Health IT Summit in Seattle
August 21-22, 2013
Seattle Marriott Waterfront

Julie Bannester, MPP, Health Insurance Specialist, Office of the Regional Administrator, Regional External Affairs, Region 10, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

Julie Bannester is a Health Insurance Specialist with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Regional External Affairs division in Region 10.  Her current responsibilities include serving as the Region 10 External Affairs lead for outreach and education regarding Medicare & Medicaid Electronic Health Records Incentive Programs; Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs); Durable Medical Equipment, Prosthetics, Orthotics, and Supplies (DMEPOS) competitive bidding; and provider enrollment and billing.  Prior to this, she served as a Presidential Management Fellow at CMS for two years, where she worked in every Consortium in the Region 10 Office. Ms. Bannester also served as a Reproductive Health Administrative Intern with the University of Chicago Hospitals’ Section of Family Planning and Contraceptive Research as well as a Development Intern with ACCESS Community Health Network in Chicago. Ms. Bannester's education includes a Bachelor of Science in Journalism and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Northwestern University, and a Master of Public Policy with a Certificate in Health Administration and Policy from the University of Chicago.

Josephine Briggs, MD, Director, National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, National Institutes of Health

Josephine P. Briggs, M.D., an accomplished researcher and physician, is Director of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. Dr. Briggs brings a focus on translational research to the study of complementary and integrative health practices to help build a fuller understanding of the usefulness and safety of these approaches.

Dr. Briggs received her A.B. cum laude in biology from Harvard-Radcliffe College and her M.D. from Harvard Medical School. She completed her residency training in internal medicine and nephrology at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY, where she was also chief resident in the Department of Internal Medicine and a fellow in clinical nephrology. She then held a research fellowship in physiology at Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT. Dr. Briggs was a research scientist for 7 years at the Physiology Institute at the University of Munich, Munich, Germany.

In 1985, Dr. Briggs moved to the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, where she held several academic positions, including associate chair for research in the Department of Internal Medicine and professorships in the Division of Nephrology, Department of Internal Medicine and the Department of Physiology. Dr. Briggs joined the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 1997 as director of the Division of Kidney, Urologic, and Hematologic Diseases at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases where she oversaw extramural research activities. While at NIDDK, she co-chaired an NIH Roadmap Committee on Translational Core Resources. In 2006, she accepted a position as senior scientific officer at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

Dr. Briggs' research interests include the renin-angiotensin system, diabetic nephropathy, circadian regulation of blood pressure, and the effect of antioxidants in kidney disease. She has published more than 175 research articles, book chapters, and scholarly publications. Dr. Briggs also has served on the editorial boards of several journals (including the Journal of Laboratory and Clinical Medicine, Seminars in Nephrology, and Hypertension) and was deputy editor for the Journal of Clinical Investigation. She is an elected member of the American Association of Physicians and the American Society of Clinical Investigation and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She is a recipient of many awards and prizes, including the Volhard Prize of the German Nephrological Society, the Alexander von Humboldt Scientific Exchange Award, and NIH Director's Awards for her role in the development of the Trans-NIH Type I Diabetes Strategic Plan and her leadership of the Trans-NIH Zebrafish committee. Dr. Briggs is also a member of the NIH Steering Committee, the senior most governing board at the NIH.

Cynthia Burghard, Research Director, IDC Health Insights

Cynthia Burghard is a Research Director with IDC Health Insights where she is responsible for research on Accountable Care Organizations. Her passion is to provide the intelligence needed to manage the business and quality of healthcare. She has pioneered the use of healthcare information including building healthcare data warehouses at both the local and national level, developing and implementing analytics for employers, health insurance management, physicians, hospitals and government agencies.
 
As a highly sought-after industry analyst, Ms. Burghard is focused on qualitative and quantitative research on the involvement of consumers in healthcare decisions, best practices models for technology in care management and business intelligence, software vendor evaluation and future scenarios regarding the implications of technology in the healthcare industry. She has delivered the results of her research to all levels of management and healthcare sectors through the publication of over 100 research reports, articles and interviews, thought leadership papers and web seminars, presentations at national, regional and local venues, corporate marketing and sales training and through strategic consulting engagements.
 
As a Sr. Vice President for ikaSystems, a premier provider of enterprise-level cloud computing technologies for commercial, Medicare and Medicaid health plans, Ms. Burghard's work resulted in award-winning client case studies. At Gartner, she was responsible for directing research for the healthcare payer market for business intelligence applications and care management. She holds a Bachelor's degree from the University of Colorado.

