Rise

Halima Ahmadi-Montecalvo PhD, MPH, Adjunct Professor, SDOH Researcher

Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University

Dr. Ahmadi-Montecalvo is an epidemiologist and social and behavioral scientist with extensive experience in the application and use of quantitative and qualitative methodology in behavioral health, maternal and child health, and social science broadly. Her research focuses on the social drivers of health and health inequities, with a particular interest in issues explaining factors within the social and built environment that affect the lives of vulnerable population groups. Dr. Ahmadi-Montecalvo is the Associate Vice President of Research and Evaluation at Unite Us, where she leads evaluation efforts to measure the value of social care investments.

She has over 20 years of experience in program evaluation, and social and behavioral health research working with local, state, and a number of federal government clients, including the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS); the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA); the National Institutes of Health (NIH); the Department of Labor (DoL); the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD); and the Veterans Health Administration (VHA).

Dr. Ahmadi-Montecalvo is an adjunct faculty at Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washing University where she teaches public health and population health courses. She holds a Master’s of Public Health with a focus in Epidemiology and Community Health from Brown University, and a PhD in Social and Behavioral Sciences from West Virginia University, School of Public Health.

Robert Ball Chief Legal Officer

Enlace Health

Steven Boos MBA, MHA, Manager, Implementations and Program Development

Piedmont Healthcare

Steven Boos has worked in health care for 13 years. After obtaining Master’s Degrees in Health Administration and Business Administration, he was recruited by the company ChenMed, and served as the Director of a Medical Center in Richmond, Virginia, under one of ChenMed’s brands: JenCare Senior Medical Center. It was here that Steven realized his passion for Value Based Care. Together, with his physician dyad partner, they led a successful practice, caring for senior citizens, in a full-risk, fully capitated, primary care model.

Today, Boos manages Implementations and Program Development for Piedmont Healthcare’s Epic Community Connect program, helping to bring Piedmont Healthcare’s EHR, Epic, to independent physician practices, throughout Georgia.

Boos remains committed to his passion for value-based care, and is presently engaged with a team of leaders at Piedmont, to help develop a pilot program, with a value-based approach.

Jennifer Bright President

International Consortium for Health Outcomes Measurement (ICHOM)

Jim Carr Partner

InHealth Advisors

Jim leads InHealth’s work related to structuring, implementing, and valuing provider integration models for clinic-based specialties and navigating the transition to participation in advanced value-based contracting models. Jim is a frequent presenter and author on matters pertaining to physician alignment models and provider compensation. He also possesses extensive experience serving as an expert in disputes and investigations involving physician compensation matters. His industry experience includes development of joint-venture ASCs, outpatient clinics/procedure areas, provider “lease” arrangements, and provider contracting.

Prior to founding InHealth, Jim was a partner with a national healthcare valuation firm, where he served as managing partner of the firm’s Colorado office. Jim previously served as the Director of Finance and Controller of a large academic medical center, where he led the financial analysis, planning, and operations functions for seven business units. He began his career serving with NASA as an engineer in the Space Shuttle and International Space Station programs. Jim earned a Master’s degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance from the Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University and a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Tennessee.

Jim offers InHealth’s clients guidance in designing provider integration models that ensure alignment with their organization’s operational and financial goals, as well as optimize the organization’s performance in value-based payment programs. He assists organizations in developing the strategies and entities needed for participation in advanced value-based contracting programs, including Value-Based Enterprises, Accountable Care Organizations, and Clinically Integrated Networks.

In his personal life, Jim enjoys time with his family, miles on his bikes, and (rarely good) rounds on the golf course.

John Carter Brand Ambassador

Pinnacle Healthcare Consulting

Mr. Carter serves as the Brand Ambassador for Pinnacle Healthcare Consulting where he leverages more than a decade of healthcare recruiting, consulting, operations, and leadership experience. Having partnered with organizations across the nation, he has a broad background working with health systems, Accountable Care Organizations (ACO), Clinically Integrated Networks (CIN), hospitals, physician practices, Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC), behavioral health groups, managed care organizations, Indian Health Services (IHS), the Veterans Affairs (VA), Academic Medical Centers (AMC), hospital associations, and Independent Physician Associations (IPA).

John’s expertise includes strategy and operations, recruitment and retention, physician engagement, alignment, and integration, compensation and incentive design, payor contracting and negotiations, network development and growth strategies, data analytics, and value-based care.

