Amina Ahmed, MD, is chief of hospital medicine and post-acute care at Summit Medical Group. Before joining Summit Medical Group in 2008, she was director of hospitalist medicine at Overlook Medical Center. She was an internist with privileges at Christ Hospital, Jersey City Medical Center, Hamilton Park Rehabilitation Center, the Cusack Care Center, and Newport Nursing Home, all located in Jersey City, New Jersey. She enjoys developing close relationships with and helping acutely ill patients and their families. Dr. Ahmed is a member of the American Medical Association, American Society of Hospitalist Medicine, American College of Physicians, and American Pakistani Physicians Association of North America.

Gary Albers is co-founder and CEO of Imperium Health Management, started in 2011 with the idea of creating independent physician led ACO's for the not yet completely designed MSSP program. Imperium currently partners and or manages 11 MSSP ACO's and is expecting with the 2016 class to have over 15 plus ACO's with 120,00 lives, 1,300 physicians and 1.2 billion dollars in annual Medicare spend. Prior to Imperium, Gary was president of Soteria Imaging Services, LLC, an outpatient medical imaging provider that grew to 36 locations across the nation with over 300 employees. He attended Indiana University and received a degree in public affairs from the School of Public and Environmental Affairs. Gary also attended Madison University for completion of his MBA. 

Nick Bartz is vice president and head of business intelligence at Aledade. In this role he helps build scalable tools to turn data into actionable insights for Aledade’s team of ACO executive directors, coordinators, and practice transformation specialists. He was formerly executive director of Aledade’s Missouri, Kentucky, and Florida ACOs. Before Aledade, he worked for the Advisory Board Company as a strategy consultant for hospital and health system CEO's and the nation's top cancer programs. Mr. Bartz has an MBA in healthcare management from the Wharton School of Business and a B.A. in History from Yale University. 

Kim Baker is president of the post-acute network and integrated care coordination system at St. Peter's Health Partners.  She has extensive post-acute experience in acute rehabilitation, skilled nursing facilitates, assisted living, home care and hospice, while building robust alliances to support effective care coordination across an entire episode.  Strong partnerships and clinical collaborations position St. Peter's Health Partners to deliver comprehensive post-acute solutions and partnerships that hospitals, health systems, payers and health consumers are demanding.  St. Peter's Health Partners recently earned The Joint Commission's Gold Seal for integrated care certification recognizing this work.  Ms. Baker firmly believes in the mission to deliver transitions of care that meet people where they are while giving them the support they need to achieve their own best health and well-being. Ms. Baker is a board member of the Innovative Health Care Alliance of New York (IHANY), a clinically integrated network and accountable care organization.  She received her master's degree from the University of the Pacific and is board certified in speech language pathology.  She completed her acute rehabilitation fellowship at Rancho Los Amigos Medical Center. 

Amy Bassano is the deputy director of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Prior to assuming this position, Ms. Bassano was the director of the patient care models group at CMMI leading CMS’s efforts on bundled payments including the Bundled Payments for Care Improvement (BPCI) Initiative and the Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement (CJR) model and the development of physician specialty models such as the Oncology Care Model. In addition, she was responsible for the Home Health Value Based Purchasing Model and the Medicare Care Choices Model. Ms. Bassano also held senior management positions in the Center for Medicare at CMS overseeing Medicare payment policy. Prior to her tenure at CMS, Ms. Bassano was a program examiner at the Office of Management and Budget where she was the lead Medicare analyst on Medicare Part B and D issues. Ms. Bassano has an M.A. in policy studies from Johns Hopkins University and a B.A. in history from Tufts University.

Mike Barrett In addition to being a founding board member of NAACOS, Mr. Barrett served as the senior vice president for operations and development for the ACO efforts at Universal American/WellCare. In addition to his national responsibilities, his specific ACOs are accountable for over 150,000 assigned Medicare beneficiaries. Prior to joining Universal American, Mr. Barrett worked extensively in Medicare Advantage finance and operations at both health plans and provider groups. 

Jami Berger is the executive director of operations at Arizona Care Network where she provides leadership and direction for the organization’s operational success and promotes ACN’s mission, values and standards. Prior to joining ACN, Ms. Berger spent more than a decade in nursing and quality management positions at a VA Medical Center. She moved on to serve as director of medical quality for Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota where she was responsible for the oversight of the quality management program, health informatics department, and medical review team. She also worked as director of care & delivery management for Noridian Healthcare Services, LLC, a Medicare administrative contractor, where she was responsible for assisting in the design and development of business opportunities, including sales, operations and performance requirements. Ms. Berger earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing from North Dakota State University and a master’s degree in business administration with an emphasis on healthcare from the University of Mary. 

Allison Brennan, MPP, is the vice president of policy for the National Association of ACOs in where she helps develop and advocate for policies to benefit ACOs. Prior to NAACOS, Ms. Brennan was a senior advocacy advisor at the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) where she helped lead MGMA's advocacy efforts, focusing on federal regulatory and legislative issues and coordinating MGMA advocacy activities. Before joining MGMA, she worked as a program manager at the Brookings Institution where she designed and managed educational seminars focused on the policy process and federal leadership development. Ms. Brennan began her career interning in the United States Senate and then worked at the National Patient Advocate Foundation, where she lobbied state governments on behalf of patients and managed grassroots. She has a bachelor's degree in government and economics from the College of William and Mary and holds a master's degree in public policy from Georgetown University, with a focus on health policy.

Travis Broome is the vice-president of policy at Aledade. He guides Aledade and partner physicians through the policy, strategy and economics of value based health care. Joining Aledade shortly after its start, he has worked on nearly every aspect from business development for both practices and payers, to early analytics, to serving as an ACO executive director. Prior to Aledade, he spent seven years at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in roles ranging from regulation writing to quality improvement to management. Mr. Broome earned his masters of public health and business administration from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. 

