American Healthcare Leader #16

Inclusion

Peter Kim’s emphasis on inclusion has empowered employees to advocate for themselves and drive stronger business outcomes for Thermo Fisher Scientific, p. 200

Insights From The Inside

Meet the eight dynamic women who have ascended the ranks in the healthcare legal world and learn about the unexpected detours that guided them to their passions, p. 106

Contents

The Path

10. Lisa Locklear has relied on her adaptability to propel her to success in a variety of industries throughout her career.

28. Peter Braveman reflects on his more than thirty years at Cedars-Sinai upon his retirement.

21. After establishing herself as a revenue cycle leader, Richelle Fleischer embarked on a new challenge in children’s healthcare.

36. Anthony Wilson details his mission to create a zero-harm environment at Silver Cross Hospital.

The Reason

84. Peter Socarras discusses Nevro’s leading-edge spinal-cord therapies and problems he sees in the patent enforcement landscape.

94. Chad Hanson is led by Medtronic’s mission to alleviate pain for its patients in his legal role at the company.

91. Gary Tomcik helped create a social media platform for employees to appreciate one another, leading to increased happiness and engagement at NCH Healthcare System.

100. After his wife gave birth prematurely at Mount Sinai Health System, Scott Landau decided he wanted to join the organization’s compassionate staff to make a difference.

40. Ginny Proestakes is reimagining what the future of hip and knee replacement surgeries looks like for GE employees.

58. Cape Medical Supply’s Gary Sheehan is digitizing his family-owned business’ presence to better compete in the modern age.

54. Mitchell Parrish does his part to ensure human medical testing is safe at Quorum Review Inc.

61. Dan Renick discusses how prescription drug manufacturers can become better partners to consumers.

The Issues

Cass Davis (Avanir), Gillian Fry (GE), Cathy Clarke (Mount Sinai Health System)

The Business

144. David Entwistle is leading the transformation of Stanford Health Care’s state-of-the-art campus upgrade.

162. AstraZeneca’s Eric Santoro lays out five strategies for minimizing healthcare litigation costs.

150. Vipin Gopal elaborates on how he believes data and analytics will reshape the future of healthcare.

174. Readiness Rounds’ data-storage platform reduces strain on caregivers by streamlining hospital data into one location.

The Feature

108. Michelle Oliver traces her path from a twelve-year-old girl in Ireland to a top lawyer at Siemens Healthineers’ New York City office.

124. Jennifer Tousignant discusses how her passion for breeding dressage horses translates to her IP work at TESARO.

120. Barbara McClung’s path toward a legal career began with a bout of malaria and black-andwhite colobus monkeys.

138. Keeley Cain Wettan is helping make healthcare law a more inclusive space for women and people of color.

200. Peter Kim wants to ensure Thermo Fisher Scientific’s company culture works for all of its employees, regardless of their identities and life experiences.

213. Sherry Ward is bringing her benefits expertise to bear as she revamps BJC HealthCare’s total rewards program.

210. Fred Berger has grown his role and his relationships at Temple University Health System since his days as an intern sixteen years ago.

218. Suzzette Jaskowiak is helping Walgreens customers take control of their health outside of the hospital by making it easier to track their medications.

Masthead

CREATIVE

VP, Creative

Kevin Beauseigneur

Director, Creative

Cyndi Fecher

Editor

Joe Dixon

Contributors

Billy Yost

Bridgett Novak

Charlene Oldham

Clint Worthington

Jacqueline Zenn

Joseph Kay

Kathryn Kruse

KC Esper

Lior Phillips

Manisha Rita

Peter Fabris

Rebecca Roberts

Roland Archer

Stephanie Zeilenga

Will Grant

Lead Designer

Topher Ellsworth

Senior Designer

Lauren Keeling

Designer

Yash Rastogi

Photo Editors & Staff Photographers

Cass Davis

Gillian Fry

CORPORATE

CEO

Pedro Guerrero

Managing VP

Marc Jerbi

VP, Hispanic Division

Vianni Busquets

Senior Events Manager

Jill Ortiz

Senior Director, Finance

David Martinez

Director, Client Services

Cheyenne Eiswald

Senior Client Services Managers

Rebekah Pappas

Katie Richards

Client Services Manager

Skylar Garfield

Director, Talent Acquisition

Elyse Schultz

Talent Acquisition Manager

Haylee Himel

Executive Assistant to the CEO

Jaclyn Gaughan

Senior Director, Sales

Ben Julia

Director, Sales

Rachel Miller

Associate Director,

Strategic Development

Kara Thomas

Director, Strategic Partnerships

Krista Horbenko

VP, Business Development

Kyle Evangelista

Director, Business Development

Jenny Vetokhin

Business Development Managers

Erin Malone

Elif Negiz

Strategic Account Manager

Taylor Frank

Content & Advertising Managers

Megan Apfelbach

Ryan Hamstengel

Joseph Jennings

Kelly Stapleton

Drew Thomas

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From the Editor

Unleash Your Authenticity

It’s not easy to be your own advocate. Although most of us know there is a difference between what behavior is acceptable at home and at the office, there are identities we will bring with us wherever we go—race, gender, sexual orientation, and disability, to name a few.

To feel comfortable, to achieve a true sense of belonging at work, these identities—and the life experiences attached to them—must be respected.

For the past two years, I have witnessed the impact of working with people who understand this idea well. I live with a physical disability and use a manual wheelchair around our office, and there are times when I need assistance to make it to parts of the office that unfortunately aren’t accessible. When I first realized this, I dreaded asking for help. I feared being thought of as a burden, and I disliked the idea of having to constantly remind people of something that made me different.

However, my coworkers made that worry melt away almost instantly. In fact, it has gotten to the point where some of them will proactively ask me if they can help me get to a meeting, and everyone strives to schedule meetings in accessible rooms unless absolutely necessary.

I cannot overstate how little acts like this have made me comfortable to be myself during my time here. More importantly, it enables me to concentrate on work without worrying about things that would take away my focus away from performing my best every day for my team.

It’s this experience that made me so excited to learn about Peter Kim of Thermo Fisher Scientific, American Healthcare Leader’s cover feature this issue (p. 200). As the organization’s vice president of culture and counsel, Kim has dedicated himself to ensuring that each of the company’s fifty thousand employees feel comfortable advocating for a workplace that empowers them. From encouraging people to report their complaints in a consequencefree environment to increasing transparency of ethics-related issues from the top down, Kim has spearheaded institutional change at Thermo Fisher Scientific that has not only bolstered employee engagement but also driven positive business results to the organization’s bottom line.

In 2019, the idea of inclusion isn’t just a buzz word. It’s a reality that employers in healthcare and beyond will have to embrace not just to attract top talent to their organizations, but to stay competitive in a competitive business landscape.

Joe Dixon Editor Guerrero

The Path

Every step an executive takes on their career journey is pivotal to achieving their current successes. Along the way, individuals accumulate technical skills, foster relationships, and develop the leadership acumen that have turned them into pioneers of the industry.

10. Lisa Locklear

15. Bill Bower

18. Lori Lee

21. Richelle Fleischer

24. Michael MacDougall

28. Peter Braveman

32. Stephanie Winter Yocum

36. Anthony Wilson

By Billy Yost | Portraits by Cass Davis

A Partner in Any Industry

Avanir Pharmaceuticals’ Lisa Locklear has found success in a multitude of roles by being a business partner first

Locklear

“I don’t think transferring industries is an impossible task,” Lisa Locklear says. “It takes a little bit of courage, a lot of commitment, and the knowledge that you don’t know everything.” Locklear sets the bar high when it comes to career diversity. The vice president and chief financial officer at Avanir Pharmaceuticals has worked for one of the “Big 4” public accounting firms, a global entertainment leader, the world’s largest technology distribution company, and a mobile game developer. She has relocated to Europe on two separate occasions and has represented Mickey Mouse all over the world. Locklear now assumes the CFO role at Avanir, just a few years ahead of the company’s expected second drug offering, AVP-786, which is being investigated as a possible treatment for moderate-to-severe agitation in patients with Alzheimer’s-induced dementia. As the countdown continues, Locklear is making sure Avanir is ready to scale for what she’s calling “Finance 2.0” by growing finance’s business partner role. Locklear didn’t have much pharmaceutical experience prior to coming to Avanir, but her sheer adaptability sends a strong message. “I think my life and career experiences really allow me to come into a new industry like pharmaceuticals with a solid set of finance skills. This allows me to be open-minded as to how finance can be a business partner and earn a seat at the table,” Locklear says. “Ideally, we want to be in a position where the business leaders consult with their finance partner before making any big decision.” Developing that business partner role, Locklear says, is crucial, and that goal spans any industry.

The finance roles Locklear has taken on are impressive, not only in their complexity, but in their breadth. As senior audit manager at then-Price Waterhouse, Locklear took on a three-year tour of duty in Paris as a newlywed who had never

“Transferring industries takes a little bit of courage, a lot of commitment, and the knowledge that you don’t know everything.”

been to Europe. “We arrived with our suitcases and that was it,” Locklear says. “I didn’t know what it was like to live in a city, let alone a foreign country, but it taught me the importance of being adaptable and culturally aware.”

Locklear would eventually find her way back to Europe with the Walt Disney company, working both in Paris and London, leading finance for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa for Disney Consumer Products for close to five years. Upon returning to the US to work at the Disneyland theme park in California, she learned an entirely different skill set working in a culture with a laser-focus on the guest experience.

It was while spending the next decade at Ingram Micro that Locklear says she really began to realize just how ingrained finance could be in the business process. “The role of finance when we’re striving to make basis points on the dollar in terms of profit really required us to be an active business partner,” Locklear says. “It taught me about the ability we have to add to the overall growth or direction of the business.”

Coming to Avanir, Locklear hopes to leverage her experience in preparing the pharma company for expected expansion. “I think I have a good feel for the key functions and roles required for a successful finance team,” Locklear says. “Today I’m really looking at what the financial organization needs to be sustainable and scalable to support our future, larger organization.” Locklear

Breadth in Experience, Breadth in Giving

“I think it’s important to give back to my community and complement my work in finance,” Lisa Locklear says.

Avanir Pharmaceuticals’ vice president and chief financial officer was a board member for eight years and is a current supporter of the Orange County United Way. Locklear sits on the board for the Gemological Institute of America, a mission-driven nonprofit in the jewelry and gem industry, and she recently joined the board for the Pacific Marine Mammal Center, which rescues, rehabilitates, and releases marine life that may wash up on coastal shores. “We’re trying to promote stewardship of our oceans and marine resources,” Locklear says.

Also active with the Dean’s Leadership Circle at the University of California Irvine, Locklear says her decades of experience can be helpful in connecting past and future leaders.

“I try to be a contributor in my community as well as within my professional network,” Locklear says. “My kids are grown, so now I get to dedicate some of my efforts into other areas I am passionate about.”