Prior to Pinnacle, he served as Director of Advisory Services for one of Dallas Fort Worth’s leading Independent Physician Associations supporting 650+ physicians across 250+ practices in the North Texas market.  In this role, he provided leadership and oversight for network operations while supporting new member recruitment, clinical integration, practice support operations, payor contract negotiations and management, and value-based care programs as well as credentialing, data compliance, claims resolution, payor relations, joint operating committees, education, and training.

John is a Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives and a Fellow in the American College of Health Data Management. He holds a Healthcare MBA, a Master of Science in Healthcare Leadership and Management, and a Certification in Healthcare Informatics Leadership. John is also a former Army Field Artillery Officer with fourteen years of military service.

Rafi Cices Head of Risk Adjustment, Coding and Billing

Cityblock Health

Amy Crenshaw-Pritchett Sr. Manager, HCC Coding/Audit & Education Services,

Pinnacle Healthcare Consulting

Amy brings over 25 years of medical billing and coding experience to Pinnacle as a Senior Manager. Her high-level auditing skills encompass Medicare Risk Adjustment and HCC Coding, Auditing, and Education along with both facility and professional fee services. Specializing in revenue cycle management, inpatient/OP/OBS/ANC/ED and SDS, Amy’s broad expertise includes RAC reviews, charge master reviews, inpatient MS-DRG and APR-DRG, outpatient coding assessments, risk adjustment, HCC capture and clinical documentation improvement.

Having managed large coding departments and teams, Amy is an exceptional leader and trainer. She brings to Pinnacle vast experience and talent that can transform entire coding departments and achieve improved performance, quality and accuracy. She is also exceptional at locating areas for improvement and developing processes that address specific issues in order to maximize individual and team potential.

Prior to Pinnacle, Amy held several director, management, and lead educator positions where she was responsible for facility coding, auditing and review, P/L, revenue cycle, and the managing of pro-fee audit for specialty clients including physician evaluation and management leveling. She was also responsible for the oversight of hundreds of coders and multiple locations where she provided staff with ongoing training.

Amy is a Certified ICD-10/CM/PCS Instructor and serves as an Adjunct Professor of Medical Billing and Coding within the University of South Alabama Medical Billing and Coding Program where she has taught for 7 years. She holds several designations including: BSHA, RAP, CPA-RA, CCS, CPC-I, CPC-O, CANPC, CPMA, CASCC, CDEO, CDEI, CRC, CPMP, CMPM, CMRS, CEDC, C-AHI. In addition, Amy is an AAPC Fellow and has had several speaking engagements with the AAPC and The Coding Institute.

Zach Davis Senior Consulting Actuary

Wakely Consulting Group

Shannon Decker Principal

VBC One

Dr. Shannon Decker is principal at VBC One, a consulting firm assisting physician groups, health plans and vendors maximize the performance of their value based contracts and offerings. Dr. Decker has more than 20 years experience in health care and most recently led teams in risk, quality, data and analytics, telehealth, COVID response and delegation compliance. Of her more than 20 years of experience in healthcare--15 include working with risk adjustment, quality and Medicare. Dr. Decker has a PhD. in Interdisciplinary Studies, dual MBA degrees--in Finance and in Marketing, as well as an M.Ed. in Secondary Education and a M.Ed. in Administration and Leadership. Dr. Decker is on the faculty at Arizona State University and is also an associate professor of Higher Education & Adult Learning (HEAL) and chief methodologist for Walden and Capella Universities where she chairs and oversees the dissertations of doctoral students. An author of two books and several peer-reviewed articles, and a prolific national public speaker, her interests include the study of human behavior and how theories on motivation and learning may be brought to bear on population health management.

Alexander Ding MD, MS, MBA, Associate Vice President for Physician Strategy and Medical Affairs

Humana

Dr. Alex Ding is the Associate Vice President for Physician Strategy and Medical Affairs at Humana.  He leads a team focused on physician engagement and empowerment, clinician experience; advancement of value-based care; and executing on enterprise-level clinical culture.

He is a board-certified diagnostic and interventional radiologist, and remains a practicing physician, teaching and providing clinical care as a clinical assistant professor at the University of Louisville.

He was previously managing partner at California Advanced Imaging, and the Chief of Radiology and Medical Director of Imaging at Sutter Health on the San Francisco Peninsula.

He is an elected Board member of the American Medical Association, and recently served as the Chair of the AMA's Council on Science and Public Health, during the height of the COVID pandemic.  He previously held a gubernatorial appointment on California's healthcare workforce commission, and has been an adviser to multiple health technology companies including Google, Eko, and Doximity, in addition to health venture funds.

Alex holds a BA in Economics and MS in Public Health from the University of California Berkeley, an MBA in finance from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and an MD from the University of California San Francisco. He completed his residency and fellowship at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School and is a US Navy veteran. 