Emily Brower is vice president of population health for Atrius Health, an alliance of three community-based medical groups and a home health care and hospice agency in Massachusetts. She first joined Atrius Health in 2010, as senior director, clinical improvement ventures for Harvard Vanguard and became executive director of Atrius Health’s Accountable Care Programs in 2012. In her position at Atrius Health, she has developed opportunities to support transformational work that measurably improves healthcare within value-based payment models. She is currently working with local health plans partnering with MassHealth (Massachusetts Medicaid) and Medicare on a demonstration for the “dual eligibles,” developing new care models for patients with both Medicare and Medicaid. Previously, she spent fifteen years as the chief operating officer/director of finance and operations at Urban Medical Group where she served as principal investigator for a multi-year research project analyzing cost and quality outcomes to support payment reform, and developed innovative, capitated contracts for medically complex populations. She received her bachelor of arts from Smith College, and MBA from the New York University Stern School of Business. 

Kimberly Busenbark is an attorney and the CEO of Wilems Resource Group, LLC, a boutique consulting firm specializing in MSSP and Next Generation ACO Compliance and Audit Management.  After beginning her career in Medicare Advantage compliance, she began working with ACOs during the first wave of the Medicare Shared Savings Program, and spent the first three years of the MSSP as the compliance officer for 35 MSSP ACOs across the country.  During this time, she was responsible for the implementation and oversight of the compliance program for each of the ACOs.  Mrs. Busenbark is a graduate of Texas A&M University, where she received a bachelor’s of business administration in marketing and management, and of The University of Houston Law Center, where she received her Juris Doctorate before being admitted to the State Bar of Texas.

Andrea Cichra, HFA, is the director of population health at The South Bend Clinic. Currently, she is responsible for developing and implementing strategic initiatives for value-based care. She also oversees the MSSP ACO, numerous Medicare Advantage, commercial ACO, and managed Medicaid contracts. Additionally, she works on network management, data operations and analysis, care and transitions management, HCC performance, and the Clinic’s Post-Acute Network. Mrs. Cichra has more than 10 years of experience in the health care industry. Licensed as a health facilities administrator, she has served in post-acute facilities leadership. She is also a veteran of the US Marine Corps where she studied linguistics intelligence.

Kenneth Coburn, MD, DrPH, FACP is the president, CEO, and medical director of Health Quality Partners (HQP), a non-profit R&D organization based in Pennsylvania dedicated to improving population health outcomes through health care delivery redesign. He also serves as population health advisor to the Doylestown Health System and as medical director for the Community Care Collaborative of Pennsylvania and New Jersey.  Prior to co-founding HQP in 2001, he held leadership positions within a regional hospital consortium, an academic health system, an HMO, and the AIDS Center at the Montefiore Medical Center.  Dr. Coburn received his BA from Brown University, his medical degree from the Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons, and completed his residency training in internal medicine at the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center.  He did a fellowship in infectious disease at the Albert Einstein/Montefiore Medical Center.  He received his MPH from the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University and his doctorate in public health (DrPH) from the University of North Carolina’s Gillings School of Global Public Health where he was awarded the Arthur B. Holzworth endowed scholarship in health leadership.  Dr. Coburn is a fellow in the American College of Physicians and an adjunct assistant professor at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice.

Kathryn Cziraky, MD, is medical director and serves on the quality committee at WakeMed Key Community Care (WKCC). She a board-certified family physician. Her clinical areas of focus have included mental health, women’s health, and evidence-based medicine.   Dr. Cziraky completed her undergraduate training at Appalachian State University with a degree in exercise science.  She earned her medical degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and completed her training in family medicine at the Mountain Area Health Education Center affiliated with Mission Healthcare.

François de Brantes serves as senior vice president of commercial business development at Remedy Partners. He leads customer development of the Medicare Advantage, self-insured employer, and commercial payer markets. He has spent close to two decades working to transform the U.S. healthcare system by improving incentives for providers and consumers in order to encourage value-based decisions. Prior to joining Remedy Partners, Mr. de Brantes served as vice president of Altarum, a national nonprofit. From 2006 to 2016, he was executive director of the Health Care Incentives Improvement Institute (HCI3), a not-for-profit company that designed programs to motivate physicians and hospitals to improve the quality and affordability of healthcare delivery. The organization merged with Altarum in December 2017. Before HCI3, he was chief operating officer of the eHealth Initiative (eHI), which promotes adoption of health information technology in the U.S. Mr. de Brantes holds a master’s degree in economics and finance from the University of Paris IX-Dauphine and a master’s degree in business administration from the Tuck School of Business Administration at Dartmouth College.

Thomas DiPiro, PharmD, MBA, MS is the director of pharmacy services for CHESS.  He uses his knowledge and expertise from a variety of clinical, research, analytical, administrative, and educational experiences in order to work toward transitioning physicians and health systems to value-based medicine.  After receiving his master of business administration and doctor of pharmacy, Dr. DiPiro completed a two-year pharmacy residency at the University of Virginia Health System.  During that time, he earned his master of pharmaceutical sciences from Virginia Commonwealth University, focused on pharmacoeconomics and health outcomes. He has presented multiple professional posters and presentations across a wide array of healthcare topics, including pediatric and adult care, community and hospital pharmacy settings, and educational and managerial topics.  In addition to value-based care, his professional interests include transitions of care, healthcare automation, and data analytics.