“Ideally, we want to be in a position where the business leaders consult with their finance partner before making any big decision.”

and the finance team are looking at tech and potential automation that may allow more time for thoughtful analysis to better aid the larger business. Preparing for the company’s growth is one of Locklear’s defining roles at Avanir.

She says that while there are nuances and complexities within the pharma world that keep her on her toes, she’s ultimately found the passion she says that is required to take on any substantive role. “The idea of being able to help patients and their care communities is really motivating,” Locklear says. Her desire to better understand the business and how it operates has led her to go out in the field with the Avanir sales team to learn about how healthcare professionals engage with and treat patients. As Avanir prepares for its future growth, Locklear says the finance team has united behind a mission to become trusted partners providing expertise and value, words the team has defined for itself. Locklear says it’s become the defining phrase of helping Avanir begin to build toward Finance 2.0. AHL

By Lior Phillips

Advancing a Patients-First Mission

While a second-year law student, Bill Bower identified the ideal firm to work for, one that promised to provide experience early. He tried to get an on-campus interview for a summer internship with the organization, but he did not make the cut. That did not prevent him from getting his foot in the door, however. He sat outside the interview room until the hiring manager had a break, made an introduction and personally “talked my way into a job with the firm,” he says. There, he learned the value of taking what some may perceive as a rejection and turning it into an opportunity. “Failure is sometimes the best learning experience,” Bower says.

After passing the bar, Bower stayed with the same firm, as he wanted to follow the passion he’d discovered working with a mentor in the healthcare legal world. “He was a smart guy, tenacious, and a great trial attorney,” he recalls. “I wanted to follow his leadership and gain as much experience as possible.” In that time, he became closely acquainted with the practice of medicine, representing hospitals, physicians, nurses, and other healthcare providers. As he moved on from that firm and forged his own path, Bower continued to learn and grow in the healthcare world, ultimately landing in his current role as senior vice president, administration for Northwestern Memorial HealthCare. The tenacity he admired in his first mentor had clearly rubbed off.

After years of hard work as a trial attorney in defense of hospitals and healthcare professionals, Bower reached a point of leadership as vice president of strategic claims for the CNA companies. He admits that there was some luck to being in the right place at the right time, but even that comes from a good work ethic. “I never fool myself into thinking that I’m the smartest guy in the room. But I know how hard I can work, and the harder you work, the luckier you get,” he says. “You need to work hard, be courteous, have integrity, and persevere.”

Bill Bower relies on his cumulative experiences to lead Northwestern Memorial HealthCare through a series of patient-focused initiatives

Another lesson Bower needed to learn quickly at CNA was to never say no to a project or a challenge; the hard, undesirable tasks are often the most rewarding, he stresses. In the corporate world, lawyers can often be seen as a barrier rather than a business partner, but coming up with unexpected strategic solutions as a legal professional can be the key to positive outcomes.

“You need to be the person who embraces the difficult task and executes on it,” he says. With that attitude, Bower seized an unusual opportunity. Three months on to the job, he convinced his new supervisor that he should take on a new role as vice president, technical officer for all specialty lines, including medical malpractice, architects and engineers, accountants, and more. “My job became fixing problems,” he says. “Even when faced with construction defect claims, a field where I didn’t have experience, I just needed to figure out a way to go in and find solutions.”

In 2005, Bower joined Northwestern Memorial HealthCare, which had just established a captive insurance company, to oversee its professional liability program. Northwestern wanted someone to build the claim organization under a new captive and work with the university, the hospital, and the physician’s group—all of which were different corporations. Taking on that large scope required Bower to continue his policy of constant growth and learning. “The role quickly reaffirmed the value of diplomacy and humility,” he says. “These are some of the smartest, most passionate, most hardworking people I’ve ever met, and they always put patients first. I needed to ensure they all worked together toward a single, desired outcome.”

Prior to earning his current title, Bower acted as chief risk executive. In the role he grew to understand another common struggle for legal professionals, and one that ties closely into risk: keeping open lines of communication to other departments and ensuring those teams feel comfortable discussing their issues. “You can never overcommunicate,” he says. “You have to make sure

Bill Bower SVP, Administration Northwestern Memorial HealthCare

Laura Brown

“You need to be the person who embraces the difficult task and executes on it.”

from his friends and colleagues at Cunningham, Meyer & Vedrine P.C. on Bill’s well-deserved recognition by American Healthcare Leader for his highly successful career and achievements at Northwestern Memorial Healthcare

that leadership knows what’s happening. It’s one thing to solve problems, but to ensure that those risks are addressed to keep the problem from recurring, process improvements need to be a part of the situation.”

Bower was recently promoted to senior vice president of administration, working to advance the “patients-first” mission across the entire organization. Each year, Northwestern identifies 15–20 key initiatives throughout the system, and Bower’s current role is to act as executive owner of several of these initiatives. One key initiative, he notes, is the process of centrally locating a shared service organization. Though the Northwestern team is still developing a plan for the change, Bower is confident this initiative will result in major improvements in operations. “It’s something relatively new in

the healthcare industry, but it adds so much efficiency and improves internal customer service,” he says.

Another key initiative he is working toward is a center of excellence for robotics, artificial intelligence, and process automation, all growing concerns and opportunities in the healthcare world. Though they may seem like daunting challenges, Bower continues to rely on the lessons and skills set he amassed throughout his career, particularly hard work, communication, and the importance of having outstanding technical expertise in his teams. “The caliber of the people who work here never fails to impress me,” he says. “And I know that whatever specific goal we are trying to achieve, everyone is ultimately focused on how it will advance our ‘patients-first’ mission.” AHL

CM&V is a premier law firm representing physicians, allied healthcare personnel and healthcare institutions in the defense of complex medical liability claims.

& VEDRINE P.C.

By Joseph Kay

Bandages to New Joints

After decades overseeing pharmacy, Lori Lee is now overhauling Yale New Haven Health’s medical-device supply chain

Thirty years after joining Yale New Haven Health as a clinical pharmacist, Lori Lee has the responsibility of directing pharmacy operations for her first hospital as well as four others.

She always knew she wanted to work in the medical field, though not as a physician. Her love for chemistry and caretaking led her to pharmacy, and a Yale New Haven representative visited her university as she was finishing her training.

Initially a clinical pharmacist in cardiology, Lee became an educator, developed the pharmacy residency, and then moved into management and began overseeing programs she had helped build. More recently, Lee and leadership have built an outpatient specialty pharmacy and integrated a systematic approach across all five of the system’s hospitals.

“I was the first pharmacist to manage pharmacy in the system; for all five hospitals in the system I’m responsible for pharmacy,” she explains. “We’re the first clinical department in our health system to take this approach.”

She adds, “I’ve had a lot of great opportunities and mentors. This is a great employer for career growth, and I’ve stayed because I was given the opportunity to do so much.”

Lee served as director of pharmacy services before becoming vice president and chief pharmacy officer in 2016. She’s committed her career to standardizing processes across the pharmacy system to serve patients and provide value. Over the years, she’s found ways to expand her contribution, implementing new metrics to manage drug inventory, standardizing procurement processes, and looking across the entire health system.

Lori Lee VP, Corporate Supply Chain & Chief Pharmacy Officer

Yale New Haven Health

With a proven record for process transformation, Lee added a role as vice president of corporate supply chain in early 2018. Her mandate is to apply many of the same strategic principles to a new department, standardizing the processes behind every supply acquisition from bandages to high-end joint replacements.

“I’m a natural fit, still networking with the same group of people. That makes my ability to move initiatives a little easier,” she says. “I’m very interested in taking a team of people and allowing them to do the best they can. I’ve done that on the pharmacy side, and I’m convinced I can do it on this side.”

There’s never a perfect moment for major organizational change, especially in a setting as broad and complex as a hospital system. In 2018, Lee's departments have undergone a massive recruitment effort and switched to another ERP computer system. Through all of that, Lee has also been examining and refreshing the entire supply-acquisition process.

There are important differences between pharmacy and device supply. For example, provider preference plays a larger role in the latter, so Lee’s department has to gather and act on physicians’ feedback. Lee’s value-analysis team takes a deliberative approach to those decisions.

Lee explains, “The team attempts to uncover any data points on a medical device and look at other devices that may be out on the market in a logical way.”

She adds, “We have to engage the physicians and their expertise, so we deal a lot with the surgeons. That’s our primary customer, followed by cardiology. Those are two big areas that use our products.”

Lee’s consultants have suggested that the department could be more cohesive and interoperative. In response, leadership has created a new governance structure and is now building up the department through internal and external recruitment. The staff is responding to the clarity of this strategic vision and momentum is building, she says.

“I’ve had a lot of great opportunities and mentors. This is a great place for career growth, and I’ve stayed because I was given the opportunity to do so much.”

“At the end of the day, I’m a clinician and a pharmacist, so we have to make the decisions that benefit our patients.”

At first, Lee hesitated at the unfamiliar subject matter. But since her debut in the role, she’s relied on the same leadership and management principles as she did overseeing pharmacy. A great leader needn’t also be a subject matter expert, she says, as long as they have the right resources and flexibility around them. When she started she knew “just enough to be dangerous,” as she puts it. Now, she’s learned that listening skills and networking make the difference.

But for Lee, who’s overseen enormous departmental transformation in this same hospital system, patience is the new greatest challenge.

“I feel good about what we have done in the past year, but I always want to be further along,” she says. “What we built on the pharmacy side has taken years. We have phenomenal team members and processes, but it didn’t happen overnight. Here, we’re starting that all over. We have work ahead of us.”

When device supply is eventually slick and systematic, other clinical departments can benefit from the same strategic approach.

“If I can do that here, I can continue to expand my scope as long as it benefits the health system,” says Lee. “At the end of the day, I'm a clinician and a pharmacist, so we have to make the decisions that benefit our patients.” AHL

McKesson is proud to partner with Lori Lee and Yale New Haven Health System.

By Lior Phillips

The Millennial Challenge

No matter the role, every facet of the healthcare industry demands the ability to collaborate and to creatively problem-solve. As the financial side of the industry has become more complex, the need for teamwork has become a major part of the revenue cycle. Across three decades in healthcare, Richelle Fleischer has seen that evolution firsthand. As president of Texas Children’s Physician Group and senior vice president of revenue cycle for Texas Children’s Hospital, Fleischer strives to ensure that families are given the most convenient access to care.

After graduating with a degree in commerce from the University of Virginia, Fleischer began her career in public accounting. She performed audits in a variety of industries, including higher education, nonprofit, and manufacturing. After consulting and working frequently within the healthcare field, Fleischer decided to dedicate her career to the industry. To best prepare for this transition, she added a master’s degree in healthcare finance from Johns Hopkins, and took a financial leadership position at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. There she focused on developing strong financial reporting acumen and building a cohesive team.