Joseph Casper, CEO, Sandlot Solutions

Joseph Casper has over 30 years of health information technology (IT) experience, including developing several start-ups and co-inventing healthcare IT products and services. Today, he serves as Chief Executive Officer for Sandlot Solutions. Joe was specifically selected because of his deep industry experience and his ability to guide the company through both its national expansion and product enhancement process. Before joining Sandlot, Joseph served as Vice President, Global Healthcare Solutions for Quest Diagnostics/Med Plus, an enterprise healthcare information technology software and services company, and oversaw all commercial hospital sales. Prior to MedPlus, Joe served as President, Software Products at First Consulting Group. Earlier in his career, Joe was a leader in the advanced technology services center of expertise for Deloitte & Touché.

In the health information exchange (HIE) industry, Joseph has secured contracts for both state and regional HIE organizations, served as strategic advisor for the state of California’s HIE and has testified before governmental entities on healthcare IT-related issues.

Cort Garrison, MD, CIO, Salem Health

Cort Garrison began serving as the Chief Information Officer for Salem Hospital in July, 2011. He has more than 20 years’ experience in the healthcare industry across a complex organization. He is the former Chief Medical Information Officer and Medical Director of Informatics for Salem Hospital from 2005 – 2009 leading multiple teams and committees implementing a complex EHR system for a 440 bed hospital.

In 2007 he was Interim Chief Information officer responsible for reevaluation of Information Systems with recommendations to the CEO concerning strategy and infrastructure. He was a member of the recruitment team for the new CIO.

Cort has demonstrated a career long commitment to nurturing talent and potential in others. In 2006 to present he is the Co-Chair for the Medical Director Diabetes Project. Responsible for design, implementation and supervision of inpatient diabetes project, goal is to improve the care of diabetics at Salem Hospital.

From 1998 to 2011 Cort as held various Medical Staff Executive positions; Chair Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee, Chair Hospital Based Specialty Department, Co-Chair of Quality Council responsible for implementation and barrier removal for core measures and quality initiatives, Chair of By-Laws review Committee, Member of the Medical Executive Cabinet, President Elect of Salem Hospital Medical Staff and President of Salem Hospital Medical Staff.

From 1991 – 2009 Cort Garrison had his private practice in Endocrinology. Cort also managed partners for four years. Cort received his BS from the University of California in Biochemistry in 1982, his MD from University of Southern California, Completed his residency from Oregon Health and Sciences University, Portland, Oregon, and obtained his MBA at Willamette University in 2009.

Jim Hauenstein, MBA, CIO, Enloe Medical Center

James Heilsberg, CPA, FHFMA, CFO/CIO, Facility Planner, Whitman Hospital and Medical Center

Jim has over 20 years of experience in healthcare as CIO, CFO, Consultant, Interim CEO/CFO and other roles in rural and urban healthcare.  Jim has been associated with Whitman Hospital and Medical Center for over 20 years.  Jim is known for connecting dots between issues and relating them to every day life examples to help others understand and see complex issues in simple and humerous way.  Jim's method includes using random thoughts weaved together that in the end helps people see what they did not see.  Jim is an avid golfer and basketball referee.  He has a passion for life at work or play that is not matched by many and values the vantastic 4 - friends, faith, family and fun.

Waco Hoover, CEO, Institute for Health Technology Transformation

Mr. Hoover is the co-founder and CEO of the Institute for Health Technology Transformation, one of the nation’s leading organizations committed to bringing together private and public sector leaders fostering the growth and effective use of technology across the health care industry. Mr. Hoover is responsible for leading the growth strategy and direction of the Institute in addition to managing the organization’s content & education programs and marketing efforts.        

Mr. Hoover brings over a decade of experience formulating collaborative initiatives and conducting research in health care information technology. As the co-founder of the Institute he has collaborated and lead initiatives focused on patient engagement, accountable care, population health, decision support, analytics and other timely topics in an effort to drive the effective use of technology across the U.S. health system. Prior to starting his career in health care Mr. Hoover served in the U.S. Marine Corps as a demolitions and anti-armor squad leader, infantry scout and assistant chief instructor, managing combat water survival training for Marine and Naval Forces stationed at Marine Corps Base Hawaii and forward deployed forces in South East Asia.

Mr. Hoover graduated cum laude from New York University, holds a MBA from The Florida State University and completed the Harvard School of Public Health’s certificate program in Leadership Strategies for Information Technology in Health Care. He is a member of the Health Information and Management Systems Society and the American College of Healthcare Executives.     