Annette DuBard, MD, is the VP of clinical strategy for Aledade, Inc., a company committed to helping independent primary care physicians and their patients thrive under new models of value-based care.   Prior to joining Aledade, she led innovation in population health informatics for Community Care of North Carolina, supporting statewide care management and quality improvement programs.  Dr. DuBard is a graduate of Rhodes College and the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and completed residencies in family medicine and preventive medicine. She has a master’s degree in health policy and administration fom the University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill.

Jesse Ehrenfeld, MD, currently serves as chair-elect of the board of trustees of the American Medical Association. He is a professor of anesthesiology, surgery, biomedical informatics and health policy at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. He divides his time among clinical practice, teaching, and research. He also serves as director of education research for the Vanderbilt office of health sciences education, director of the Vanderbilt Program for LGBTQ health, and associate director of the Vanderbilt anesthesiology & perioperative informatics research (VAPIR) division. Active in the AMA since medical school, Dr. Ehrenfeld has served on the governing councils of both the AMA resident and fellow section and the AMA young physicians section. In addition to his work with the AMA, Dr. Ehrenfeld has served on the governing boards of the American Society of Anesthesiologists resident component, the Massachusetts Medical Society and the Illinois State Medical Society. He also served as speaker of the house of delegates of the Massachusetts Medical Society for 6 years. Dr. Ehrenfeld is a graduate of Phillips Academy, Haverford College, the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine and the Harvard School of Public Health. He completed an internship in internal medicine, a residency in anesthesiology and an informatics fellowship at the Massachusetts General Hospital.

Jeff Farber, MD, is the president and CEO of The New Jewish Home (TNJH) in New York, a health system for older adults which serves more than 10,000 clients annually through a diverse portfolio of services including short-term rehabilitation, long‐term skilled nursing, low-income housing, day programs, and a wide range of home health and care management programs. Prior to joining TNJH in December 2017, Dr. Farber served as chief medical officer and senior vice president of population health at Mount Sinai Health System where his responsibilities included overseeing clinical operations to drive performance in the health system’s value-based contracts, managing total cost of care for 300,000 lives across all lines of business. He led the development and monitoring of programs and systems to evaluate the quality, value, and efficiency of care across the clinically integrated network of 3400 physicians, including practice transformation, patient and provider engagement, care management, and specialized clinical solutions. Dr. Farber received his MD from Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University and a master’s in business administration from University of Massachusetts Amherst, and is associate professor of geriatric medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

Victoria Farias serves as program administrator for the Rio Grande Valley Health Alliance (RGVHA), a physician-led ACO in south Texas.  She has worked with the organization since its inception in 2012.  In this role, she provides leadership and strategic direction within the evolving accountable healthcare environment and ongoing administration and management for all aspects of the ACO.  RGVHA has earned success in cost and quality, year after year and recently achieved the highest savings percentage amongst Texas ACOs. Ms. Farias strongly supports the expansion and creation of physician-led ACOs and has stood at the forefront of risk-bearing value-based models.    

Rich Feifer, MD, is president of Genesis Physician Services and chief medical officer at Genesis HealthCare, one of the nation's largest skilled nursing and long-term care providers.  He leads over 550 clinicians in the active transition from fee-for-service to value-based care. Prior to joining Genesis, Dr. Feifer served as Aetna’s CMO of national accounts, helping our nation’s largest employers optimize health and productivity.  Before Aetna, he served as VP of clinical program innovation and evaluation at Medco. A graduate of Brown University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Columbia University, Dr. Feifer is a board-certified internist with experience in population health, primary care, geriatrics, and health services management.  He is currently an assistant clinical professor at the University of Connecticut.

Rob Fields is senior vice-president and chief medical officer of population health at Mt. Sinai Health System.  His career began by opening a new practice out of residency focusing on using technology for quality improvement and serving the Latino population in Western North Carolina. The practice was the first to use a patient portal and among the first to achieve PCMH level 3 in 2010. In 2012 he spent a year teaching at the community health and family medicine residency at the University of Florida but was recruited to come back to Asheville as the assistant medical director for primary care for Mission Medical Associates. As the ACO planning began in 2013, Mr. Fields led the quality steering committee and helped with the initial planning of what was to become Mission Health Partners. In 2014, he was selected to be the first medical director of the ACO and served as chair of the quality committee. He has held several other leadership positions including chief resident, president of the Western Carolina Medical Society, and medical director of a small free clinic in Asheville among others. 

Bradley Flansbaum, MD, serves as the associate director in the department of hospital medicine, as well as, associate CMO in the department of population health at Geisinger. As a career hospitalist, he focuses on care transitions and co-leads Geisinger's system-wide post-acute care reorganization. Current restructuring activities include assembling a preferred provider SNF network, bettering the connections between providers, discharge planners, and ancillary staff, and applying novel approaches to CM and PT to involve patients and families in positive PAC decision-making. In addition, Geisinger participates in a 2-sided risk ACO and administers its own Medicare Advantage plan.

Mark Foulke is a transformational leader focused on delivering operational excellence to patients and providers. As Privia Health’s executive vice president of transformational value-based care, he leads the effort to transition existing and new provider markets toward additional value-based arrangements. He also oversees clinical and value-based operations and partners with market leadership to optimize performance-based reimbursement programs. Mr. Foulke drives results by creating a culture of engagement that empowers employees to exceed customer expectations. He is known for his unique blend of critical thinking and strategic planning skills, and leverages his extensive industry experience to deliver quality outcomes.

Jennifer Gasperini is senior policy advisor 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.

Ben Gazaway serves as chief operating officer for North Texas Clinically Integrated Network (TXCIN)—a CIN comprising over 1000 independent primary and specialty care physicians across North Texas. As COO, he oversees all network operations including contracting, practice engagement, financial performance, marketing and payer relations. Prior to joining TXCIN, Mr. Gazaway worked in operations at the Accountable Care Coalition of North Texas, as well as in consulting and leadership roles in the non-profit sector.  