Those traits then fueled her progress to an executive director position at a Virginia-based health system. “Initially, I only had responsibility for patient accounting and patient access for one hospital,” she says. “After I streamlined processes and improved outcomes of those two departments, I asked the CFO, ‘What next?’”

After establishing herself as a revenue cycle changemaker, Richelle Fleischer has turned her attention toward meeting the tech-savvy needs of millennial parents and their kids

Fleischer has always been eager to find new ways to improve both herself and the ways her institution could provide care. She took on streamlining medical records, building a central scheduling team, and converting transcription to a pay-per-line compensation model. Eventually, she was managing end-toend revenue cycle for five hospitals and 350 employed physicians. “I enjoyed taking on additional responsibilities and volunteered for the next opportunity,” Fleischer says. “By the end of my tenure in Virginia, I had responsibility for both hospital and professional revenue cycle for the organization. I was also asked to be the operational finance partner of hospital administration for its 570-bed hospital. It was a great learning experience simultaneously managing three diverse roles.”

When Fleischer’s husband decided to take a physician leadership role in Houston, a recruiter reached out to her to discuss a position at Texas Children’s Hospital as a revenue cycle executive. Fleischer jumped at the opportunity. “I was excited by what Texas Children’s was accomplishing and wanted to be a part of that,” she says. “I was energized by the potential to improve the health system’s financial results to support the mission of caring for children.”

Soon after accepting the role, Fleischer was appointed by the CEO to colead a new organizational initiative to improve access to care. “He stressed that timelier scheduling of patients into subspecialty clinics was the number one problem,” she says. Fleischer partnered with Dr. Larry Hollier, surgeon-in-chief, to address the issue measuring “third-next-available

appointment” time frames. Third Next Available Appointment (TNAA) is the average length of days from when a patient requests an appointment and the third-available appointment. A TNAA under fourteen days is considered the gold standard when measuring ease of access to care by national hospital rankings. Fleischer and Hollier found that only 66 percent of Texas Children’s subspecialties were meeting the fourteen-day benchmark.

“The team began opening the door to access by utilizing the existing EHR software for online scheduling, vacant appointment flipping, optimizing physician schedules, and other automated features,” Fleischer explains. “We already owned these technologies, but they hadn’t been effectively implemented operationally.” For example, the

President, Physician Group & SVP, Hospital Revenue Cycle

Texas Children’s Physician Group & Texas Children’s Hospital

Richelle Fleischer

Paul Vincent Kuntz

“We were able to add fifty-three thousand appointments in a year by leveraging existing technology.”

Congratulations

Deloitte is proud to celebrate Richelle Fleischer, Senior VP of Revenue Cycle, Texas Children’s Hospital on her accomplishments and dedication to the industry. Congratulations to Richelle and to Texas Children’s Hospital

organization began to use electronic wait lists for cancellations, which provided a dual benefit: doctors’ time is utilized more efficiently and patients get access to treatment earlier. “We were able to add fifty-three thousand appointments in a year by leveraging existing technology,” she says. After just one year, the patient-access initiative now has 83 percent of all subspecialties meeting the fourteen-day TNAA threshold. Texas Children’s has successfully increased completed appointments by more than 9 percent without increasing the number of providers.

Texas Children’s provides world-class quaternary care to children in every state and around the world. As millennial parents and their children continue to make up more of the patient population, living up to the technological expectations of the families has become another major focus of the organization. The demand for self-service tools such as online payment portals is increasing exponentially. “We’re just beginning to scratch the surface there, with options such as online scheduling and online payment plans,” Fleischer says. “The healthcare industry is only now catching up to how

millennial parents conduct business everywhere else. Texas Children’s has already made major strides in closing the gap with 70 percent of our subspecialties clinics available through online scheduling.”

Based on her financial successes within revenue cycle and her ability to collaborate with clinicians, Fleischer was recently appointed the president of the Texas Children’s Physicians Group. “I have already enjoyed partnering with the Texas Children’s physicians, and I am excited to work more closely with the physician leadership,” she says. “It tugs on your heartstrings to know that our work helps children grow up to be healthy adults, to lead productive lives, and perhaps inspire them to pursue a career in healthcare.” AHL

Deloitte ’s US Health Care practice helps clients transform uncertainty into possibility and rapid change into lasting progress. Comprehensive audit, advisory, consulting, and tax capabilities deliver value at every step, from insight to strategy to action. Our people know how to anticipate, collaborate, innovate, and create opportunity from even the unforeseen obstacle. Learn more at deloitte.com/us/providers.

By Billy Yost

Think Globally, Act Globally

EMD Serono’s general counsel Michael MacDougall discusses developing professionally on a global scale

EMD Serono, the biopharmaceutical business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, is focused on medicines for patients with difficult-to-treat diseases and is part of a global organization that encompasses more than fifty thousand employees in sixty-six countries. The multipronged global company is the oldest chemical and pharmaceutical company in the world.

The company’s senior vice president and general counsel Michael MacDougall believes many people who work in the US at international companies, including him, can become US-centric without ever intending it. Widening that scope is just one of the valuable lessons he learned when MacDougall accepted an overseas position at the company’s global

headquarters in Darmstadt, Germany, from 2013 to 2015. From professional development and building relationships with international legal and business colleagues, to rebuilding EMD Serono’s legal department upon his return to the US, MacDougall understands that a wider view can only help his and his company’s efficiency, growth, and progress.

MacDougall joined EMD Serono in 2007 as associate general counsel. “I supported more than ten internal functions, which really gave me a broad view of the organization and a clear perspective on the key levers that help ensure business success. In our case, business success translates into helping patients, and it is very rewarding to work for a company with that goal,” MacDougall says.

As he began focusing on more development opportunities, he was offered the overseas position of associate general counsel and head of legal, global business franchises in Germany. “I went from supporting solely US functions to supporting our business franchises globally, and this required a rapid shift to a broader mind-set,” he says. “It’s a move that might never have been offered to me had I not been vocal about my desire for development,” MacDougall says. “You have to seek out development opportunities and make it known within the company that it’s something you’re interested in.” While that may not mean

“In our case, business success translates into helping patients, and it is very rewarding to work for a company with that goal.”

Michael

SVP & General Counsel

MacDougall

EMD Serono Elise M.

an international assignment in every case, showing initiative and a willingness and desire to grow will typically be rewarded if the company is supportive of development opportunities, he says.

The senior vice president also says being ready to seize the opportunity for development was essential to his success. “You may find yourself planning the ideal time to go work abroad, but the reality is you can’t plan when those opportunities arise,” MacDougall says. “In my case, I wasn’t sure if that opportunity would ever come up again.” So he, his wife, Amy, and their three children Madeline, Andrew, and Hailey made the move to Germany.

“It may seem obvious, but even little things matter when operating in an international environment. If it’s 8 a.m.

where you are, you don’t want to start a call with international colleagues in different locations with ‘Good morning,’ as you are immediately demonstrating a narrow and local mind-set,” MacDougall says. And while English was spoken company-wide, MacDougall said there were occasions where people would naturally speak in their native language. Figuring out how to sensitively navigate cultural issues in a country that wasn’t his own made him much more aware of “thinking globally” upon returning home.

Maintaining a global mind-set had other benefits upon MacDougall’s return to the US in late 2015 as well. “I’ve had the opportunity to work with a lot of different people and functions worldwide, and I learned a great deal about how they

Elise M. Sinagra

“I now have a broader awareness of how to approach and resolve business and legal challenges, and I have tried to share this knowledge and experience with my team.”

Leading the Way

do things,” he says. “I now have a broader awareness of how to approach and resolve business and legal challenges, and I have tried to share this knowledge and experience with my team.”

Upon his return to the US, as a result of significant professional growth, MacDougall says EMD Serono seemed like a very different company, “I felt like there were as many new faces as familiar ones.” After recent turnover in the legal department, the new general counsel not only had to fill positions for traditional work the company had done, but he had new roles to fill, too.

“We were preparing for multiple product launches,” MacDougall says. “It was, and continues to be, an exciting time that required a rethinking of how the department was structured and how to most efficiently utilize resources while also strengthening the department’s global perspective.”

The simultaneous workload of traditional legal functions and the additional business opportunities meant legal needed to manage greater volumes than ever before. It was imperative to keep a strong focus on the business and make sure that legal was meeting business needs, which sometimes required creative uses of available resources. It was another development lesson in action for MacDougall: committing to growth while maintaining current responsibilities.

And it was ultimately for the best. “Rebuilding and developing this legal team with a strong global mindset during a period of growth is one of the things I’m most proud of,” MacDougall says. “We’ve retained and hired terrific people and have a department that is highly valued by the business for being collaborative, open-minded, forward-looking, and committed to our company goals of delivering therapies to patients.” AHL

King & Spalding congratulates our valued friend Michael MacDougall on his well-deserved recognition from American Healthcare Leader for his exemplary service as the General Counsel of EMD Serono.

kslaw.com

By Charlene Oldham

A Career of Lifelong Learning

Upon his retirement, Peter Braveman reflects on thirty years at Cedars-Sinai

Peter Braveman SVP, Legal Affairs & General Counsel Cedars-Sinai

Peter Braveman’s career path took some far-flung twists and turns in its early years. It began with an English degree from Princeton University, where he wrote his senior thesis on the journalist and Pulitzer Prize-winning writer John McPhee. He spent hours interviewing and shadowing McPhee, with whom he’s maintained a friendship for more than fifty years.

Upon graduation, Braveman spent a year studying and “trying to write” while at Bristol University in England. Eventually, he moved to New York, where he found himself dissatisfied with his writing and the available prospects in the New York publishing industry. As a result, he decided to attend law school and parlay his interest in publishing into a legal career covering copyright law and other industry issues.

But his dual interest in publishing and law served him well after he earned his degree from the University of Utah College of Law, helping him win the Max Rheinstein Grant from the Alexander von Humboldt

Lisa Hollis

Foundation. With the Foundation’s support, he served a two-year stint after law school on the legal research staff of the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Patent, Copyright and Competition Law in Munich, Germany.

When he returned from Germany, Braveman landed a job with Los Angeles-based Loeb & Loeb LLP, where he worked closely with the administrators and practitioners at Cedars-Sinai, which became his primary client. He helped shepherd the academic medical center through everything from real estate to research issues.

After eight years collaborating with Cedars-Sinai as outside counsel, Braveman joined the staff as its first in-house lawyer in 1987. More than thirty years later, Cedars-Sinai’s recently retired and former senior vice president for legal affairs and general counsel reflects on the connection he felt to the organization, even as outside counsel.