Lance Donkerbrook Chief Executive Officer

Commonwealth Primary Care ACO LLC

Mr. Donkerbrook has over twenty five years of healthcare experience ranging from consulting, business planning, financial management and contracting within national health insurers, hospital delivery networks, physician practices and healthcare technology companies. Outside of his more recent ACO leadership, Lance has implemented many innovative projects related to strategic planning, system selections, business case, process reengineering, productivity, and contracting associated with health plan operations and their IT systems implementations.

For the last five years, Lance has led as the COO, and more recently, elected as the CEO of the Commonwealth Primary Care Accountable Care Organization based in Tempe, Arizona. He has a BS in Economics from Arizona State University and an MBA from Texas Christian University. Lance serves as an advisor for three technology companies, and volunteers on the the Men’s Arts Council with the Phoenix Art Museum.

Theresa Dreyer Health Care Transformation Task Force

Senior Director

Theresa Dreyer is a Senior Director for the Health Care Transformation Task Force. Prior to joining the Task Force, Theresa led the Value-Based Care (VBC) portfolio at the Association of American Medical Colleges. She draws on previous experience with the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, where she led the Pennsylvania Rural Health Model, and has also worked in health care consulting. Based on her range of public and private sector expertise, Theresa has developed deep knowledge of how VBC works from a policy perspective, as well as how it plays out on the ground for payers, providers, and patients.

Theresa holds a Master of Public Health and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Michigan. 

Jonas Foit Managing Partner

CareOne Consulting

RaeAnn Grossman Chief Growth Officer

Luna

RaeAnn Grossman is a distinguished figure in healthcare innovation, renowned for her 28 years of executive leadership, where she has consistently sparked growth and transformation. Specializing in Medicare Advantage, ACA, and Medicaid, she possesses a wealth of expertise in strategic planning, growth, organizational redesign, and operational excellence.

Throughout her career, RaeAnn has not only founded but successfully sold five remarkable tech-enabled and SaaS healthcare enterprises, including Leprechaun, Signify, Gorman Health Group, Datavant, and Cotiviti. Her visionary leadership and operational prowess have positioned her as a driving force in the industry, with a particular focus on risk adjustment, quality improvement, value-based care, and payment integrity.

RaeAnn’s impact extends beyond entrepreneurial success; she has spearheaded the establishment of numerous ACO, Medicaid health plans, and Medicare Advantage plans, ensuring regulatory compliance while driving value and innovation. Her leadership styles, characterized by transformational, servant, visionary, and coach approaches, reflect her dedication to excellence in healthcare and simplifying the healthcare journey.

With a passion for driving positive change in the healthcare landscape, RaeAnn Grossman continues to leave an indelible mark as a trailblazer and influencer in the field.

Erin Hahn Senior Health Policy Analyst, Value Based Care

American Association of Medical Colleges

As a senior health policy analyst for the AAMC value based care team, Erin Hahn assists in the efforts surrounding policy, advocacy, research, and data analytics. Erin helps support numerous health systems and hospitals within the AAMC convened group.     Erin is a graduate of Emory University 2016, with a Master of Public Health, Health Policy and Management focus. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Politics and International Relations from Oxford Brookes University in Oxford, England.

Ana Handshuh Principal

Cat5 Strategies

Ana Handshuh, CHC, is a government programs executive with expertise in creating and implementing corporate programs for the healthcare industry. Ms. Handshuh is the Principal at CAT5 Strategies, a healthcare advisory practice specializing in Regulatory and Operational Compliance, Revenue Management, Communications, Quality, Care Management Programs, Benefit and Formulary Design, Program Bid Submission, Accreditation, and Technology Integration. She recently founded TRACSCOUT, a technology startup SaaS platform for managed care processes. 

Her recent consultancy roles include conducting compliance risk assessments, performing Compliance Program Effectiveness audits, conducting FDR and PBM pre‐delegation audit, preparing for CMS program audit, and writing and implementing post‐audit corrective action plans. Ms. Handshuh has also assisted government program sponsors achieve higher Star ratings, create and implement care management programs, document their processes and procedures, achieve accreditation status, design and submit government program bids, institute corporate‐wide programs and create communications strategies and materials. She is a member of the Health Care Compliance Association and is Certified in Healthcare Compliance by the Compliance Certification Board. Ana currently serves on the Board of the Resource Initiative and Society for Education (RISE), the preeminent national professional association dedicated to managed and accountable care financing and delivery.  