Thomas Graf, MD, FAAFP is vice president and chief medical officer of healthcare transformation for Horizon Blue Cross. Dr. Graf is charged with creating a virtually integrated delivery network with health system and physician partners across the state of New Jersey to improve the health and experience and lower the total cost of care for the nearly four million members of Horizon. He brings over 25 years of experience in advancing healthcare delivery, reducing cost of care, and supporting continuous growth and performance improvement. Prior to joining Horizon, he was national director for population health for The Chartis Group helping dozens of provider systems and groups to create strategy and improve performance in driving quality to lower total cost of care and comprehensively care for populations. Prior to Chartis, Dr. Graf served for nearly twelve years in various roles at Geisinger. In his final position there, Dr.  Graf was the chief medical officer for population health and longitudinal care service lines.  There, he was responsible for the value re-engineering of the care continuum and other population health initiatives for Geisinger including the ACO portfolio, the Physician Group Practice, and PGP Transitions Demonstrations and Bundled Payments for Care Improvement. After graduating from University of Michigan Medical School and completing family medicine residency training at Henry Ford Health System in Detroit, Dr.  Graf served on the faculty of the Henry Ford Family Practice Residency and was director of the Southwest Georgia Family Practice Residency. 

Brian Gragnolati is president & CEO of Atlantic Health System.  He also serves as chairman of the board of trustees of the American Hospital Association (AHA), dedicated to leading, representing and serving hospitals and health systems in their work to advance the health of individuals and communities. In 2007 and again in 2015, he received the AHA’s Partnership for Action Grassroots Champion Award, recognizing a hospital leader who has effectively educated elected officials on major issues affecting hospitals, while advocating for patients and the community. Prior to Mr. Gragnolati’s tenure at Atlantic Health System, he served as senior vice president of the community division at Johns Hopkins Medicine, and president and CEO of Suburban Hospital.  He previously held executive positions at WellSpan Health, the Medical Center Hospital of Vermont, and Baystate Medical Center. Mr. Gragnolati holds a bachelor’s degree in health systems analysis from the University of Connecticut, an MBA from Western New England College, and an executive leadership certificate from the JFK School at Harvard University. 

David Grapey, MD, serves as the medical director for specialty physicians for the Triad HealthCare Network ACO (THN). He has a concurrent role as CMO for a provider owned Medicare Advantage health plan, HealthTeam Advantage, owned by Cone Health. Dr. Grapey received his MD from The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and completed his residency in urology at Northwestern University. He also holds a master’s degree in health care administration from the University of North Carolina. He previously practiced in the Greensboro community for 25 years before assuming full time administrative duties in 2019.

Sarah Grantham is managing director at Evolent Health. Since joining Evolent Health in 2013, she has held several strategy and operational leadership roles, recently serving as general manager for one of Evolent’s next generation ACO partners. She has supported successful strategic design, acceptance into, operationalization, and management of Medicare and commercial ACOs. She has also led negotiations and operations for payer partnership deals encompassing over 120,000 lives as well as providing strategic consulting services to health systems.  Prior to joining Evolent, Ms. Grantham was a senior consultant with L.E.K. Consulting, working with national payers to launch Medicare and Medicaid plans and innovate their provider contracting strategies.  

Lauran Hardin is the senior advisor for the Camden Coalition’s National Center for Complex Health and Social Needs. Ms. Hardin builds partnerships with national organizations, develops curriculum and content for the emerging field of complex care and collaborates with health systems, communities and payers to re-design care.   She previously directed a complex care center model with a ROI of 23% and >40% reductions in utilization.  Her current work includes co-designing a complex care ecosystem for uninsured patients in Memphis, scaling a community-based cross-sector model for vulnerable populations across California and co-developing a complex care clinic within Sutter Health. Ms. Hardin earned her master's degree in nursing from the University of Detroit Mercy, with certifications as a CNL, pain management and hospice. 

Megan Harkey is the director of operations and finance for Houston Methodist Coordinated Care (HMCC).  In this role, she is responsible for implementing strategic and quality initiatives to increase value and drive cost savings within a Track 3 Medicare Shared Savings Program. She leads the team accountable for engaging physicians on a wide variety of topics related to the operations and performance of the ACO. Ms. Harkey has a background in hospital & ACO operations, physician relations, population health and value-based contract performance, payer collaboration, and Lean process improvement.

Michael Helle is the director clinical programs for the office of population health at UCSF. He has been a national registered critical care paramedic since 1994. Mr. Helle has worked over 25 years as a paramedic and critical care flight paramedic and has served in many leadership roles, which include director over emergency and trauma, outpatient services, case management and cardiovascular and interventional radiology.  Mr. Helle holds a bachelors of biology and a dual MHA/MBA from AIU. He is a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives where he is obtaining his fellowship.

Brendan Hodges serves as the president of HealthTeam Advantage (HTA), which is the Medicare Advantage health plan wholly owned by Cone Health.  He joined Cone Health in September 2015 as the chief compliance officer of HTA and Triad Healthcare Network, Cone Health’s accountable care organization.  Prior to joining HTA, he spent twenty-four years with a large Blue plan. Mr. Hodges earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of North Florida, a master’s degree in health administration from the University of Phoenix and is a certified internal auditor.

Jennifer Houlihan is responsible for leading The University of Vermont Health Network’s transformation to value through improving quality, minimizing care fragmentation and reducing costs. She oversees the Jeffords Institute for Quality which includes analytics, community health teams, quality improvement, patient safety and regulatory readiness. Prior to joining The University of Vermont Health Network, she was the associate vice president of population health at Wake Forest Baptist Health. Ms. Houlihan earned a master's in planning from Florida State University with an emphasis in health policy and a master’s certificate in population health from Thomas Jefferson University.  