“I don’t want to make too much of it, but I always had a sense I could talk to doctors because I had known doctors,” says Braveman, who remembers his ophthalmologist father providing care for patients who couldn’t always pay. “He was a charitable person who was doing what was right for his patients, and I think that rubbed off. Certainly, my desire to assure that the institution I represented provided the best quality of care to patients and assured the best outcomes for the people we served stems from that.”

Cedars-Sinai serves patients across the Los Angeles area.

Although the healthcare industry felt like home to Braveman, he says the past four decades have been a continual learning experience, even though he spent the majority of that time working for a single organization. The industry has evolved, as has Cedars-Sinai, which started in 1902 as a twelve-bed hospital in the

Life Outside the Legal Realm

In addition to his focus on learning from the past and the experts around him, part of Peter Braveman’s personal and professional philosophy has always revolved around enjoying the ride and cultivating a life outside work. Already an avid tennis player and devoted father and grandfather, he took up the guitar about a decade ago. “I was either going to learn another language or an instrument,” he says. “And I decided to go with the instrument—which, to my surprise, turned out to be a totally new language for me.”

“I think a trait people who do what I do must have is being scrupulously honest about what they don’t know.”

Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles. Today, Cedars-Sinai annually serves more than one million people at more than forty locations, including its flagship Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles as well as Cedars-Sinai Marina Del Rey Hospital.

“I think a trait people who do what I do must have is being scrupulously honest about what they don’t know,” he says.

Throughout his tenure, Braveman spent a significant chunk of each day reviewing new developments in the industry that could have legal ramifications for the organization and sharing those insights with his legal staff members, who all have carefully curated specialties they bring to the table. He was also surrounded by medical professionals and administrators who could help him connect the dots between patient care and courthouse concerns.

“If you work in a hospital—especially an academic hospital—there are people with true expertise in their fields,” he says. “There are a lot of people you can learn from in an institution like this.”

Braveman also looked to lawyers outside the organization to answer those questions he and his staff weren’t able to address on their own. He engaged more than fifty firms worldwide to address a multitude of issues ranging from antitrust to zoning. Some of the outside lawyers stood out, not only as subject matter experts, but also as active partners whose interest in the healthcare industry and its issues didn’t end when their client contract with Cedars-Sinai did.

“In my position, I’ve found people who not only have the technical expertise, but were interested in gaining knowledge about the institution and its internal processes,” he says.

Braveman followed those curious contractors even when they switched law firms, watching many of their careers bloom into partnerships with major firms. And, although he was in-house at Cedars-Sinai for more than thirty years, he too, is constantly growing, both personally and professionally.

“It’s been nearly forty years for me either working for or at the same institution but, frankly, it seems like a short period of time. It’s been everchanging. And that’s what also made it so interesting.” AHL

Thank Wishes you & Best

Thank you to our friend and client, Peter Braveman, for your many years of service with Cedars-Sinai.

For more than three decades, you’ve helped Cedars-Sinai successfully navigate through the health care industry’s many changes and innovations and helped make it the quality institution it is today.

Best of luck in your retirement.

Founded in 1987, Hooper Lundy & Bookman is the largest law rm in the country dedicated exclusively to the representation of healthcare providers and suppliers. With o ces in Boston, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C., HLB has clients in all 50 states and has extensive experience representing clients in complex regulatory and compliance matters, reimbursement disputes, transactions, tax issues, and litigation.

Our rm o ers a unique mix of subject matter expertise and practical experience to provide state-of-the-art, creative and practical counsel. Every day, our attorneys advise health care providers about complicated, cutting-edge health law issues.

By focusing exclusively on health care, HLB has developed a generation of attorneys specialized in the healthcare, health-tech and life sciences industry. We provide a powerful combination of expertise and exibility that has proven e ective in serving national health systems as well as individual and regional providers and provider groups.

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Hooper, Lundy & Bookman is a proud partner of Cedars-Sinai and congratulates Peter Braveman on his forty years of continued commitment to excellence and innovation in the healthcare industry.

By Lior Phillips

A CharacterBuilding Career

Stephanie Winter Yocum views each step of her career—even the setbacks—as a valuable tool to continue her personal and professional growth

Stephanie Winter Yocum’s HR career has excelled because of agile decision-making and strategic thinking—but she wasn’t always a hyperorganized and focused leader. “I was one of those people who had no idea what they wanted to do with their life,” she says. But Yocum found her path by continuing to put in hard work, amassing important life lessons along the way. Even in her first jobs in retail, she knew it would make a difference in the future. “It’s not what you’re doing, it’s the skills that you're building when you’re doing it,” she says. Throughout her career, the following lessons have helped Yocum develop into an effective HR professional.

Finding a Passion and Creating Opportunities

After working in New York City for a few years, Yocum returned to school, earning her master’s of arts

in higher education from Ohio State University. She immediately followed that up with a master’s degree in labor and human resources. With the two degrees, Yocum felt she could tackle any number of different challenges, either in the business or education fields. As a first step, she worked in consulting with Accenture. “I was exploring and learning what it felt like to help people lead through change,” she says.

One client, PolyOne, offered to bring Yocum in-house to build a corporate learning and development organization from the ground up. She jumped at the opportunity to create something from a blank slate, not to mention to travel internationally and further develop her skills in change management. From there, Yocum knew she had found passion for a field that she could continue to build on.

Learning From Setbacks

Unfortunately, after a few years at PolyOne, Yocum learned that her entire function would be downsized as the business struggled. But even then, Yocum looked at the experience as a learning opportunity. “I looked at what had happened and realized I had to broaden my skill set,” she says.

To diversify her knowledge base, Yocum took her next position at The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company, working as an HR director. Not only was she working in different facets of HR, but she’d also be working as more of a business partner. That role involved assisting in the design of a succession planning process for senior leadership, and eventually led to work as a general business HR partner.

After a three-year tenure at Scotts, Yocum was offered the top HR job at home builder M/I Homes. “It was a great opportunity to have board experience, interface with the senior leadership team, and lead a whole HR function,” she says. Though relatively small, the company was publicly traded, and needed to develop its HR business. That involved putting in new programs such as leadership development, executive compensation, training and development, and more.

By looking at her previous position as a place to develop a broader skill set, Yocum had prepared herself perfectly for the position. However, nothing could have prepared her (or M/I Homes) for the residential homebuilding crash that followed shortly after she joined the organization. Immediately, Yocum realized the need for a culture and leadership team that could effectively navigate massive downsizing and outplacement—a disappointment she had previously felt herself.

“There has been such a diversity of experience in my background, but I’ve never thought about leaving HR because of the potential the function helps ensure the success of the people who push the business.”

Balancing Customer Expectations

In 2011, Yocum and her family moved to Connecticut, meaning she’d need to leave M/I and find a new opportunity. After two years as senior manager of HR for nonprofit ISO New England, Yocum stepped into her first C-suite role as chief human resources officer for Numotion. Rather than downsizing, the healthcare organization was on a trajectory of massive growth with a mission to provide mobility solutions such as wheelchairs for customers in need.

As an HR executive, there is a duty to serve a diverse group of stakeholders. “We were looking at 2,500 employees across 41 states, with a billion-dollar growth plan,” she explains. Those numbers led to a lot of complexity, but Yocum looked at that also as an opportunity to make an impact on more employees lives, and to create a culture of leadership where people and customers feel heard and valued.

Just as critical are the strong relationships that have to exist with the leaders of the business. “Senior executives are in the most impactful, pivotal decision-making seats, and they are all unique—they all have their own career stories, ways of thinking about the world, and backgrounds,” Yocum says. With this in mind, Yocum always tries to remember that being conscious of these different experiences when you partner with them, as well as having a clear perspective of your own, can lead to greater success in future. “You need flexibility and a proven way to build and keep trust.”

Always Working for Tomorrow

Yocum relies on the amalgamation of all her experiences to help solve new puzzles and bring excitement to new opportunities. “There has been such a diversity of experience in my background, but I’ve never thought about leaving HR because the function helps ensure the success of the people who push the business,” she says.

Yocum has faced tragedy in her life—her father passed away recently, and her mother has Alzheimer’s— but even in looking back at her life, she sees how far she has come and how far she can go. “My philosophy is based on the idea of the B+ student,” she says. “If you’re always the A student, you don’t have the opportunity to know what it feels like to work harder and harder for something—and then feeling joy when you have achieved it. It’s humbling and character-building, and it forces you to build strength to get through what life will throw at you.”

One thing that ties Yocum’s entire career together is that ever since her first jobs, she has never taken her consulting hat off. “I believe you need to start every day wanting to exceed your client’s and your team’s expectations—even if you're in-house,” she says. “You need to get up every morning and start all over again.” AHL

Editor’s note: At time of publication, Stephanie Winter Yocum was no longer with Numotion.

By Clint Worthington

A Zero-Harm Environment

In a highly litigious healthcare environment, Anthony Wilson of Silver Cross Hospital reduces risk with meticulous reporting systems and a dedication to comprehensive patient care

Before he was director of risk and claims management for Illinois-based Silver Cross Hospital, Anthony Wilson spent nearly a decade as a registered nurse at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in downtown Chicago. Much of his time was spent in the critical care unit, where he cared for all manner of patients. One patient in particular, a lawyer, established a rapport with Wilson at a time when he was mulling over what direction to take his healthcare career next. “Have you thought about law? Why don’t you give law a chance?” she said to him. Inspired by this suggestion, Wilson started spearheading risk management initiatives in the unit, forming relationships with risk managers in the hospital in the process. He then went to law school. Now, at Silver Cross, Wilson leans hard on both his nursing and legal experience to expand the organization’s risk

management program and work towards their self-stated goal of “zero harm” done throughout the organization.

In the healthcare arena, practical experience is at a premium. Wilson, with his years of work on multiple sides of patient care, understands the pressures and challenges that come with risk management in such a large hospital system. Not only does he frequently call on his hands-on experience as a registered nurse, Wilson worked for a few different plaintiff firms during his early law career, learning the ins and outs of medical malpractice law in great depth. “I got a real feel for how law interacted with healthcare,” Wilson says.

After making the move to law, Wilson started work at a small boutique firm that dealt with everything from automobile accidents to contract work, to estate law and more. “I started to get a sense of how everything

fits together—from defense attorneys to insurance coverage, third-party service administrators, all of it,” he says. From there, he spent time as a risk manager for Elmhurst Memorial Hospital, where he handled a hybrid of claims and clinical risk concerns. Then, he moved on to Rush University Medical Center, which needed an attorney who could handle risk- and claims-related issues, as well as legal issues and medical ethical issues, he says.

Given the breadth and depth of his expertise in healthcare law, Wilson feels especially prepared for the wideranging work he does at Silver Cross. Every day brings a new obstacle to overcome, he says.

“No day is the same. Even if I plan out my day, there’s always something different,” he admits. But Wilson feels his experience has equipped him with the perfect balance of knowledge, skill, and know-how to navigate the wide variety of issues he deals with in his role.