Ms. Handshuh previously served as the Vice President of Managed Care Services at Central Florida Inpatient Medicine (CFIM), providing leadership and strategy on CFIM projects with physicians, risk entities, hospital systems, and health plans. Prior to that assignment, she worked with Precision Healthcare Systems as their Vice President of Quality Improvement, leading the IPA’s collaborations with payers to implement Quality and Star Rating initiatives. Ms. Handshuh also served as the Director of Corporate Program Development at Physicians United Plan (PUP), leading the Medicare health plan’s Quality Management and Corporate Communications departments and spearheading the development of innovative integrated technology solutions to drive business excellence and Star Rating achievement. Prior to joining Physicians United Plan Ms. Handshuh was the founder of I-Six Creative. Under Ms. Handshuh’s vision and leadership, I-Six provided expertise in the areas of managed Medicare benefit design, MSO/IPA operations, provider network strategy, new market launches, technology integration, corporate communications and quality improvement.  

Gabe Imperato Partner

Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP

Gabe Imperato is the Fort Lauderdale managing partner and leader of the Healthcare Enforcement, Compliance and Litigation Group. personal practice includes representing individuals and organizations accused of healthcare fraud and assisting and advising healthcare organizations on corporate governance and compliance matters. Gabriel is board certified as a specialist in Health Law by the Florida Bar. He is also certified in Health Care Compliance (CHC) by the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics and the Health Care Compliance Association (SCCE/HCCA). This national accreditation reflects a professional level of competence and experience in compliance processes sufficient to assist healthcare business organizations to understand and address legal obligations and to promote organizational governance and integrity through the operation of effective compliance programs. Gabriel served as Interim General Counsel of the North Broward Hospital District, the tenth largest health system in the United States. He was also the Deputy Chief Counsel for the United States Department of Health and Human Services' Office of the General Counsel in Dallas. He has served as a longtime member of the Board of Directors and Past President of the SCCE/HCCA.

Sameer Kalarn

Helgerson Solutions Group

Sameer brings his experience in analytics, data systems, and reporting to create success in value based care environments. He believes that true value driven patient centered care can be achieved through the creation of robust access to meaningful and actionable healthcare data.

Sameer joins HSG with experience working in federally qualified health center and community based organization environments. He heavily worked to develop monitoring and evaluation methods for program interventions, quality incentive programs, and value based care contracts through expanding structured data systems and building reporting capacity. He has additional experience in creating clinical and operations workflows needed for rapid implementation of interventions, most recently the adoption of telemedicine and COVID-19 testing and vaccinations in health centers and mobile community based programs.

Kimberly Kauffman Senior Director, Quality Reporting

Aledade, Inc.

Kimberly Kauffman supports quality reporting at Aledade.  Specifically, she works with  quality reporting, record retrieval and patient outreach teams across VBC contracts in all lines of business.  Prior, she was the chief VBC officer for MaxHealth, a primary care group in Florida, and before that was chief VBC officer for Summit Medical Group in Tennessee.  Her background includes leadership for a large IPA in Florida and for a multi-hospital PHO. She is a founding NAACOS Board member and served on the Board / Executive Committee for ten years.  She received a masters degree from University of Florida’s college of public health.

Dr. Nimala Kishun Vice President, Population Health

MCR Health

Stephen Klasko Executive in Residence, General Catalyst

North American Ambassador, Sheba Medical Center in Israel

Dr. Klasko is an author, an entrepreneur and a believer in the creative and optimistic transformation of healthcare and higher education. He has been a health system CEO, a university president, and a dean of two medical colleges. Currently he is pursuing his passion to bridge academic health centers with the emerging world of generative AI, digital medicine and innovation. 

As President of Thomas Jefferson University, he directed a merger between an almost two century old health science university and a nationally ranked university for design and architecture.  That merger was heralded by the Chronicle of Higher Education as one of the “few successful mergers between academic entities.”  As CEO of Jefferson Health, he presided over the growth of the system from $1.5 billion to $9 billion including the acquisition of Health Partners Plan, making Jefferson the first integrated delivery and financial system in Philadelphia history and the largest health system in Philadelphia.  This included a first of its kind digital “health at any address” partnership between Jefferson and leading health venture capital firms such as General Catalyst, a16z and Oak HC.  He has been a board member and advisor to several AI behavioral health entities and led the Forbes Health Summit this year on the ethical and regulatory “unintended consequences” of generative AI.

His most recent book, Feelin’ Alright: How the Message in the Music Can Make Healthcare Healthier uses music and creativity to tackle the biggest issues in healthcare His fifth book (with Hemant Taneja of General Catalyst) in 2021, UnHealthcare: A Manifesto for Health Assurance has become the manual for both founders and health system CEOs for merging the venture capital world with the traditional healthcare ecosystem.