Kevin Joyce is vice president of insurance networks at Atlantic Health System. He joined Atlantic Health System in 2017 as the vice president of insurance products. In his position, he is leading AHS’s managed care and insurance strategy as the delivery model under health care reform continues to evolve.  Prior to his position at Atlantic Health System, Mr. Joyce was the chief operating officer for QualCare Inc., a Cigna Subsidiary, whose responsibilities included network and product development, sales, claims, customer service, out of network cost containment and client relations. Mr. Joyce has over 25 years of industry experience, specializing in managed healthcare. He currently serves on the board of the Health Quality Partners’ ACO. He graduated with a bachelor of science degree from York College. 

Kimberly Kauffman, is Summit’s chief value-based care officer. In her role, she is responsible for the transition from fee-for-service to fee-for-value. In support of value-based contracts with CMMI, Medicare Advantage, commercial health plans and Medicaid managed care, she leads the care coordination, health education, integrated programs, quality reporting and improvement, risk adjustment and provider engagement teams and works closely with a data analytics partner. Prior to joining Summit, Ms. Kauffman managed a large independent physicians’ association in Florida and also worked with hospital and physician leadership to create several regional Physician Hospital Organizations. Preceding that, she was responsible for operations for senior healthcare centers, supporting multiple hospital clients. She received her master’s degree from the College of Public Health at the University of Florida. She is an officer of the Board of Directors for the National Association of ACOs and a regular participant in Advisory Board and American Medical Group Association activities.  

Ken Kim, MD, is chief medical officer at CMMI. Prior to joining CMMI, he was the chief medical officer at Alignment Healthcare LLC, and responsible for creating, developing and executing Alignment Healthcare's proven clinical health model, while driving future state innovation. Dr. Kim is board certified in internal medicine. He joined CareMore in 1999 as a hospitalist. He became a regional medical officer at CareMore in 2008 and was responsible for clinical operations in Downey, Lakewood, and Long Beach as well as all chronic disease management programs and mental health programs. He was appointed chief medical officer of CareMore from 2010-2013, where he expanded and replicated the clinical model from Southern California to San Jose, Las Vegas, Modesto, Phoenix, Tucson, New York, and Richmond. During his tenure as CMO at CareMore, membership grew from 30,000 to 70,000. While Dr. Kim is a pioneer in population health, he considers himself a physician first. He travels the world, committed to a worldwide ministry of serving those in need of healthcare services. Partnering with non-profits and church organizations, Dr. Kim is involved in healthcare ministries in Mexico, India, and the Dominican Republic. Dr. Kim holds a B.A. and M.D. from Indiana University. He completed his internal medicine residency at Loma Linda University.

Thomas Kloos, MD, is vice president of Atlantic Health System, president of Atlantic ACO, and executive director of the Atlantic MSO, a management services organization which supplies management services to both the Atlantic ACO and Optimus Healthcare Partners ACO. The two ACO’s serve both the MSSP program and commercial relationships and encompass over 80000 attributed Medicare beneficiaries and over 200,000 commercial attributed beneficiaries. Dr. Kloos currently is a board member of the National Association of ACOs. He was the past president of Optimus Healthcare Partners ACO and Vista Health System IPA. On the payer side, he was a trustee and past board vice president of the Affiliated Physicians and Employers Health Plan, a self-funded MEWA plan. Dr. Kloos is a board certified internal medicine practitioner, previously NCQA certified in diabetes care, and was a NCQA recognized level 3 patient centered medical home. He graduated from the University of Louisville Medical School in 1979.

Jessica Landin is the market president for Evolent Health in the triangle market of North Carolina. In her market president role, she oversees operations and population health for WakeMed Key Community Care (WKCC), a clinically integrated network and accountable care organization (ACO) formed in 2014 with over 220,000 attributed lives and nearly $1 billion in annual medical spend across commerical and Medicare contracts. The ACO is a joint venture between a 1,000 bed, three-hospital health system and an IPA, and has a combined 80 locations and nearly 1,200 primary care and specialist providers. WKCC has generated over $65 million in savings across value-based contracts. Prior to this, Ms. Landin oversaw strategic initiatives to drive cost savings, operational and quality improvements for the Southern Atlantic Healthcare Alliance (SAHA), an alliance of 15 North Carolina and Virginia health systems. Prior to SAHA, she was the vice president of marketing and the ASE Education and Research Foundation for the American Society of Echocardiography. Ms. Landin is a fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives (FACHE) and past president of the Triangle Healthcare Executives Forum (THEF), an official chapter of the American College of Healthcare Executives.

Elissa Langley is the vice president and chief operating officer for Triad HealthCare Network (THN) of the Cone Health System. Her responsibilities include assisting with the development, implementation, and operation of THN, an ACO. She is currently responsible for THN’s operations which includes managing over 95,000 covered lives. She oversees contracting with all payors for THN’s shared savings/risk arrangements, including the Next Generation ACO Program. Additionally, she managed the implementation of a Medicare Advantage Risk Agreement with Humana and North Texas Specialty Physicians and was instrumental in the development of Cone’s new Medicare Advantage Plan called HealthTeam Advantage. Previously, Ms. Langley worked for managed care plans such as Humana and Aetna as a network manager. She was part of the initial U.S. Healthcare expansion team into Atlanta, Georgia which grew to over 100,000 members in its first year of operation. Ms. Langley holds a masters of healthcare administration degree from Duke University and a bachelor of science degree in zoology from Duke University.  