Take, for example, end-of-life issues in which families want to provide every single option for their family member. Wilson’s work has to find the ethical line between honoring the family’s wishes and doing what’s best for the patient.

The world of healthcare risk management is complicated, says Wilson—it’s a highly litigious environment that makes protecting hospitals from claims especially challenging. There are six-figure verdicts at stake at times, Wilson notes, which necessitates the expansion of Silver Cross’ risk management program to match the facility’s own steady growth from a two hundred-bed hospital to one with three hundred beds and growing.

Anthony Wilson Director, Risk and Claims Management

Cross Hospital

Silver

“If this were my family member, I would want them to have the best care, even though my family does not receive care here.”

Among those efforts to lower risk and improve performance are the implementation of a clinical risk reporting system throughout Silver Cross. This system allows employees to write reports and actively participate in identifying issues or concerns in the hospital. Reporting is encouraged and nonpunitive, allowing frontline users to have a voice and address problems before they start. By working to recognize problems like misplaced drugs or unreported patient allergies and building processes to prevent them in the future, Wilson strives to build a safer future at Silver Cross.

The goal of Wilson’s work, and of the hospital in general, is to build a “zero-harm” environment. Silver Cross should be “a facility where someone can come and receive the best care, and not worry about whether they may be harmed,” he says. It’s a subject Wilson is passionate about, particularly given his nursing experience and the fact that he has friends who use Silver Cross for their healthcare needs. “If this were my family member,” Wilson says, “I would want them to have the best care, even though my family does receive care here.”

With the help of this reporting system and other initiatives, Wilson is set to continue the work he has spent decades doing on all sides of the healthcare equation. By protecting Silver Cross from litigation risk and crafting better processes across the board, he hopes to help build a hospital group people can trust to deliver quality care. AHL

“Congratulations to Tony Wilson, who brings the clinical experience of his nursing background, refined by his legal education, to his role as director of risk management. This unique skill set allows Tony to service the hospital with a comprehensive view toward minimizing risk, improving safety, and enhancing overall patient experience.”

–Jim Bream, Lowis & Gellen LLP

The Issues

National, and even global, forces have an unmistakable impact on an executive’s work.

Whether it’s a legislative change or an industry-disrupting technological breakthrough, executives must constantly adapt their business strategies to keep their company thriving.

40. Ginny Proestakes

48. Mike Towers

51. Louis Capponi

54. Mitchell Parrish

58. Gary Sheehan

61. Dan Renick

66. Larry Schunder

72. Scott Nygaard

76. Ashley Nelson

80. Don Ragas

The Future of Corporate Healthcare

GE’s Ginny Proestakes changes the corporate health benefits game by working out bundled deals with top hospitals and surgeons, making medical procedures safer and more costeffective for employees

By Clint Worthington | Portraits by Gillian Fry

Ginny Proestakes Director of US Benefits

While the popularity, efficiency, and effectiveness of hip and knee replacement surgery has grown exponentially over the years, it’s still a major surgery that comes with significant risks and a high price tag. Hospitals and surgeons who specialize in joint replacements and perform the highest volume tend to have the best outcomes: fewer complications, shorter hospital stays, and quicker returns to daily life. When factoring in lower complication and revision rates, these hospitals and surgeons are often more cost-effective than other providers.

In the corporate world, this means companies that provide health benefits to their employees want to find ways to encourage employees and their dependents to get care from these providers to help improve outcomes and save money on insurance claims.

“At GE, we’re constantly challenged to do what we can to control medical costs,” says Ginny Proestakes, who spearheaded the concept of earmarking certain facilities as Centers of Excellence (COEs) for hip and knee replacements for GE employees. These COEs are nationally recognized leaders that provide cost-effective hip and knee replacements as part of an all-inclusive package deal with GE.

With these COEs, GE enjoys consistent, stable pricing for hip or knee replacements performed at leading

facilities by surgeons who satisfy certain key quality indicators, such as number of annual surgeries and rates of complication, readmission, and surgical revision. Furthermore, the procedures are warrantied; if there’s a surgical complication that arises within sixty days after the patient is discharged, the facility and surgeon take the patient back in and fix it free of charge. In exchange, these hospitals may receive a substantial volume of patients from GE. And with GE covering 100 percent of the cost of the procedure for most members (the exception being members with a health savings account who must meet their deductible first), the hospitals appreciate that they usually don’t have any patient cost-share to collect.

Prior to the creation of GE’s Centers of Excellence program, Proestakes, GE’s director of US benefits,

determined that, after maternity care, the number one reason members of GE’s health plans were admitted to the hospital was for hip or knee replacements. However, many of these surgeries were being performed by orthopedic generalists who didn’t have enough expertise in the surgery, thereby increasing the chance of complication. “You want to go to the person who does hundreds of hip surgeries a year, not the person who does it once in a while,” Proestakes notes.

Starting the program in 2013, Proestakes and her team sought out the most reputable hip and knee surgeons and their corresponding facilities, resulting in a roster today of seven hospitals that hold the COE banner. With plaudits by US News & World Report and The Joint Commission, these hospitals are staffed by orthopedic experts who are backed by experienced surgical teams. Add in a thorough screening process performed by GE’s nurse-staffed help line to ensure that qualified patients are being referred to the COE providers, and the number of patients now utilizing COE providers has been substantial.

Today, these COEs handle 30–40 percent of the hip and knee replacement surgeries performed on GE members, resulting in lower complications, fewer surgical revisions, and lower costs for both the patient and the company.

“Ginny Proestakes and her team have tirelessly challenged the status quo, improving both benefits and health outcomes for GE employees,” says Ed Lagerstrom, senior vice president of industry and network relations at OptumRx. “GE is a valued client, partnering with OptumRx to tackle the greatest challenges in healthcare.”

While GE has COEs in New York City, Chicago, Charlotte, North Carolina, and other large cities, they are also located in medium-sized cities like Cincinnati and Cleveland. For Proestakes, it was important to have some local options for GE employees.

“One big facility doesn’t work for more rural residents,” she says. “Understandably, some of our employees don’t want to travel.” When they do have to travel, however, GE helps to cover their travel costs to a COE.

“You want to go to the person who does hundreds of hip surgeries a year, not the person who does it once in a while.”

Ginny Proestakes

This kind of creative problem-solving for such a large corporation is part and parcel of Proestakes’ leadership style, which values innovation, creativity, and challenging oneself. Proestakes is a nurse by training who transitioned to corporate medical benefits administration at what is now Frontier Communications, before being recruited to GE. Even at Frontier, she stood out for being unconventional and focusing on innovation.

“I worked with some wonderful, experienced nurses who taught me a lot. But I think I probably frustrated them a bit because I was always challenging how things were done and wanting to redesign our programs,” Proestakes says.

At GE, much of her focus is on finding ways to disrupt the marketplace and come up with creative ideas to improve managed care and benefits for employees—whether it’s publishing ratings on hospitals or creating price-transparency tools to help patients be more aware of the cost and efficacy of particular procedures.

She brings that same sense of inventiveness to her work with her team, which she describes as, “Filled with industry experts; it’s my own Center of Excellence, in a way.” Working with her team, Proestakes says, is “collaborative and creative—it’s a lot of work, but a lot of fun.”

and her excellence team at GE are reshaping the future of corporate healthcare.

“I worked with some wonderful, experienced nurses who taught me a lot. But I think I probably frustrated them a bit because I was always challenging how things were done and wanting to redesign our programs.”

A mere few years after its inception, the COE model has proven so fruitful that GE has started expanding it into other areas of medical care. In 2016, GE started five COEs for maternal care to provide cost-effective care for pregnant employees. Whether patients need a C-section or normal delivery, a maternity COE program charges the same bundled price. This design has the potential to reduce C-section rates and lower the incentive for providers and patients to choose early elective deliveries, which organizations like the Joint Commission and March of Dimes have been working to eliminate because of the risks they introduce to mothers and their babies, Proestakes says.

“This could be the future of employer-sponsored healthcare benefits,” Proestakes notes. The practice of providing bundled pricing and warranties for care is becoming an increasingly attractive model for employers.

For Proestakes, seeing the success of GE’s COEs has been an immensely fulfilling part of her job. She’s seen the contrast between COEs and other facilities

firsthand; she’s seen people have complications with hip surgery outside of the COE environment for one hip replacement, only to have a completely smooth experience for their second one in a COE. In fact, Proestakes’ own husband got a hip replacement at a COE-approved facility because, as she remarks, “I knew he’d be taken care of.” AHL

Davis Vision from Versant Health is proud to have partnered with GE as their vision provider since 1995. Health plan leaders have enjoyed cost savings and simple administration by relying on Versant Health for vision and eye health solutions that range from routine vision benefits to medical and utilization management. Visit versanthealth.com.

MetLife is proud to partner with General Electric’s Ginny Proestakes on her organization’s world-class employee benefits offering. For nearly one hundred years, MetLife has proudly provided employee benefits to GE’s employees. MetLife is a global provider of employee benefits and retirement solutions with operations in nearly fifty countries. Visit metlife.com.

By Clint Worthington

One Size Doesn’t Fit All

Takeda Pharmaceuticals’ Mike Towers utilizes years of IT experience as chief information security officer, cultivating strong privacy hierarchies and ensuring the company’s data security

Now chief information security officer for Takeda Pharmaceuticals, Mike Towers fell in love with the security space early in his career. “I’ve never felt closer to the business than when I’m doing security,” he says. This is a sentiment that serves him well at Takeda as it navigates the increasingly complicated waters of cybersecurity in the healthcare sector. Despite these challenges, Towers’ prior experience in IT has prepared him to maintain Takeda’s dedication to a superior patient experience and information privacy.

Starting his career as a processor design engineer at Intel, Towers’ first IT position was as an IT generalist for Beecham’s consumer healthcare

division. “I progressed through the ranks quite quickly,” says Towers, who acted as a “relief pitcher” called in to fix struggling services.

From there, however, he soon found himself dabbling in the security space, being unexpectedly asked to sign on as the head of security for GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). Towers specifically remembers asking why he was being requested for the job. “‘I don’t have a lot of experience,’ I said. They said, ‘That’s why we want you—you won’t have any bad habits.’”

Towers enjoyed the job in part because it’s easy for him to understand his impact. “I never had to think long or hard about what I was contributing to the business.”

Towers spent nearly two decades at GSK,

and five years in that top security role, before taking a security leadership position at Allergen, and then joining Takeda as its CISO in August 2018.

At Takeda, Towers is largely responsible for building a comprehensive information-security and risk-management program, working to ensure the company’s information is as protected as possible from cyberattacks. In this role, Towers is especially appreciative of his experience with IT, which allows him to find security solutions that minimize the impact to service levels or user experience.

“I try to make it easy to do the secure thing,” Towers says. “There’s a lot of IT discipline involved in that.”