Dr. Klasko serves as Executive in Residence at General Catalyst, North American ambassador for Sheba Medical Center in Israel, and as CMO and Operating Partner of Abundant Partners.  He is the lead independent director for Teleflex (TFX:NYSE), a multi-billion dollar medical device company. In 2022, President Biden appointed him to the National Board of Education Sciences.  He serves as a member of the Founders Circle for BrightEdge, a unique impact investing arm of the American Cancer Society. Dr. Klasko is also the board chair of Opera Philadelphia and a trustee of Rosalind Franklin University and Chicago Medical School.

Over the past five years he has been awarded by Fast Company as one of the “top 25 most creative people in business,” by Modern Healthcare as the “#2 most influential person in healthcare” and by Ernst and Young as the “entrepreneur of the year.”

He lives in Miami and New York with his wife Colleen Wyse, a commercial model and former fashion executive with senior positions in Vogue, W and Glamour. 

Francis Larossa MSHS, Director, Government Quality Programs

Piedmont Healthcare

Francis LaRossa serves as Piedmont Healthcare’s Director of Government Quality program, overseeing both its MSSP ACO and its Medicare Advantage value-based programs, which total an estimated 120,000 lives. Prior to Piedmont, he worked in both the consulting and tech industries. He holds a Bachelors and Masters of Science in Heath Systems from Georgia Tech.

Stephen Linesch Principal

Paradigm Group

Steve Linesch is a principal with the Paradigm Group, since 2017, delivering results for organizations in value-based care. Areas of expertise include physician organization administration, business development and provider network expansion and maintenance. Clients include physician organizations, medical device, tech-enabled start up, professional associations and expert witness.

Prior to 2017, Steve was with America’s Physician Groups (APG) as their Senior Vice President, Administration and Development. APG is the leading U.S. professional association for physician organizations practicing capitated, coordinate care, with over 335 physician groups. Steve was responsible for overall APG management, education and national development.

For 13 years prior to joining APG, Steve held executive-level positions with two physician organizations, Torrance Health IPA as CEO and GEMCare Medical Group/Managed Care Systems as their Senior Vice President. He worked with several health plans prior to his involvement with these physician organizations.

Steve has an MBA in finance from the Marshal School of Business, University of Southern California and a BA in molecular biology with a minor in economics from the University of California, San Diego.

As a founding member and continuing participant in the Graduate Mentor Program, Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California, Steve is committed to the development of our future health care leaders.

Brian Machut Vice President and Consulting Actuary

Alliant Insurance Services

Christine Meyer MD, Physician Founder

Christine Meyer, MD and Associates

Dr. Meyer, born and raised in New Jersey to first-generation Egyptian parents, earned her Bachelor’s Degree from Rutgers University and her Medical Degree from Hahnemann University School of Medicine (now Drexel University). She completed her Internal Medicine Residency at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and is Board Certified in Internal Medicine.

She met Dr. Christopher Meyer during medical school orientation in 1993, and they have been married for twenty-eight years. Together, they founded CMMD and Associates and Healthy Steps Pediatrics in Exton in 2004. They reside in Downingtown with their three children: Maisy, currently in medical school at Mt. Sinai; Sam, a mechanical engineering major at Temple; and Hadley, a student at Downingtown East High School.

Dr. Meyer has been recognized nationally as a Value-Based Care expert. She has been featured in local and national media and has been invited to speak before Congress on matters related to physician payment models, VBC, and accountable care organizations. She serves on several physician advisory boards striving to bridge the gap between physicians, payers, and regulatory agencies such as CMS. In 2023, Dr. Meyer founded CMMD Consulting. This advisory firm provides consultation services to networks and physicians working to optimize their performance in VBC. 

When not practicing medicine, Dr. Meyer enjoys beach outings, running, cooking, and writing.

Jessica Moschella MPH, SVP High Value Care

University of Vermont Health Network

Jessica joined the University of Vermont Health Network in January 2023 as senior vice president for high value care. She is responsible for leading the organization’s work to improve outcomes for patients across Vermont and northern New York and advance value within the care delivery system.

Jessica has deep experience in value-based care and population health. Prior to her role with UVM Health Network, she served as executive director of the Newton-Wellesley Physician Hospital Organization and vice president of provider network performance, executive director of Emerson Physician Hospital Organization and director of population health management at Mass General Brigham (formerly Partners HealthCare). Jessica also served as the administrative director for the Massachusetts Health Care Quality and Cost Council.

