TIN, multi-EHR ACO participating in MSSP and commercial value-based contracts. Dr. Webb helped found OneHealth Nebraska IPA in 2014 as well as OneHealth Nebraska ACO in 2016. Dr. Webb has been continuously seeing patients at his practice for over 23 years and has overseen the growth of that practice from 4 providers to 13, and 1 location to 3.
Jake Woods oversees the strategic growth and operations for PSW’s participation in innovative federal payment models, including the Direct Contracting model and ACO Realizing Equity, Access, and Community Health (REACH) model. During his time at PSW, Mr. Woods has helped to double the gross savings to Medicare, increased ACO participation by 50% and expanded ACO membership into new rural markets across Washington State. Mr. Woods leads provider and practice engagement in NW Momentum Health Partners ACO, focusing on education and outcomes to help physicians and organizations provide high quality care to Medicare beneficiaries. He has built upon previous years of experience in driving success for non-profit organizations to develop a robust communication strategy, connecting independent providers, medical groups, and hospitals across the Pacific Northwest. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Communications from the University of Washington and certification from the CHOICE Regional Health Network Leadership Academy. He is currently a board member on the Health Care Transformation Task Force.