Jeff Hummel, MD, MPH, Medical Director for Healthcare, Qualis Health

Jeff Hummel, MD, MPH has worked since 2005 for Qualis Health, as the Medical Director for Healthcare Informatics where he has served as the clinical lead for the Washington Idaho Regional Extension Center as well as a number of projects funded by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services designed to help primary care providers adapt EHRs to their office practices and use them to improve care. He has contributed informatics content to the Commonwealth Fund Safety-Net Medical Homes Initiative.

Dr. Hummel graduated from Medical School at the University of Washington in 1976 and did his internal medicine residency at the University of Massachusetts. He spent his first 4 years of practice in the rural Palouse country of Eastern Washington.

He returned to Seattle in the mid-1980s to work at Group Health a! nd get a Masters Degree in Public Health at the University of Washington. During his 13 years at Group Health he was involved in early work on population management for diabetes and testing of the Chronic Illness Care Model. While working at Group Health he also served as Medical Director for MEDEX Northwest, the Physician Assistant training program a the University of Washington School of Medicine. During that time he piloted several different models for interdisciplinary primary care teams.

He was recruited in 1997 to help start the University of Washington Physicians Network (UWPN), where he served as Clinic Chief at the Belltown Clinic for four years, and later became the Associate Medical Director for Clinical Improvement and Medical Informatics for UWPN. In that role he led several major quality improvement initiatives in an EMR environment, including Diabetes, Hypertension, Asthma, and Anticoagulation. He continues his clinical practice at the Belltown Clinic.

Kirk Larson, VP & CIO, Children's Hospital Central California

Kirk Larson joined Children’s Hospital Central California in November 2010 as vice president and chief information officer. Larson came to Children’s from Natividad Medical Center – a county-owned public safety net hospital – in Salinas, Calif., where he served as chief information officer.

With nearly a decade of management experience, Larson brings a wealth of knowledge to Children’s. He has held a variety of leadership positions over the years, including senior managing consultant, healthcare consulting, and senior manager, service and support, for Cerner Corporation, a leader in the healthcare information systems industry and the largest healthcare consultancy in the world, in Kansas City, Mo.

Larson is a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives, the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives, and the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society. He especially enjoys mentoring and helping others. He served as a facilitator/trainer for newly promoted managers, team leads and emerging leaders at Cerner Corporation, and received the Sequoia Award for outstanding mentoring from Arthur Andersen, LLP, where he worked as a senior consultant, advanced technology group, in Chicago, Ill. In addition, he volunteered as a counselor for gifted youth students at Purdue University for 16 consecutive summers in West Lafayette, Ind.

Larson earned his bachelor of science degree in mathematics magna cum laude from North Central College in Naperville, Ill. He received dual degrees in master of health services administration (MHSA), health management and policy, and master of business administration (MBA), finance and corporate strategy, from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Larson completed his MBA internship as a health business associate at Medco Health Solutions, the nation’s largest pharmacy benefits manager, in Franklin Lakes, N.J. He did his MHSA internship as a hospital administrative resident at NorthShore University HealthSystem, a nationally recognized “Top 100 Hospital” and “Top 15 Teaching Hospital” in Evanston, Ill.

Reed Tuckson, MD, FACP, Former Executive Vice President, Chief of Medical Affairs, UnitedHealth Group, Managing Director, Tuckson Health Connections

A graduate of Howard University, Georgetown University School of Medicine, and the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania’s General Internal Medicine Residency and Fellowship Programs, where he was also a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholar, Dr. Tuckson is currently the managing director of Tuckson Health Connections, a health and medical care consulting business that brings people and ideas together to promote optimal health outcomes.

Previously, he enjoyed a long tenure as Executive Vice President and Chief of Medical Affairs for UnitedHealth Group, a Fortune 25 health and wellbeing company, which includes the nation’s largest health insurer and the industry’s most comprehensive health services company. Prior to that, Dr. Tuckson’s career includes leadership positions as Senior Vice President for Professional Standards of the American Medical Association (AMA); President of the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in Los Angeles; Senior Vice President for Programs of the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation; and the Commissioner of Public Health for the District of Columbia.

Dr. Tuckson continues to be engaged in leadership positions across the continuum of health promotion and medical care delivery including basic science and its translation into clinical practice; the establishment of biotechnology enterprises; community and individual health enhancement; health information technology and data analysis; telemedicine; clinical care delivery and evaluation; and the integration of clinical medicine and public health systems.

Dr. Tuckson is an active member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, serving on, or chairing, several boards and committees. He is also active on the Advisory Committee to the Director of the National Institutes of Health; and serves on the Boards of Cell Therapeutics, Inc.; Howard University and the American Telemedicine Association among others. He has past service on cabinet level advisory committees concerned with health reform, infant mortality, children’s health, violence, and radiation testing.