She has an extensive background in public health programming domestically and internationally. This includes serving as the director of HIV community services at the Cambridge Health Alliance, providing consultant services to hospitals, schools and NGOs throughout South Africa and serving as Peace Corps volunteer in Bolivia.

Jessica completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania and graduated from Tulane University’s School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine with a Master’s Degree in Public Health in International Health and Development.

Amy Nygaard MD, Medical Director

Rula

Ken Persaud MD, CEO

White-Wilson Medical Center

Dr. Kenneth Persaud is nationally recognized thought leader and change agent with over two decades of experience with increasing responsibility across healthcare sectors, in creating, scaling and operating businesses to achieve optimized healthcare outcomes. Ken is a healthcare executive with a history of setting strategic direction and bringing together high caliber teams to execute on business growth, while maintaining focus on people first corporate cultures. Ken entered health administration after practicing as a primary care provider, this combination of a provider perspective with business acumen have provided vision, unique insight and problem-solving advantages beneficial in today’s rapidly evolving healthcare arena.  Ken earned a BS from the Rochester Institute of Technology, and his medical degree from the University of Mexico Medical College. During his free time Ken can be found enjoying the outdoors alongside his wife of 18 yrs or courtside cheering on their son or daughter.

Ann Pogrebitskiy Consulting Actuary

Wakely

Ann Pogrebitskiy, ASA, MAAA is a Consulting Actuary for Wakely Consulting where she leverages a background in healthcare analytics to propel health systems, managed care providers, and supplemental benefit innovators within the healthcare world. Her expertise ranges from individual and small group rate setting, to Part C and D Stars reporting and analytics, to supplemental vendor value proposition analysis and support.

In her work, Ann leverages data-driven insights to inform strategic decision-making, with the member experience at the forefront. She is passionate about finding spaces for innovators to disrupt traditional health insurance with the goal of providing higher quality, more efficient healthcare. Ann is an Associate of the Society and Actuaries and a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries.

Item 39 Chief Clinical Officer

Equality Health

Dr. Michael Poku is an accomplished healthcare executive with extensive experience in clinical leadership, medical informatics, and value-based care. Prior to serving as the Chief Clinical Officer for Equality Health, he was Senior Medical Director at Oak Street Health overseeing multiple clinical teams and driving innovative models of value-based care delivery, resulting in improved patient outcomes and increased operational efficiency. His expertise lies in enterprise-wide strategy, clinical delivery innovation, medical cost management, and the development of technology-enabled and data-informed clinical tools and processes.

Dr. Poku was also previously Chief Medical Officer at NextHealth Technologies, and he also served as Senior Medical Director at Signify Health. Dr. Poku continues to practice holding academic faculty positions at various health systems. Throughout his career, he has authored numerous publications on topics such as care coordination, healthcare analytics, patient relationship management, and several topics at the intersection of healthcare and technology.

Dr. Poku received his MD from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School. He trained at Johns Hopkins Hospital in internal medicine where he focused on primary care medicine and urban health; he is also board certified in clinical informatics.

Juliette Price Chief Solutions Officer

Helgerson Solutions Group

Juliette serves as HSG’s Chief Solutions Officer, bringing creative problem-solving and strategy to deliver breakthrough results for her clients. She deeply believes that solutions to our most complex issues can be designed through systems thinking, collaborative problem solving, creating data-informed solutions, and bringing concepts and processes across sectors. She advises a wide variety of clients including providers & provider groups such as ACOs and IPAs, payers, start-ups, government agencies, social service providers, and others. Her focus in health care is on building value-based care models, both clinically and fiscally, to advance better patient outcomes and reduce costs in health care. Her approach to building these models has enabled Juliette to lead extremely complex contract negotiations and win her clients fair and balanced value-based contracts that enable innovation and patient outcomes to flourish. 

Soujanya (Chinni) Pulluro Committee Member, PTAC (Physician-Focused Payment Model Technical Advisory Committee)

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)

Chinni Pulluru, a board-certified family physician, C-suite Executive, has dedicated the last 20+ years to radically transforming the care continuum. Her dedication to enhancing healthcare accessibility and delivering Value-Based Care spans healthcare innovation, payer dynamics, clinical operations, regulatory compliance, analytics, and provider alignment.

With a track record of positioning companies for rapid growth, digital transformation and scalability, Dr. Pulluru is an innovator who merges clinical leadership and operational prowess to produce demonstrated outcomes. From building a healthcare enterprise from scratch at a Fortune-10 company to driving explosive growth at a PE-backed $1B multispecialty group, her visionary yet practical approach reshapes the healthcare landscape and produces tangible results.