Melanie Matthews is CEO at Physicians of Southwest Washington (PSW) bringing more than 20 years of operations, financial, human resources and product marketing experience in health care services for specialty populations. Since she joined the company in 2016, 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. Prior to PSW, 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. Among her other accomplishments, she serves as the chair of the Washington Health Care Association, was selected by the American Health Care Association as a “National Political Ambassador” in 2013, and was named a national “Future Leader” in 2012. Ms. Matthews holds a master’s 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.

Dan McCall, MD, serves as the associate medical director of Hattiesburg Clinic’s Medicare and commercial ACO contracts. He joined the Hattiesburg Clinic in 2003 providing endocrinology specialty care for patients throughout southern Mississippi. He is active in the development, implementation, and assessment of population health efforts at the Hattiesburg Clinic. Dr. McCall is a graduate of the University of Alabama School of Medicine.  He completed his internal medicine residency along with a fellowship in endocrinology, metabolism, and diabetes at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.  He obtained a master’s of science in public health at the University of Colorado where he published his research identifying factors associated with poor diabetes care of Medicare beneficiaries.   

Roy McConnell is the director of payor risk strategies at Deaconess Hospital. In this position he focuses on all value and risk-based arrangements. He has over 25 years of payor and TPA experience.  In 2016, he took over responsibilities for management and expansion of the OneCare Network.  Mr. McConnell was appointed executive director of Deaconess Care Integration (DCI) and director of accountable care in 2017.  The ACO serves over 35,000 beneficiaries.  DCI was #2 in financial savings for all Next Generation Models in 2017.  He currently serves in all these roles.

Rob 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.  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. He 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.

Morie Mehyou is the executive director of Baptist Health UAMS Accountable Care Alliance, a joint ACO by Baptist Health of Arkansas and University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.  Prior to joining the ACO, he worked at Jefferson Regional Medical Center for 18 years in various areas of finance and revenue cycle. Mr. Mehyou hold a BS degree in accounting from the University of the Ozarks and an executive MBA from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

Esther Moas is the senior director for care continuum at Mount Sinai Health System. She is responsible for the health system’s post-acute care strategy and operations. Ms. Moas leads a team of population health nurses and therapists that focus on quality, outcome and utilization of patient in the community. Prior to joining Mount Sinai Health System, she was a director at ArchCare, which includes five skilled nursing facilities, a certified and licensed home health agency, PACE program, a managed long-term Medicaid plan, and a Medicare Advantage plan. She spent 10 years in post-acute care operations, where she has been a regional director and an administrator at Premier Home Health Care, Inc., a certified and licensed home care agency. Ms. Moas received her nursing degree and masters of science from NYU. She is currently obtaining her doctor of nursing practice at Yale University.

Jennifer Moore is the chief operating officer of the MaineHealth Accountable Care Organization, whose membership includes 9 acute care hospitals and over 1,400 independent and employed physicians. The MaineHealth ACO contracted with CMS for the Medicare Shared Savings Plan (MSSP) beginning in July 2012 and was successful in its first performance year with MSSP achieving nearly $20 million dollars in savings. Ms. Moore oversees all activities associated with the MSSP and numerous commercial ACO contracts including payer contracting, network management, data operations and analysis, performance improvement programs, and practice support activities. These ACO contracts cover approximately 180,000 Medicare and commercial lives. Ms. Moore has her masters in business administration and over 20 years of experience in the health care industry.  

Nathan Moore, MD, is a general internist and medical director of the BJC ACO.  He is the author of the best-selling book The Health Care Handbook: A Clear and Concise Guide to the US Health Care System.

Stephen Nuckolls is the CEO of Coastal Carolina Health Care and has served in this capacity since helping form the organization in 1997.   His responsibilities include direct management of the 60 provider multi-specialty physician-owned medical practice and its ACO that was selected by CMS in the initial April 2012 round and is currently in a 2-sided risk model.  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, served as board chair from 2016-2017, and currently serves as treasurer.  

Dana Pedrick is the administrative director of care management and population health at St. Mary Medical Center and Quality Health Alliance (QHA), both members of Trinity Health.    Ms. Pedrick is responsible for strategic direction of ambulatory care in alignment with the organization’s population health management goals and delivering patient-centered care across the continuum. She is presently the clinical program lead for QHA’s ambulatory care team of nurses and social workers, she chairs the Care Continuum Council which improves transitions across the organization, manages St. Mary's Bundle Payment Care Improvement-Advanced program, as well as various performance, value and quality initiatives.  Ms. Pedrick is a registered nurse who has her accredited case management (ACM) certification by the American Case Management Association and she is also a certified professional coder (CPC) from the American Association of Professional Coders. She has more than 25 years of care management experience and is the president of the Eastern Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Case Management Association.  

John Pilotte is the director of the performance-based payment policy staff in the Center for Medicare at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Mr. Pilotte manages a team of analysts responsible for designing and implementing the MSSP for ACOs as well as other value-based purchasing programs for hospitals, physicians and other providers. Previously, he was the director of the division of payment policy demonstrations in CMS’s Office of Research, Development and Information. Prior to joining CMS, he was a senior consultant with PricewaterhouseCoopers’ health care practice; and an associate on the government relations staff of the National Association of Children’s Hospitals and Related Institutions. He has a master’s in health policy.  

Denise Prince is senior vice president and chief operations officer for population health at Mount Sinai Health Partners’ Clinical Operations. Most recently, she served as system vice president, value-based care and vice president, population health at Geisinger Health System. Ms. Prince co-led Geisinger’s participation in the CMS Innovation Center's Bundled Payment for Care Improvement Initiative and was the chief executive officer for the Keystone ACO. In addition, she provided senior leadership to the Care Continuum Service Line with operational responsibility for walk-in clinics and post-acute services. Previously, she served as the founder and managing partner for Geisinger Ventures. She was awarded an MBA and MPH from the University of California, Berkeley and her BA from Mount Holyoke College. Ms. Prince currently serves as an advisory board member for the Women Business Leaders of the US Health Care Industry and for the Central PA Food Bank.