Having a knowledge of the vocabulary and rhythms of IT allows Towers to more effectively communicate between departments. “Even though security is more of a business-related problem than traditional IT, there’s a mental link between security and IT due to our tech focus.” It makes sense, then, for Towers to build up a strong relationship between the IT and information-security units at Takeda.

In a healthcare industry with increasingly complicated concerns regarding confidentiality, privacy, and information security, Towers’ ability to step between these worlds is especially important. Companies like Takeda have to balance confidentiality requirements and compliance with federal regulations with transparency and accommodating patients’ increasing desire to easily access their healthcare information.

“I try to make it easy to do the secure thing. There’s a lot of IT discipline involved in that.”

Mike Towers

CISO

Takeda Pharmaceuticals

“One size doesn’t fit all when it comes to data protection, but standardization is important.”

To address these concerns, Towers has been working aggressively on initiatives to give Takeda the tools to strike this delicate balance between security and access. Chief among those initiatives is widening identity and access management to focus on the entire healthcare ecosystem rather than just the internal workforce. This includes working with thousands of doctors specializing in a range of therapeutic areas, not limited to those who benefit from Takeda’s products. By investing time and digital resources to make Takeda’s experiences more patientfriendly, Towers believes it will lead to greater dividends across the industry.

“If we make patients’ lives easier, it will ripple through the system,” he says.

Towers is also working on an information taxonomy for Takeda that places a focus on where data needs to go, rather than where it currently is. This

initiative takes a risk-based approach to data protection, with three levels of data classification depending on the privacy level of the information. Data from biotech firms, for example, are protected to a greater extent than marketing materials, which eventually go public. “One size doesn’t fit all when it comes to data protection, but standardization is important,” he says.

Cybersecurity is a fundamental concern for pharmaceutical companies, but Towers asserts that the industry must work together and collaborate on the right controls to protect against risks. While the open market means competing for the trust and attention of a doctor or the comfort of a patient, “We can’t compete in cybersecurity,” says Towers. “It’s too complex, and our adversaries advance more quickly than we, as defenders, do.”

These moves toward more dynamic data protection and balancing patient confidentiality and access are all part of Towers’ work to help Takeda remain an industry leader in healthcare information security. To face the challenges of cybersecurity and the increasing demands of patients, Towers asks companies to recognize that they should invest more in this effort. “We should leverage our capacity to protect the entire industry,” he says. AHL

As the global cybersecurity leader, Palo Alto Networks partners with healthcare companies like Takeda Pharmaceuticals International Inc. to protect their intellectual property and secure manufacturing and supply-chain operations. More than two thousand healthcare customers around the world rely on Palo Alto Networks to prevent successful cyberattacks and streamline security operations.

By Stephanie Zeilenga

Big Data, Big Potential

SCL Health System’s Louis Capponi believes technology is the key to revolutionizing patient care and curbing waste in healthcare

Louis Capponi VP & CMIO

SCL Health System

Louis Capponi is helping transform technology’s role in healthcare. “I’ve always been a firm believer in technology’s ability to revolutionize healthcare, lower costs, and improve the experience for both patients and clinicians,” he says.

Now vice president and chief medical information officer at SCL Health System, Capponi first entered the healthcare field nearly twenty-five years ago as a general internist in a New York City public hospital system that mostly served uninsured or underinsured patients. Already passionate about community health, he quickly became involved in projects that used technology to make positive, systemwide changes. That interest led to his promotion to medical director and a system-level improvement advisor. In both roles, he used data to manage quality of care for patients with chronic diseases, including diabetes, hypertension, asthma, and depression.

Technology has made impressive strides since his days as an internist, most notably the increasing sophistication of data analysis. Capponi began building databases—he’s self-taught— when he was a medical director. As he’s moved up, his databases have expanded in their size and analytical powers.

“My first database had about 3,000 patients, but when I went to the system level I had 50,000,” he says. “We went from a simple Microsoft Access database to an SCL database populated with data from our EMRs that used data warehousing to show the power and impact we were having on specific populations.”

Of course, data aggregation is just one of many benefits tech brings to the healthcare field. Patients now have

easy access to information that helps them better understand their diagnosis and care plan, participate in treatment decisions, and engage with their healthcare team. “Access to medical record data allows patients and their families to navigate through the health system more easily,” Capponi says.

Many burdensome aspects of chronic disease management are now streamlined, too. Diabetes patients, for example, used to track their sugars on paper. Now, they can enter the information into a computer or use a glucose meter that automatically uploads it. Algorithms can monitor the information and send patients reminders or escalate care by notifying a clinician, Capponi explains.

Technology can also ensure patients receive the right intervention at the right time. For individuals with heart failure, weight gain can be the first sign of water retention, which means their condition is worsening. “Patients may not notice small changes in weight, but an Internet of Things-enabled scale can flag negative patterns and notify a clinician, who can then reach out to the patient to talk about their medication or diet, and prevent them from reaching the point where they end up in the emergency room,” Capponi says.

Improvements aside, technology is presenting new challenges to clinicians, including how to best make use of the massive and ever-expanding amount of data available. At SCL, a $2.6 billion nonprofit health network with a mission to improve the health of the community and the disadvantaged, Capponi is working to solve this data-management problem, largely by developing

Paul H. Trantow

“With the fee-for-service model, the healthcare enterprise market makes more money providing more services, but what we need to be thinking about now is how we make sure we’re doing the right things and are good stewards of resources.”

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increasingly sophisticated algorithms to spot trends in medical records and bring clinicians the right information to improve clinical decision-making.

One of his recent projects trained a big-data algorithm to detect sepsis more accurately than ever before by analyzing fifty different variables. “When the system sends a clinician an alert, they will have more confidence that the alert is identifying the right patients and that they need to view these patients who may be sicker than they appear,” Capponi says.

SCL is also currently exploring how to ID patients with unusually long hospital stays and flag which tests need to be done so they can return home. Another project in the works is the development of an algorithm to detect patient deterioration far before their symptoms become externally apparent, allowing for earlier intervention. “This algorithm would

look at a patient’s vital signs and other parameters and could flag when they are in danger—they might not look bad today but will tomorrow,” Capponi says.

He hopes one result of healthcare technology’s evolution will be more of a transition to outcomes-focused reimbursement. “With the fee-for-service model, the healthcare enterprise makes more money providing more services, but what we need to be thinking about now is how we make sure we’re doing the right things and are good stewards of resources,” he says.

The end result is more affordable, effective healthcare. “Our healthcare is more expensive compared to other nations,” Capponi says. “We’re leveraging technology to eliminate waste and do things that don’t need to be done by human beings so clinicians can spend more time with patients.”

AHL

By Peter Fabris

Research Sentry

Quorum Review Inc.’s Mitchell Parrish helms operations for a firm that works to ensure human medical testing is safe and yields valid data

Technology is quickly changing the world of medical research. Consider the breakthroughs in this century such as the mapping of the human genome and the resulting targeted therapies. Add to that the application of sophisticated information technology to analyze huge data sets, and the potential for therapeutic advancements is enormous. These developments also pose oversight challenges—particularly when it comes to human testing.

Quorum Review Inc. is an important link in a chain of oversight of increasingly complex research involving human testing. The company operates as a quasi-governmental organization that is responsible for implementing FDA regulations, says Mitchell Parrish, Quorum’s executive vice president and general counsel. Parrish’s responsibilities include ensuring that Quorum’s scientists, medical professionals, regulatory specialists, and IT experts can effectively assess

research proposals and protect human test subjects. He also oversees the firm’s legal department.

Quorum’s influence has increased in recent years as the complexity of clinical trials has grown. “We’ve seen a huge change since the advent of genome-matched precision medicine,” Parrish says. “Research is now more effective while using fewer individuals.”

Today’s studies often tell researchers more with fewer test participants by better targeting subjects and using improved methodologies. Many tests consist of more than distributing a drug and a placebo to a certain cohort of people and observing the results. “You may have an in-vitro diagnostic device, agreements between research institutions for sharing data, as well as interactions with the drug company,” Parrish explains.

Research sponsors include drug companies, medical technology developers, and IT companies. Also involved in clinical trials are contract research organizations,

“We’ve seen a huge change since the advent of genome-matched precision medicine. Research is now more effective while using fewer individuals.”

medical researchers, the FDA, and human research participants. “We are at the confluence of all parties,” he says.

Quorum’s work begins when a sponsor intends to test a protocol for an investigational product in humans. The company’s review includes a thorough assessment of the study’s methodology for efficacy, safety provisions, and disclosure to test participants. “Quorum looks at the protocol to ensure compliance and to see if it makes sense, to see if the sponsor is likely to get the intended results from the study,” Parrish explains.

To safeguard participants, Quorum’s scientific and medical professionals vet how the sponsor performed due diligence by examining preclinical data, animal test data, and data from past research trials. The review includes an examination of the research sites including the qualifications and credentials of the researchers— typically physicians—who will carry out the protocol.

Mitchell Parrish EVP & General Counsel Quorum Review Inc.

Advancing Research Outside the Office

Mitchell Parrish, Quorum Review Inc.’s executive vice president and general counsel, furthers medical research off the clock by volunteering his expertise with nonprofit groups.

One such group, the Multi-Regional Clinical Trials Center of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard (MRCT), is focused on implementing best practices for clinical research around the globe. “Major pharmaceutical companies, The Gates Foundation, and other prominent organizations are involved,” Parrish says.

He adds, “I was on a small MRCT work group that developed content for international researchers and regulators.” The group created regulatory training modules applicable around the world— particularly where the medical research infrastructure is not as well developed as in North America, Europe, and Japan.

Much like Quorum, MRCT concentrates on improved clinical research practices, greater transparency, and improved safety for research participants.

A team with a diverse background reviews the consent form—the document that informs individuals who will enroll in the trial. “Members of the community, which can include clergy, nurses, engineers, physicians, and others, make independent decisions about whether the research can go forward,” Parrish says. The independent board is an FDA requirement. The inclusion of nonscientists and nonmedical professionals is to protect participants and ensure that the consent form is understandable to those involved.

Independent boards also add a layer of oversight. A for-profit company, Quorum’s income comes from medical trial sponsors including pharmaceutical and medical-device manufacturers. “We have independent boards that are separate from the financial considerations of Quorum,” Parrish says.

To remain effective evaluators and a leader in the industry, Quorum, which was founded twenty-eight years ago, has had to raise its technological acumen in recent years. “We’ve been around for a long time, but you have to remain adaptable and nimble considering how much research and new products have changed the medical field,” Parrish says. The company has added professionals with expertise in gene transfer and information technology—particularly big data and artificial intelligence (AI). “We have a sophisticated IT department and a software-development arm,” Parrish points out.