As Chief Clinical Executive/VP at Walmart, Dr. Pulluru spearheaded clinical operational management while concurrently serving as the National sole shareholder of an LLC for Physician, APP and Behavioral Health employment. In her four years at the retail giant, she drove massive clinical growth, internalizations of multiple specialties and was the clinical lead on the M&A team that acquired and integrated a national telehealth company, MeMD. Additionally, she architected partnerships with UnitedHealth Group and Optum Health to pioneer a bold new Value-Based-Care strategy. Under her leadership, Walmart Health maintained an 80 NPS score, doubled patient volumes and grew into 6 states and 50 clinics. At the height of the pandemic, Dr. Pulluru helmed Medical Affairs and COVID-19 strategy as Interim-CMO, pivoting quickly to expand testing centers by 600+ locations, initiating vaccine distribution and lead the Walmart enterprise COVID Response.

Prior to her executive leadership at Walmart, Dr. Pulluru had progressive leadership roles at Illinois’ largest physician group—Duly (formerly, Dupage Medical Group). She led VBC transformation and aligned physicians enterprise-wide to embrace new care delivery models that improved quality and reduced medical spend. Dr. Pulluru has consistently exceeded goals for multimillion-dollar Value-Based Care (VBC) and Alternative Payment Method (APM) contracts. Her efforts at Duly resulted in consistent 5/5-star BlueCross BlueShield ratings, an 85% Physician Alignment bonus achievement, Medicare ACO GPRO scores of 99.5 out of 100, and top-rated 82% patient engagement.

In addition to 19+ years as a Family Medicine physician, Dr. Pulluru serves as a thought leader, guest lecturer, and presenter on Value Based Care, Innovation and Digital Transformation. She is currently is a committee member on PTAC (Physician-Focused Payment Model Technical Advisory Committee) of HHS advising CMS and HHS Secretary on Alternative Payment Mechanisms. She serves on the board of Stellar Health, and is an advisor for go-to-market strategy for Digital tech and VBC startups.

Athena Santos MPH, CRC, Executive Director, Quality Performance and Value

AdventHealth Primary Care Network

After 24 years serving in the U.S. Coast Guard as a Medical Administrator, Independent Duty Corpsman and Educator, she commenced work in 2014 in the civilian sector at a Florida based Clinically Integrated Network, focused on value-based care delivery models and population health. Now as the Executive Director of Quality Performance and Value in the newly formed Primary Care Network, Athena is leading a team focused on capturing all aspects of quality and value to improve population health and patient experience, while reducing the cost of care through efficiencies in workflows. As an educator and public speaker, Athena consults with a variety of customers on optimizing workflows to maximize revenue while improving consumer and provider experience.

Athena has earned a Master of Public Health, along with a Master of Psychology and a Master of Management and Organizational Leadership. She recently concluded a Harvard course in Global Health Delivery, is an MBTI and PPS practitioner, AAPC certified in CPC, CRC and CDEO, and is an ordained minister. She has two adult children, two grandchildren, five cats and a dog and makes her home now in Florida.

Mike Segal Partner

Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP

Mike Segal is the Co-chair of Nelson Mullins' Value Based Care Group. Throughout his legal career, Mike has practiced in a business management environment. For more than 25 years, he has been heavily involved in the creation and representation of large single specialty and multi–specialty physician groups. He has considerable experience in structuring all varieties of healthcare joint venture transactions, while keeping in mind the various regulatory issues. Additionally, he acts as general and special counsel to hospitals, large medical groups, and other medically related businesses. He is a certified American Health Lawyer Association Dispute Resolver, a designation that qualifies him to serve as a mediator and arbitrator in forums for alternative dispute resolution.

Mike is also a frequent presenter on healthcare law. He has recently presented on accountable care organizations, clinical integration, and all things healthcare reform to medical associations and other healthcare organizations throughout Florida and the United States.

Laura Sheriff, RN, MSN, CPC, CRC Health Care Industry Specialist

MSN with 10 years’ experience in Medicare, Medicaid, and Marketplace Managed Care with proven success in Risk Adjustment. Confirmed track record in operations, program management and process improvement. Demonstrates effective leadership, innovative problem solving techniques, and goal oriented focus to execute business objectives and meet performance expectations. Designed and coordinated all team activities including provider education, training, auditing, data mining, and data analysis to steer program success and achieve performance metrics.

