Chief Information Security Officer and Director, Information Services

 

Sriram Bharadwaj (Sri) is Director, Information Systems, University of California, Irvine, Healthcare (UCI Health) and has over 25 years of Information Management Systems experience in multiple industries including healthcare. Sri has held many leadership positions in health plans and prior to his current work at UCI Sri consulted with Integrated Delivery Network (IDNs) around ACO, HIE and Clinical integration. Sri has expertise in Applications Development, Enterprise-wide IT Infrastructure and Operations. Sri is well known for his process knowledge delivering performance improvements in multiple industries during his long tenure with Deloitte in various parts of the Americas, Asia Pacific and EMEA region. Sri also has expertise building products for customers through his earlier involvement with SAP AG (an ERP vendor).

Dr. Stephen Claypool is Medical Director of Clinical Software Solutions at Wolters Kluwer, leading the team of physicians and scientists responsible for the design, development, engineering and interoperability of clinical decision support software products. 

A highly-regarded expert in clinical informatics, Dr. Claypool is a frequent presenter before leading conferences and is extensively published in leading healthcare and health IT industry trades. His research has appeared in several leading peer-reviewed journals, the most recent of which was “Evaluating the Impact of a Computerized Surveillance Algorithm and Decision Support System on Sepsis Mortality,” which appeared in the June 2016 issue of Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association. 

Dr. Claypool’s 20 years of clinical experience includes more than 10 years as a physician and partner with Saint Paul Internists and a hospitalist with St. Joseph’s Hospital, HealthEast. He earned his medical degree from the University of Minnesota School of Medicine and completed his residency and chief residency in internal medicine at the Hennepin County Medical Center.

 

Jeff Coughlin is the Senior Director of Federal & State Affairs at HIMSS. In this position, he leads HIMSS’ efforts to build stronger relationships with federal agencies and facilitates the building of a nationwide network of advocates for state-based initiatives that impact all aspects of health IT. 

 

Before joining HIMSS, Coughlin was the team leader for corporate accounts at the Marwood Group, where he worked with non-profit health systems, health IT vendors, professional societies, and trade associations, analyzing where they could most effectively influence legislative and regulatory processes and focus their advocacy efforts.  

 

His career also included several years in the health care non-profit advocacy world, where he led efforts in policy development, directed outreach to Congress and Executive Branch agencies, built advocacy coalitions with like-minded organizations, and created robust grassroots networks. Coughlin also worked for the Department of Health and Human Services, where he was part of the team responsible for the development, implementation, and management of the Government Performance and Results Act within the Department.

Coughlin's educational background includes a master’s degree in public policy from the College of William & Mary and a bachelor's degree in political science from Providence College.

Douglas Dietzman is Executive Director of Great Lakes Health Connect (GLHC), Michigan's only state-wide, full service health information exchange organization serving the needs of local healthcare stakeholders in communities across the state. 

 

He developed and implemented Michigan Health Connect's start-up corporate business plan and private sustainability model. He also led the integration activities associated with the creation of GLHC through the merger of Michigan Health Connect and Great Lakes Health Information Exchange in July 2014. From an idea and initial seed money from the founding healthcare organizations, revenue has grown over 30% per year and the organization currently has a staff of over 30 high performing individuals. 

 

His experience over the past 25+ years includes business and technology leadership in integrated delivery systems, health plans, physician offices, consulting and startup companies having worked for Andersen Consulting, Spectrum Health, First Consulting Group, iBelieve.com, Mercy Health Services, and Michigan Health Connect.

Prior to becoming involved in the healthcare field, Duling was the Program Manager for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services' Office of Research and Development and she played a key role in the planning and implementation of Illinois' Statewide Automated Child Welfare Information System.

Duling holds a Bachelor's Degree from Eureka College and a Master's Degree in Social Work with emphasis in Policy, Planning and Administration, from the University of Illinois.

Meredith joined Henry Ford Health System in 2003 as their first Chief Privacy Officer after completing a consulting engagement with Health Alliance Plan where she  served  as  a  HIPAA  Project  Manager beginning in late 2002.  Over her 23year career, she has emerged as a strategic leader who is not just interested in processes, goals and objectives but most  of  all  she  is  passionate  about  her  greatest assets...her human capital.  Her success has been attributed to her ability to manage large-scale complex projects that cross-functional areas within integrated delivery systems and health plans while advancing the skill sets of her team members.

 

As the industry has evolved, so has her areas of responsibilities and in 2012 her role was expanded to include leadership responsibilities for Information & Network Security, Privacy & Security Risk Management as well as Identity & Access Management.    As Chief Information Privacy & Security

Officer, she has responsibility for the protection of Henry Ford’s provider, insurance, retail and research businesses. 