Big data analysis combined with AI enables researchers to sift through information that can make all the difference in evaluating test results. For instance, by linking test participants to their pharmacy records, researchers can discover whether results were skewed by some participants missing dosages of a medication. Without that data, researchers might be in the dark about why a trial did not produce expected results.

The adage “time is money” is quite applicable in drug and medical technology research, where testing takes several years. IT services help to speed up this process in a few ways, including identifying the best test subjects and linking databases among research institutions, pharmaceutical companies, and scientific researchers. Quorum’s recent partnership with goBalto, a provider of a clinical study start-up platform that is now part of Oracle’s Health Sciences Global Business Unit, helps speed clinical trials through site selection, feasibility, and activation.

“Members of the community, which can include clergy, nurses, engineers, physicians, and others, make independent decisions about whether the research can go forward.”

A lawyer by training, Parrish does not have a life sciences or medical education, but his legal expertise, he says, provides a sound basis for duties that include making sure Quorum’s various disciplines operate together smoothly. As the company’s regulatory experts and scientists interact daily and keep current with rapidly changing research rules and methodologies, Parrish makes sure they have the tools and operational structure they need to succeed.

Legal training, with its focus on interpreting written regulations and adhering to ethics rules, was a spot-on prescription for an executive who keeps all of Quorum’s pieces working in sync. Contributing to the research that leads to innovations in disease treatments is a powerful motivator that will continue to drive Parrish and the multifaceted departments that he guides. Few professionals, no matter what their specialty, could ask for more. AHL

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By Jacqueline Zenn

Digitizing The Patient Experience

The home healthcare industry has undergone many changes in recent years, but Cape Medical Supply has grown and thrived by focusing on one thing—crafting the best possible patient experience

Running a family business in the medical industry is an alreadycomplicated endeavor, before taking into account the myriad regulations, insurance companies, Medicare, and other rules that govern the industry. For Cape Medical Supply and its CEO Gary Sheehan, navigating his family-owned healthcare business is centered around a central priority: creating a high-quality experience for patients.

The company was founded in 1977 by Sheehan’s parents, when the concept of a home medical supply business was in its infancy. His parents’ goal of supporting patients after they have transitioned back to their homes and communities following a serious diagnosis or major

medical event remains a cornerstone of the company’s mission.

Sheehan’s parents didn’t intend Cape Medical Supply to be a multigenerational business, but today Sheehan works with his two brothers Michael and Kevin, who are the COO and the director of CPAP supply replenishment, respectively. The family business is on a solid growth trajectory since it has narrowed down the markets it serves to two separate product verticals: sleep therapy and orthopedic bracing, Sheehan says. The company currently serves patients across Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island out of its Cape Cod, Massachusetts, headquarters and service locations across New England.

Gary Sheehan CEO

Cape Medical Supply

“One of the things about working in a midsized company like ours is the competitive environment—a few key wins really move the needle,” Sheehan says. One of its recent big wins is building out a more user-friendly digital platform for patients, which has improved treatment compliance rates—a big problem in sleep therapy specifically.

Cape Medical Supply’s new e-commerce platform is focused primarily on cash items that aren’t necessarily covered by insurance, as well as core sleep supplies that can be billed to insurance. In addition, it has launched a Patient Hub app powered by Brightree, so its clientele can reorder sleep therapy supplies directly from their Apple or Android devices.

The company also recently launched SwitchToBetterSleep.com, a platform for new patients of the company. “Focusing on the patient experience is the core of our company,” says Sheehan. The idea behind this platform is to “help new clients make an easy switch and make the patient onboarding journey is simple as possible.”

“We want to see patients actively using and benefiting from sleep therapy,” Sheehan says. “We even have a dedicated member of the team who helps onboard new patients who are transitioning to us

from other providers and help them from their first order all the way to their regular reorders of consumable products.”

The home healthcare industry is getting more competitive every day— Amazon has been making inroads into the industry, for example. Sheehan says complex regulations and increasing competition aren’t going to intimidate him and his team, however. “Our business is not going to hide behind that complexity, and instead we are going to continue to challenge ourselves on how to build even better platforms that allow us to grow and provide better service to our patients,” he says.

Sheehan is well-suited to steer Cape Medical Supply through an industry as complex as home healthcare. As a member of the board of directors at the American Homecare Association, he works to develop policies and foster more constructive dialogue between care providers, patients, insurance companies, and government agencies.

He adds that the home healthcare industry is missing an appropriate reimbursement program that covers total costs, which can’t compare to standard e-Commerce platforms or Amazon because there are setup and delivery costs, insurance costs, and more.

Medical Supply.

The industry-leading technology is how we do it, but the people –providers and their patients – are why we do it.

“One of the things about working at a midsized company like ours in a competitive environment—a few key wins really move the needle.”

“Comparing the cost of paying for a product online and receiving a product from an established provider who will deliver and set up the items, oftentimes the same day they are ordered, simply isn’t an appropriate way to think about this market—it’s not an apples-toapples comparison of cost structures.”

Over the years, new federal regulations and Medicare bills have led to the closing or consolidation of many home healthcare companies, but Cape Medical Supply has thrived, even recently being named to the Inc 5000 list of America’s fastest-growing private companies.

Sheehan says the reason for its success is clear. In addition to focusing on the patient experience, the company is dedicated to creating a patient experience that is appreciated by the medical professionals it partners with, along with bringing on people who are problem-solvers and embrace new technology, respecting what patients need in their lives.

“We want people on our team who are solutionsfocused and can think on their feet,” Sheehan says. “It’s important that everyone at Cape Medical Supply is able to collaborate with patients and referral partners to get the patients what they need despite all the red tape.” AHL

By Joe Dixon | Portraits by Cass Davis

A New Formula for the Pharmaceutical Industry

Dan Renick explains how the prescription drug market has radically evolved since 2017, and how Precision Value & Health is helping manufacturers and consumers address rising drug costs

In some respects, the healthcare industry has garnered a reputation for falling behind the times. But the prescription drug market seems to be bucking that trend, as manufacturers, lawmakers, and consumers notice a plethora of changes taking place, even over the past two years. Within this market, one issue has climbed above the rest to capture the public conscience: rising prescription drug costs.

During this time, Dan Renick, president of Precision Value & Health, has been in the trenches working to help drug manufacturers, healthcare providers, and patients tackle this complex issue and help reduce the financial burden of critical medications to the people who need them.

Renick sat down with American Healthcare Leader two years after our first discussion to elaborate on changes to the prescription drug supply chain, the impact of the Trump administration, and what Precision Value & Health is doing to help eliminate market-access barriers for patients seeking innovative new treatments.

What are some of the biggest factors driving change in the prescription drug market right now?

It’s definitely been a wild and eventful two years. I think most notable is the impact of the current administration and how they have forced a reckoning of sorts across the pharmaceutical industry and, more broadly, the role the supply chain plays in the prices consumers ultimately pay.

As a result, the pharma industry has really been on the defensive like I’ve never seen before, and some might suggest that the political clout the industry once enjoyed has diminished quite a bit.

Another factor is the meaningful advancement of potentially curative treatments that could drastically improve and extend the lives of patients with dreadful conditions like hemophilia and Hepatitis C. The number of cell and gene therapies in the pipeline now should be appreciated by all of us because it represents the tireless work of researchers, scientists, and many others who want to improve the health of patients.

Are there are any federal rules or regulations that have come out that you see as making a particularly significant impact on the industry?

One of the more recent proposals is the potential change announced by US Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar in February 2019 to the safe harbor rebate for pharmacy benefit managers that participate in Medicare and Medicaid programs. The goal of this proposed change is to pass drug discounts directly to consumers to reduce their financial burden at the point of sale, where it really matters.

In addition, the discussion about whether the United States should use international reference pricing to determine the amount the government should reimburse for drugs is also significant. Ultimately, this is somewhat of a threat, if you will, to the pharmaceutical industry by saying, “If you continue to have lower list prices in other countries as compared to the US, we’re going to use that against you in the form of reference pricing.”

Dan Renick President Precision Value & Health

Dan Renick’s 5 Tips for Drug Manufacturers’ Success in 2019

1. Set value, not price. Given that their main currency is proof of value, manufacturers must be critical of their evidence landscape, current and planned, to ensure value can be substantiated. The burden of proof lies with the innovator, so failing to plan evidence development is planning to fail in the market.

2. Ensure cross-discipline alignment in removing or limiting market access barriers for patients. A market access mind-set must be pervasive throughout the organization.

3. Reverse engineer pricing approaches starting with patient out-of-pocket burden since “patient as payer” is more prevalent than ever. The list price influence in many benefit designs will derail even the best contracting strategy.

4. Embrace the various technologies that can speed up adoption of new treatments. Chatbots, voice assistants, and AI can help everyone from prescribers to payers to patients make timely, well-informed decisions. Just ask Alexa.

5. Keep up. Changes to healthcare financing, particularly medication spending, are being proposed or enacted almost weekly with no end in sight, especially in our current political climate. Anticipate, plan, and make timely decisions or risk falling behind quickly.

What trends have you seen emerge in the industry over the past couple years?

We’ve got a little bit of a conundrum. On the surface, it appears that net drug costs have been basically flat for several years now. But in terms of what patients have to pay out of pocket, we’re seeing an increasing burden that is garnering a lot of attention. This is an unfortunate consequence of a perverse drug supply chain where we have a number of participants that have grown too reliant on list-price increases to support their business model.

While these price increases are typically accompanied by greater discounts, in parallel we have health insurance plans that increasingly peg a consumer’s outof-pocket expense to a drug’s list price, without regard to the discounts flowing to health plans. Because of this, consumers bear the brunt of rising list prices. Across Precision Value & Health, we have assembled the ideal blend of scientists, health economists, and former payer decision-makers to support clients in demonstrating and communicating the value of innovative medications so that the financial burden for patients can be reduced.

Beyond a dependency on list-price increases, what issues do you see in the drug supply chain?

The supply chain consumes roughly half of the marketplace right now. So, if we’re a $300 billion market, estimates are that about half of that goes into the supply chain in the form of fees, discounts, and rebates. This has created a gross-to-net bubble in legacy drug pricing, which refers to how much drug manufacturers have to discount the list price to make their drug widely available. On average, the gross-to-net bubble is about 50 percent.

However, newly launched drugs and pending drug approvals have an opportunity to correct this deeply flawed model by entering the market at a price that is linked directly to actual value provided to patients, payers, and society. We work closely with clients during the drug development process to ensure value is established and reflected in eventual pricing decisions. When executed effectively, there’s little to no reliance on discounting schemes that may ultimately hinder a patient’s ability to access and afford a new medication.

What is Precision Value & Health doing to help solve these issues?