Vindali Vartak BDS, MBA, MHA, FACHE, President

Arvian Consulting

Vindali Vartak is a trained Dental Surgeon with MBA, MHA and is board certified as Fellow of American College of Healthcare Executives. For past 17+ years at organizations like Optum Health, Evolent Health, Change Healthcare, ResMed & Elevance Health, she has played varied roles bringing innovation and advanced analytics to improve Clinical Operations, Care Management Outcomes, Population Management, Health Plan Performance, Value Based Care Provider Success for and Provider Revenue Cycle. Her role has evolved from managing cost of care initiatives for one market to scaling into multiple plan markets, from developing population health analytics & new AI solutions to leading a portfolio of digital health programs (virtual care, virtual specialty consultations, virtual pharmacy, digital patient journey, digital marketplace). Vindali is effective in leading cross functional teams in a matrix environment to launch new solutions and accelerate provider/patient engagement to ultimately drive outcomes. From orchestrating new concepts that have never been tried nor tested, to ultimately creating new leaders who can lead them, she takes every opportunity to influence and inspire people to bring their best and be part of the success. Vindali is a strong proponent of values-based leadership, self-sufficiency for women and whole-child education. She contributes to the community in these areas by volunteering her time.

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Ed White Partner

Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP

Ed White is the Co-chair of Nelson Mullins' Value Based Care Group practices in the areas of corporate, partnership, healthcare, taxation, and nonprofit law. He is a Certified Specialist in Taxation, a designation awarded by the South Carolina Supreme Court. Additionally, he is a Certified Public Accountant in South Carolina. He has counseled clients on a wide range of corporate, tax, employment, and regulatory issues that affect healthcare transactions, including navigating issues that implicate the Stark law, the Anti-Kickback Statute, and other Medicare and Medicaid laws that affect healthcare transactions. He has represented accountable care organizations, clinical integration networks, and worked with providers in creating value-based contracts, arrangements, and joint ventures. He has represented hospitals in the formation and operation of integrated hospital and physician delivery systems, joint venture relationships, and other hospital/physician transactions. He also has represented physician practices in structuring mergers, consolidations, acquisitions, joint ventures, contractual agreements, and strategic affiliations with hospitals and other healthcare providers.

Hans Wiik, FACHE, MPH, RPh President

Hans Wiik Health Group, LLC

Hans is also the President and CEO of Hans Wiik Health Group, LLC – a Colorado based consulting group that focuses on assisting providers, payers, and employers on guidance and strategies around ACO development and performance, clinical integration, care coordination, population health management, value based benefit design, employee wellness, medication therapy management and overall performance improvement in healthcare quality and cost reduction.

Hans was the President and CEO of the Centura Health Integrated Physician Network (iPN) from 2008-2014. The iPN was formed in 2004 when a small group of independent practices and physicians in the North Denver and Boulder area of Colorado began implementation of a common/enterprise wide EHR to drive quality and clinical performance improvement as one of the first clinically integrated networks of independent practices in the nation. In six years, the iPN grew to over 260 providers represented in 25 different multi-specialty practices across 45 separate practice sites. Over 120 of these providers are primary care physicians, all certified by the NCQA as Level 3 Patient Centered Medical Home providers, the largest number in Colorado.

It is partnered and sponsored by Colorado’s largest not for profit healthcare system – Centura Health. Practices include both primary care and specialty practices, including a large Federally Qualified Health Center – Clinica Family Health Services practicing in 5 locations. Practices currently include Family Practice, Internal Medicine, Ob-Gyn, General Surgery, Neurosurgery, Orthopedics, Pulmonology, Cardiology, and Reconstructive Plastic Surgery. The practices are integrated through population based quality initiatives, benchmarking for quality and patient satisfaction and sharing of best practices.

The iPN supported its many members in single signature payer contracting, IT/EHR and CQI implementation and support, quality performance reporting and analytics, care coordination and also provided a variety of MSO services to help improve practice financial performance and productivity. As a developing ACO in the Colorado market, it has negotiated and implemented several payer and employer agreements, with included shared savings and quality metrics integral to annual performance objectives.

Hans has a BS degree in Pharmacy, an MHA and MPH from the University of California,

Berkeley and has been a long standing Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives. (FACHE)

He has over 40 years of experience in healthcare, serving as a COO and CEO in hospitals

in California, Oregon and Colorado. He previously served as President and CEO of Health Future, a consortium of 30+ hospitals and health care systems in Oregon, and also as the President for the VHA Mountain States region after his various hospital CEO positions. He consults nationally working with hospitals, physician groups and large employers for promoting healthier workforces and improving clinical, financial and managed care performance, with emphasis to new models of healthcare delivery and payment.