 

Meredith is an active member of the Health Care Compliance Association and the International

Association of Privacy Professionals since 2004 where she has demonstrated her commitment to

compliance by holding dual certifications in healthcare compliance and privacy.  She is also certified as a HealthCare Information Security & Privacy Practitioner through the International Information System Security Certification Consortium, Inc.

 

Mazhar Jaffry is founder and COO of Prime Accountable Care, LLC started in 2016 with a philosophy of creating an Independent Primary Care Physician’s network with a desire to stay independent and adapt to the ever-changing and challenging health care environment. 

 

Prime Accountable Care, LLC is located in 3 major cities: Greater Detroit area, Flint and Saginaw, and is unique in a way that it covers more than 150 miles’ radius encompassing 130 physicians and more than 80,000 commercial lives and Medicare beneficiaries. 

 

Prior to managing Prime Accountable Care, LLC, Mazhar was trained as a physician, completed his MBA in Business Management and Marketing, and has 27 years of diversified health care management and leadership experience. He has held various diversified positions in his career. He managed a 200-bed hospital, gained International Business Management experience while working for Johnson & Johnson, Inc. in Egypt, Singapore and Dubai, received various awards during 14 years’ tenure with leading pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline, and was a part of nationally recognized “gsk Emerging Leadership Program’’. 

Mazhar enjoys philanthropy work and recently finished building a hospital in a remote area of Haiti known as ‘Miragoane’ as well as an orphanage for girls.

John P. Kansky, MSE, MBA, CPHIMS, FHIMSS is the President and CEO of the Indiana Health Information Exchange. During his 9 years at IHIE, John has held roles in Strategy and Planning, Product Management, and Business Development. Prior to joining IHIE, John’s career includes experience as a Healthcare IT Consultant with Health Evolutions, CIO of the Health and Hospital Corporation of Marion County (Indiana), Director of Clinical Engineering at the Indiana University Medical Center, and biomedical engineering researcher at the University of Washington School of Medicine. He is a co-inventor on three U.S. patents for diagnostic imaging technology.

 

John has spoken nationally on health information exchange (HIE) and healthcare IT. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of:

 

* HIMSS North America

* The Regenstrief Institute

* Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise USA (IHE USA)

* Strategic HIE Collaborative (SHIEC)

* The Sequoia Project

* Gennesaret Free Clinic

 

John is a member of the Coordinating Committee of the eHealthExchange. He has chaired the HIMSS HIE Committee and served as an adjunct professor at Indiana University in the schools of Informatics and Public Health. He holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University, an MS in Bio-Engineering from the University of Washington, and an MBA from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business.

Account Executive

Marc is a creative sales executive with over 20 years of experience helping companies best leverage technology to achieve measurable business outcomes.  His extensive background in BC/DR solutions started with physical and virtual tape backup at StorageTek.  Since then, he’s worked for companies providing data protection, highly available replication, archive, and cloud-based technologies.  

 

Marc spent 12 years in New York working with large enterprise customers to protect their data while exceeding business process goals with defined RPO/RTO. After acquiring an Economics degree from Washington & Lee University, Marc started a consulting business and he developed a passion for enabling client success and growth through adoption of technical solutions.

Principal

 

Prior to coming to Rush in March of 2015 he served for 10 years as VP and CMIO at the HealthEast Care System in St. Paul MN. As the CMIO at HealthEast he was responsible for championing clinical applications and the use of technology to serve patients and improve the quality of care, leading computerized provider order entry (CPOE) and electronic health record (EHR) implementations system wide. His final project at HealthEast was as the executive lead for the “Big Bang” implementation of Epic’s entire suite of clinical and revenue cycle applications across the 4 hospitals and 31 clinics of the HealthEast Care System.

Dr. Patty’s long-standing quest to promote quality improvement through evidence-based medicine led to an AMDIS Award in 2005 for his success in a CPOE implementation at a community hospital and ultimately to his role as the CMIO for HealthEast. In 2011 Dr. Patty received another AMDIS award for his championing the EHR’s role in the quality improvement efforts at HealthEast. He was also named to Modern Healthcare’s Top 25 Clinical Informaticists in that same year. 

Chief Information Officer

UC Irvine Health
 

Charles Podesta has over 30 years of experience in Information Technology for Healthcare, the last eighteen years of which he has spent as a Chief Information Office. Mr. Podesta has worked for Academic Medical Centers, Health Systems and Community Hospitals. He is currently the CIO for University of California Irvine Health. Previous to this engagement Mr. Podesta was SVP & CIO of Fletcher Allen Healthcare, a large academic medical center and health system in Burlington, VT.

 

Other positions included SVP & CIO at Caritas Christi Health Care, now Steward Health in eastern MA, CIO at Berkshire Health Systems, Pittsfield, MA, Director of IS and Interim CIO for Baystate Health Systems in Springfield, MA. And prior to that, leadership positions at St Vincent Hospital, Worcester, MA; UMASS/Memorial, Worcester, MA and Magee- Women’s Hospital, Pittsburgh, PA.