The author of The Doctor in the Mirror, a book and media presentation focused on patient empowerment to overcome everyday health issues for Americans 55 and older, Dr. Tuckson was recently honored to be ranked ninth on the list of the “50 Most Powerful Physician Executives” in healthcare my Modern Healthcare Magazine.

Rick MacCornack, PhD, Chief Systems Integration Officer, Northwest Physicians Network

Bob Marshall, MD, MPH, MISM, CMIO/Clinical Informatics Fellowship Director, Madigan Army Medical Center

John McDaniel, National Practice Leader – US Healthcare Provider Market, US Public Sector Division, NetApp

Ricardo Munoz, MD, FAAP, FCCM, F.A.C.C., Chief, Cardiac Intensive Care Division Medical Director, Global Business & Telemedicine, Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC

Dr. Munoz is Chief of the Cardiac Intensive Care Division at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, Medical Director for Global Business and Telemedicine and Associate Professor of Critical Care Medicine, Pediatrics and Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.  Dr. Munoz is the main editor of three books in the field of pediatric cardiac intensive care and is board certified in pediatrics, pediatric cardiology and pediatric critical care medicine.  In addition, he is a member and counselor of Cardiac Intensive Care of the European Association of Pediatric Cardiology,  Fellow of the American Board of Pediatrics, Society of Critical Care Medicine and the American College of Cardiology.

Nancy A Olson RN-BC, BSN, MBA, PhD, Regional Director-Nursing/Clinical Informatics, Providence Health and Services

Nancy A Olson began serving as Regional Director of Nursing/Clinical Informatics for Providence Health and Services in 2002. Her recent priorities at Providence relate to standardization and implementation of the electronic medical record and other core tools for the clinical team. Her education and experience aligned well with the challenges and opportunities inherent in the new government legislated ARRA ‘meaningful use’ program. Her leadership has been pivotal to establish a governance framework, engage the extensive list of stakeholders for compliance/attestation, and exceed incentive budget targets each year. Dr. Olson is an American Nursing Credentialing Center board-certified nurse informaticist since 2000. Healthcare operations and systems have been the primary focus of her career for over twenty years. She has successfully lead many departments and projects across the continuum of care for multiple health systems. Her expertise in nursing and informatics also landed her a senior leader role with a healthcare vendor designing medication delivery products for patient safety. In this role, she worked with engineering, sales, marketing, clinicians, and the executive team to bring the products to a national market.

Dr. Olson is active in many professional associations to continually learn and network with peers. She has been the Program Leader for Puget Sound Nursing Informatics since 2008, facilitates three regional programs per year, promotes collaboration with HIMSS-NW and CHITA program calendars, and worked aggressively to bring a national speaker to Seattle in 2013 that will prepare nurses and other clinical specialists for informatics certification.

Dr. Olson received her bachelor of science in Nursing from the University of Washington. Later she completed a master in business administration degree from Pacific Lutheran University with a concentration in information systems. In 2008, she completed her dissertation and secured a PhD in Health Services Administration from Northcentral University. Continually focused on improving patient care by leveraging technology, her research study was accepted for presentation at the Mayo Clinic Nursing Research Symposium in 2009, their theme: Informatics- Making a Difference at the Point of Care.

Andrew Proctor, Senior Director of Business Intelligence, Medical Operations Division, Cleveland Clinic

Andrew is the Senior Director of Business Intelligence, Medical Operations Division and has managed Business Intelligence at The Cleveland Clinic since 1996.  He received his masters in Health Systems Management from Rush University and is a healthcare management professional with 18 years experience in group practice operations and performance improvement in large academic medical centers.  Responsibilities include the development and continued support of performance indicators, professional productivity measurement, and utilizing business intelligence to aid management with strategic and operational decision making.  Andrew is frequently asked to speak nationally and internationally on topics related to business intelligence and performance management.

Andrew participated on teams receiving:
- The Data Warehousing Institute (TDWI) 2011 Best Practice Awards for Performance Management
- 2011 Society of Hospital Medicine Award of Excellence – Team Approaches in Quality Improvement Award - Cleveland Clinic Blood Management

The success of Cleveland Clinic Business Intelligence is featured as a case study by Howard Dresner. Profiles in Performance: Business Intelligence Journeys and the Roadmap to Change.

Shannon Werb, Chief Operating Officer / Chief Strategy Officer, Acuo Technologies

Eric Wicklund, Editor, mHIMSS.org