Jennifer Puzziferro, MD, is the national vice president of care management for Summit Health Management and is responsible for care coordination and care management programs for Summit Medical Group. Prior to joining Summit, she was the system director of population health care management at Trinity Health. Dr. Puzziferro has held leadership positions in payer, hospital, and community-based care management programs. Her expertise includes complex care management, utilization review, and discharge planning. She is certified in case management through the Commission for Case Management Credentialing (CCMC) and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC). Dr. Puzziferro received a master’s degree in nursing and health administration from Seton Hall University and a doctorate in nursing practice from Rutgers University.

Anthony Reed, associate vice president for accountable care initiatives, has oversight of the Keystone Accountable Care Organization, LLC, an MSSP Track One ACO serving over 70,000 Medicare beneficiaries. He also represents Geisinger by serving as a speaker and member for several national organizations dedicated to accountable care and alternate-care payment models. He is in his 14th year of service at Geisinger and is currently part of the population health solutions department of the Geisinger Clinic. His previous roles at Geisinger include director of business development for Geisinger Diversified Services and program director for VITALine Infusion Pharmacy Services. Before his return to Geisinger in 2013 he served for seven years as a product director for B. Braun Medical, Inc. with product development responsibilities for their line of infusion pumps and accessories. 

Kristen Ricciardi is a data scientist with Mount Sinai Health Partners’ population health informatics and data science team, where she has supported utilization management analytics and dashboarding since 2016. Her experience prior to Mount Sinai includes roles with payers, disease management, government and non-profits. Ms. Ricciardi has a master’s of health science from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and a B.A. from Tufts University. 

Stella Safo, MD, MPH, is an HIV primary care physician and assistant professor of medicine at Mount Sinai Health System. Dr. Safo serves as the senior medical director of clinical transformation of Mount Sinai’s population health management group, the Mount Sinai Health Partners. In this role, she oversees various improvement and transformation activities for Sinai’s network of primary care practices.

Katherine Schneider is president and CEO of the Delaware Valley Accountable Care Organization and as such, she provides leadership, strategic direction and ongoing administration and management for all aspects of the ACO. Previously, Dr. Schneider was executive vice president and chief medical officer of Medecision. She also served as the senior vice president for health engagement at AtlantiCare, where she led the system's strategic transformational work toward accountable care and engaging individuals in their own health. In her previous position 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 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 U.S. physicians to achieve subspecialty certification in clinical informatics.

Joann Sciandra is the vice president of care coordination and integration at Geisinger, one of the nation’s largest health care organizations.  In her role, she is accountable for the oversight of outpatient care management services, Proven Health Navigator® (PHN), special needs unit and the staff development department. Ms. Sciandra earned her masters of health care administration from Grand Canyon University, and her bachelor of science in nursing from Wilkes University.  She is also a certified case manager.

Rhonda Smith is a member of Novant Health’s government programs team with a specific focus on reporting and improving quality in their two Medicare shared savings accountable care organizations. She partners closely with the organization’s leadership and medical group clinics along with independent partners to improve quality of care for the communities we serve. Ms. Smith’s past experience as a clinic administrator and operational improvement specialist provides the lens to collaborate with key stakeholders to operationalize quality improvement.

Olan Soremekun, MD, joined Cigna HealthSpring in 2016 as a medical senior director.  In this role, Dr. Soremekun worked with provider partners on physician engagement, chronic disease program development, and other population-health management strategies needed to succeed in Cigna’s Medicare Advantage value-based programs.  Having recently transition to vice president of value-based programs at CareAllies, he has extended his work to helping providers succeed in MSSP, commercial ACOs, and other value-based relationships. Prior to joining Cigna, Dr. Soremekun was associate professor and vice-chair of clinical operations and new business opportunities in the department of emergency medicine at Jefferson University.  In that role, he oversaw 80+ providers and the clinical operations of a level-1 trauma ED and 24-bed observation unit. Dr. Soremekun earned his undergraduate degree at Montclair State University and his MD-MBA degree from Columbia University.  He completed his residency in emergency medicine at the Harvard affiliated emergency medicine program.

Sire Sow, MD, is a clinical instructor in the Mount Sinai Peak Health high risk clinic. He received his medical degree from the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and completed his internal medicine residency in the primary care/social medicine program at Montefiore Medical Center. Dr. Sow’s clinical work focuses on caring for high-need, high-cost Medicaid and Medicare patients. He is currently conducting research on the glycemic outcomes of high-risk diabetic patients. His interests include complex care management, working with asylum seekers and immigrant detainees, and understanding the impact of national health policies on marginalized populations.

Elena Tkachev is a senior director of ACO analytics at Collaborative Health Systems, a WellCare Company. She supports multiple ACOs with over 2,700 providers serving over 210,000 Medicare beneficiaries and focuses on transforming information into insight to improve managerial operations and prescribe clinical action that enhances beneficiary health outcomes. Previously, Ms. Tkachev worked at McKinsey Healthcare Group, where she concentrated on design and development of innovative population-based delivery and payment models. She held leadership positions at Horizon BCBS of NJ, Anthem and Milliman. Ms. Tkachev earned an MBA from Fordham University and a BS in actuarial science and mathematics from Maryville University.

Allie Torres is the chief financial and operations officer at Primary Partners. With 10+ years of experience in healthcare and finance, she joined Primary Partners in 2014 and helped this independent group generate savings of $35 million across Medicare and commercial ACOs, and achieve the highest quality score in Florida. She continues to represent Primary Partners which has gained continued success throughout the years in quality, outcomes and value. She is facilitating the group’s growth and expansion as they are now participating in multiple shared savings and risk arrangements and becoming an integrated healthcare delivery network across Florida. Ms. Torres has a master’s in business administration from the University of Central Florida.