 

Over the years Mr. Podesta has made numerous presentations at national conferences and is quoted widely in healthcare publications on a variety of IT topics including Epic’s Community Connect Program. 

 

Mark Segal is Vice President, Government and Industry Affairs for GE Healthcare IT. Working
closely with GE Healthcare’s Washington Office and Standards Team, Mark directs
participation in various government and industry groups, helps define and drive advocacy
agendas, and coordinates responses to regulations and legislation. Mark is also past Vice Chair and current Executive Committee member of the HIMSS Electronic Health Record Association (EHRA) and immediate past chair of the Chair of the Healthcare Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS) Government Relations Roundtable. He is also a member of the HIMSS Public Policy Committee, the eHealth Initiative (eHI) Policy Steering Committee and the Markle Foundation’s Connecting for Health steering committee. Mark
has written and spoken widely on many health care issues.

Mark has a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Rochester and a
Doctorate in Political Science from MIT.

Director and Practice Lead, Informatics and Technology

 

Bob Schwyn is a Director with The Chartis Group and Practice Lead for Informatics and Technology. He has extensive experience as a healthcare information technology executive leading teams in clinical transformation and the design and delivery of solutions for enhancing patient care quality, improving operational effectiveness and achieving excellence in customer service. Mr. Schwyn has demonstrated success in strategic planning and implementing industry-leading technology solutions by focusing on process and technology to transform organizational practices. He is an expert in service management and in helping healthcare information technology organizations redesign processes and practices to improve performance, service delivery, satisfaction and maximize value realization from their IT investments. He continues to lead the firm in supporting providers and healthcare organizations in the development of comprehensive informatics and technology strategies.

 

Mr. Schwyn was a principal at Aspen Advisors, a top healthcare IT advisory services firm, before it became a part of The Chartis Group in 2014. Prior to joining Aspen Advisors, he served as a chief information officer and senior executive for several large healthcare organizations and worked as a program director for several large clinical transformation initiatives.

 

Mr. Schwyn earned a Master of Business Administration from the University of Dayton with a concentration in information systems. He also holds a Bachelor of Science in business administration from Franklin University.

 

Carolyn Scott
Senior Vice President and Chief Customer Officer

 

Carolyn is a healthcare leader with over twenty years of experience assisting healthcare organizations improve performance in value based care, patient engagement, and efficiency.

 

Carolyn gained clinical experience as a practicing registered nurse and as a nursing administrator specializing in emergency nursing in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. She spent seven years in consulting and relationship management roles with KPMG and Vizient (formerly VHA) before providing consulting services in the areas of Value-Based Performance and Health Data/Analytics.

 

She went on to work as Service Line Vice President, Quality & Safety, for Premier, Inc., a healthcare alliance company, where she stayed for six years. At Premier, she was responsible for the strategic direction, planning and execution of the healthcare quality and safety service line, including consulting services and large scale collaboratives and clinical networks.

 

Carolyn has served on numerous committees with the American Hospital Association, the National Quality Forum, and the National Patient Safety Foundation. She holds an MHA from the University of Texas at Arlington, a BS in Nursing from Texas Christian University, a MS in Secondary & Higher Education Consulting & Guidance from Texas A&M and a BA in Finance from the University of Texas El Paso.

Chief Executive Officer, Interim

 

Preston Simmons, FACHE, serves as chief executive officer for Providence Health & Services, Northwest Washington. He is responsible for the 491-bed Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett and a network of ambulatory clinics and health care services. 

Before joining Providence in 2007, he served as a senior associate administrator for the University of Washington Medical Center. Prior to that, he was chief executive officer of a rural hospital in the Samaritan Health System in Page, Arizona. He also served in senior leadership roles at Stevens Hospital in Edmonds and Ballard Community Hospital in Seattle.

Simmons holds a master’s in health administration from the University of Washington and is a clinical associate professor for the university’s School of Public Health and Community Medicine. He is a fellow with the American College of Healthcare Executives.

Dr.Yeaman's leadership and innovation has driven some of the earliest and most successful Health Information Exchanges in the USA over the last 10 years.  He currently serves as Chief Administrative Officer for Coordinated Care Oklahoma(CCO). CCO delivers health information on more than 5 million patients across 5 states, and has become a nationally recognized model for sustainable HIE administered under private funding and governance. Dr. Yeaman specializes in collaborating with large health care networks and physician groups to deliver valued solutions across the healthcare continuum, bringing with him his vast experience and relationships with many of the leading Health IT partners across the industry. Dr. Yeaman is committed to empowering patients, healthcare providers, and health systems toward smarter care and better outcomes where high tech meets high touch.