Sandra Van Trease is group president for BJC HealthCare, provides strategic leadership and direction to the BJC Collaborative LLC, an association of Saint Luke’s Health System, CoxHealth, BJC HealthCare and Memorial Health System. She also is responsible for overall business and growth strategies for a select group of BJC’s community hospitals; and the BJC Medical Group, to ensure outstanding clinical quality, operating efficiencies and financial stability. In 2012, Ms. Van Trease was appointed president of BJC HealthCare’s Accountable Care Organization and leads BJC’s overall efforts in population health and virtual health.  She also serves as a member of the senior management team at BJC HealthCare, one of the largest nonprofit health care organizations in the United States. Ms. Van Trease joined BJC in 2004, following a successful career as president and CEO of UNICARE, a managed health care company serving 1.7 million members as part of the WellPoint Health Networks Inc. family of companies. She also held a number of leadership positions with RightCHOICE Managed Care, including serving as president and COO. Prior to RightCHOICE, she spent 12 years with Price Waterhouse. Ms. Van Trease earned her master’s degree in business administration from Washington University in St. Louis, and her bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Missouri–St. Louis. She is a certified public accountant and a certified management accountant. In 2004, she received an honorary doctoral degree from the University of Missouri–St. Louis for achieving distinction in her field and for contributing to the betterment of the university and the St. Louis community. 

Seema Verma - As the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Seema Verma oversees a $1 trillion budget, 26% of the total federal budget, and administers health care programs for more than 130 million Americans every day.  Since joining the Trump Administration, Administrator Verma has set goals for digital health information that will empower patients and transform healthcare, updated documentation guidelines and reduced administrative burden through the “Patients over Paperwork” initiative, advanced new alternative bundled payment methodologies to motivate providers to furnish services more efficiently, coordinate care better and improve quality and, saved seniors $320 million per year in prescription drug costs through changes to payment under the 340B drug discount program. 

Lawrence Ward, MD, is professor of medicine in the department of medicine at Thomas Jefferson University. He is a general internist who completed his MD at Jefferson Medical College and residency at the University of Pennsylvania. Currently, Dr. Ward is the executive vice-chairman in the department of medicine at Jefferson as well as an associate medical director for the Delaware Valley ACO.  In those roles, he directs operations for many of Jefferson’s primary care practices, develops innovative practice designs and leads efforts on quality improvement, population health and pay for performance.  Dr. Ward is also currently the American College of Physicians governor for southeastern Pennsylvania.

Debbie Welle-Powell serves as the chief population health officer for Essentia Health. Essentia is certified as an ACO Level III by NCQA, and recently chose Track 3 for 30,000 MSSP lives – one of thirty-four in the country. As the SVP of accountable care, she leads the accountable care division with strategic and operational responsibilities for population health, system quality, and system strategy and performance excellence/six sigma. Currently they manage 150,000 at-risk Commercial, Medicaid and Medicare lives via seven payer contracts. Additionally, she has oversight for the balanced scorecard and strategic activities to help position Essentia Health as the preferred provider of care within the communities they serve.   Prior to Essentia, Ms. Welle-Powell was the vice president of accountable care and payer strategy for SCL Health System. As a seasoned executive she led the strategic and market activities for accountable health readiness while developing innovative products, services, and technologies.  Ms. Welle-Powell has more than twenty years-experience in executive healthcare positions within multi-state regions and integrated provider delivery system. She has extensive experience leading mergers and acquisitions and developing reimbursement and network development strategies supporting full global capitation, professional services risk, PCMH, and bundled payments contracts with employers, carriers and state and federal agencies. Ms. Welle-Powell is extremely active in the community and has served on many for profit/non-profit national and local boards including several committee appointments by the Governor of Colorado. She taught for the past ten years at both Denver University and Regis in Colorado. 

Penni Weston is certified as a family nurse practitioner and currently practices at Essentia Health.  Ms. Weston started her nurse practitioner career as a primary care nursing home provider. She has since been instrumental in the development of a transition of care clinic within the family medicine department at Essentia. She has a wide variety of experiences that have provided her with the insight and passion to develop a care delivery model that will benefit patients as well make a positive impact on the organization as a whole. Ms. Weston worked in nursing and long-term care administration for several years before becoming a nurse practitioner.  She also has an acute care background as an assistant administrator in outpatient surgery and as the project leader in implementing a shared governance and primary nursing care delivery model at St. Alexious Health. Ms. Weston is board-certified by the American Nurses Credentialing Center as a family nurse practitioner.

Heidi White, MD, is professor of medicine and clinical vice-chief of the geriatric’s division in the department of medicine at Duke University. She is the medical director of HOPE (Health Optimization Program for Elders) which includes a collaborative of 23 nursing homes across seven counties of North Carolina, a home healthcare work group and a clinical transitional care program from Duke University Hospital to skilled nursing facilities.  She co-directs a geriatrics operational plan for Duke Health and serves on the operating committee for Duke Connected Care, Duke’s accountable care organization.

Kim Williams is a member of Novant Health’s government programs team with a specific focus on improving patient outcomes while reducing overall costs in their two Medicare Shared Savings Accountable Care Organizations. Over the course of her career she has provided clinical leadership and administrative oversight that has culminated in a wealth of experience to apply in her current position. Ms. Williams is privileged to live her passion of facilitating work that directly improves patient outcomes and enhances the human experience while reducing overall costs. She was recently selected to serve on the NAACOS Quality Committee.