We’re continuing to expand our services offered to our pharmaceutical and life sciences clients related to the evaluation and generation of evidence they will need to prove the value of their drug in the marketplace. We strive to have our clients focus more on the economic endpoints and patient-related outcomes that help demonstrate the humanistic, economic, and societal value of their treatments. Another aspect of what we do is help clients effectively and dynamically communicate the value of their medicine to all necessary stakeholders, including payers, patients, and providers. There’s been a shift in the industry to make more information about drugs available in the preapproval stage, whereas before it was only made available very close to or right after a drug was approved. This allows payers more time to evaluate information and make informed decisions about newly available drugs.

Looking ahead, what can drug manufacturers do to become better partners to payers and consumers?

First and foremost, be diligent with price setting and how it links to value and out-of-pocket costs for patients. Prescription drug manufacturers must also evaluate how their drugs are effectively distributed or how patients can get access to a particular drug. We continuously work with clients to develop and execute innovative drug distribution approaches that are seamless for patients and providers, eliminating a potential obstacle to access.

Clients also need to invest resources in spreading awareness of new treatments to healthcare providers as well as helping them to understand appropriate patient types. Having a physician who has not been made aware of treatment changes through no fault of their own is a barrier to the patient getting the right therapy at the right time. All of these things will ultimately support optimal market access for patients. AHL

By Clint Worthington

Acquiring Best Practices

From patient data security to standardized payroll systems, Ardent strives to maintain consistency across all of the company’s hospital systems

Larry Schunder Chief Technology Officer & CISO Ardent Health Services

The healthcare industry is consolidating at a rapid pace as more hospital groups acquire individual hospitals and healthcare systems alike. As one of those groups, Ardent Health Services has to be vigilant to ensure quality of patient care and consistency throughout all of its acquisitions, particularly in regard to information security.

This has been a concern of Ardent’s chief technology officer and chief information security officer, Larry Schunder. Bringing forty-two years of information processing and security experience to the table, Schunder is working to establish Ardent as a thought leader in this arena. His goal is to turn Ardent into a powerful example of how healthcare systems can make acquisitions smoother, more secure, and more advantageous for patients.

Schunder’s position is demanding, but his more than four decades of experience have prepared him well for the role’s particular challenges. “I’m old, and I’ve done a lot,” Schunder remarks. He is bringing that expertise to bear by managing all technology concerns for Ardent’s thirty hospitals—everything from desktop computers to wired and wireless networks, data centers, wide area networks, and more. Furthermore, he’s also responsible for addressing cybersecurity concerns for the company’s hospitals and their more than twenty-five thousand employees.

Most challenging, however, is Schunder’s role in addressing information security concerns for Ardent’s new acquisitions. “Usually, no one sells a perfectly good hospital,” Schunder says. When Ardent acquires new hospital systems, their data privacy, storage, and security are often in need of immediate attention. During the acquisition process, Schunder’s team goes into the system and assesses an acquisition’s current cybersecurity situation, then determines a measured approach to address the system’s greatest vulnerabilities.

Sometimes addressing these technology shortfalls can feel like a desperate race to stay ahead of the problem. “It’s like that dream where you’re being chased by someone,” says Schunder. “You go through your plan as fast as the budget and process will allow, but you’re always just ahead of whatever bad thing is chasing you.”

“As with so many of our customers, Ardent came to CRITICAL START seeking a way to achieve the highest levels of security and data protection, but with limited resources and in-house expertise,” says Alan Bain, vice president of sales of Dallas-based MDR provider CRITICAL START . “Our professional services team worked closely with them to evaluate their needs, assess their current infrastructure, and identify the right security strategies and solutions to move forward.”

“People don’t like to hear that you have to monitor internal data access, including employee and contractor access. But we have to protect patient data, even from ourselves.”

One of the most vulnerable aspects of data security during an acquisition in the healthcare industry is patient data, the safety of which Ardent treats as its highest priority. While most hospitals, even struggling ones, have a reasonable amount of patient data security in place, Schunder is proud of Ardent’s robust information security infrastructure that his company and team have put in place. He dedicates a great deal of his time to determine the best way to protect patient information in all of Ardent’s hospitals and systems.

Not only does Ardent have to worry about threats to data security from the outside, Schunder and his team also work to provide Ardent with strong protections to data privacy from internal threats, such as employees. “People don’t like to hear that you have to monitor internal data access, including employee and contractor access,” says Schunder. “But we have to protect patient data, even from ourselves.” This means using role-based security permissions to limit people’s access to data, leaving staff with only the information they need to do their job.

There are also internal cybertools in place to look for people moving unusual amounts of data internally to catch employees trying to access data without

permission. When it comes to patient data security, Schunder and Ardent are comprehensive.

“Larry’s depth of experience and the collaborative approach he fosters creates the most impactful solution to support Ardent’s mission,” says Thomas Lewis, CEO and cofounder of managed security services firm CyberMaxx. “CyberMaxx is honored to serve as a key strategic partner for Larry and the Ardent team.”

Unlike other hospital groups, Ardent is moving towards a standardized technology environment for all of its hospitals, which means updating security, applications, emails, and other aspects to fit one single set of standards. While other hospital systems largely allow their acquisitions to maintain the applications they already use, Ardent’s plan is to move every hospital under its umbrella to the medical-record application Epic and the Lawson accounting/payroll system. It’s focusing on the long game, but the dividends in efficiency are more than worth it for Ardent, he says.

Given the complexities of this process, Ardent takes care to make the standardization process a collaborative one, working with the existing hospital’s staff to determine what needs to change and what they should prioritize.

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“I live by a rule: If it’s not in writing, it never happened.”

“Typically, the systems we acquire do not have the level of discipline and reporting that allows us to quickly identify where they’re not meeting our standards,” says Schunder. To that end, the Ardent team sits down for several weeks detailing the current environment’s processes and procedures, then reaches an agreement with those in the hospital to determine what should change.

For Ardent and Schunder, communication is key to the effective completion of these integrations and projects. “I live by a rule: If it’s not in writing, it never happened,” Schunder notes, stressing the importance of keeping a written record of agreements and decisions to avoid miscommunication and misinterpretation. “We’re all human, and we walk away with our own interpretation of events.” This strategy results in a paper trail so everyone involved can do their work based on the facts of the agreements in place.

Given the massive cybersecurity concerns that face the healthcare industry, particularly in an age where acquisitions are common, Schunder, his team and Ardent work diligently to ensure that Ardent’s acquisition process goes smoothly from an information security perspective. At the end of the day, this means formulating a strong plan and avoiding distractions: “Manage your commitments, and don’t allow the emergency of the day to distract you from your set goals,” he says. AHL

By Billy Yost

Look in the Mirror

Scott Nygaard on engaging real change in healthcare by accepting tough realities

Underneath Dr. Scott Nygaard’s “Minnesota nice” demeanor is a renaissance man of medicine. Prior to attending medical school, Nygaard managed a chain of gas stations and worked for Zales Jewelry as well as for Target stores. “I jokingly tell people that I got my MBA sitting around the kitchen table,” Nygaard says. His father worked in retail and would take his son out for lunch, relaying staff problems and other challenges of working in a store. “I didn’t realize I was going to use all of those practical skills until much later.”

The practical lessons Nygaard learned have served as a foundation for his career of taking on nontraditional roles that other physicians might have seen as too far outside their purview to even consider. From bucking hierarchy and assuming a role on the board of a physician-owned company to purposely taking an executive position that didn’t involve practicing medicine at all, it’s Nygaard’s servant leadership and pragmatic approach to problem-solving that have allowed the doctor to leave each situation exponentially better than

he found it. Now, he serves as chief operating officer and chief medical officer at Lee Health.

The philosophical foundation for the bulk of Nygaard’s career success lies in what he considers undue scorn for healthcare’s traditional fee-forservice model, which he first saw in the early ’90s. The larger truth, Nygaard says, is that physicians spent too much time focused on independence and autonomy as opposed to processes and implementation of evidence-based care. “We had gotten lost in the profession by blaming the attorneys, the payers, and everyone else except ourselves,” Nygaard says. “If we’re honest, we needed to look in the mirror.”

“Dr. Nygaard is a businessman and a scholar,” says Daniel Lee, managing partner at Carpedia. “He’s willing to challenge the status quo while carefully navigating a historically resistant industry. It is always pleasant to work closely with a mind like Scott’s. His attention to detail coupled with his drive for action and results truly sets him apart.”

Scott Nygaard COO & CMO Lee Health

Speaking of what could be considered taboo to many in the medical community, Nygaard believes some in the profession have painted themselves as victims, which is impractical and masks a deeper, concerning trait.

“In healthcare at that time, I came to realize that a lot of people felt entitled to succeed. That is not how I grew up,” Nygaard says. “My father would always say, ‘If you can’t be a part of the solution, do the company a favor and leave.’ He didn’t mean that you had to have all the ideas; rather, you should come together to solve the problems with your team.”

Nygaard says that the evolution of healthcare has led to an interesting do-or-die moment for a lot of healthcare systems. “There was a time when you could just crank up the volume to offset the cost structure and be successful,” Nygaard says. “Now, a lot of organizations are in the interesting predicament of dealing with declining revenues and decreasing utilization, and they are struggling.”

Nygaard is speaking from experience. After he came on board at Network Health System, a physician-owned company, in 1996, the group wound up on the cover of the local newspaper for losing $21 million and being unable to locate refinancing from any of the nine banks it applied to. “We simply didn’t have a good business plan,” Nygaard says. “We had to get busy changing everything in our organization, including our governance model, our CEO, renegotiating all of our physician contracts, and taking on a new physician compensation plan.” The interim CEO, it turns out, was Nygaard himself. Having been elected to the physician board in record time, Nygaard eventually assumed the board president role, and later served as interim CEO.

And while Nygaard says pragmatism and a willingness to have tough conversations was essential, it’s also his continuing focus on culture at every role he has that defines his approach to transformation. It’s also why he was willing to assume the role of senior vice president of corporate services at Via Christi Health, a position

that didn’t involve medicine in the least. “Those support functions cut across the entire organization,” Nygaard says. “If you can impact the way those corporate services operate, you can create culture across the organization, and creating culture is the way to impact care.”

Culture has been a main focus of the transformations Nygaard has led at Lee Health. After interviewing with then-CEO Jim Nathan, Nygaard was able to validate firsthand some of the issues facing the organization. “The trust was pretty broken and morale was very low in every survey that had been done,” Nygaard says. “But I saw a lot of opportunity there because I knew the people, at their core, just wanted to do a great job taking care of patients, physicians, and staff.” He told the CEO that he was either sitting on a diamond mine or dynamite, and that if he was willing to let Nygaard make sweeping changes, the sparkle, and not the explosion, would be the lasting image.

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“The business was risk-averse, not transparent, and let the rumor mill manage the business,” Nygaard says frankly. “We had to change the way we talked and messaged.” And although Nygaard says there are always improvements to be made, the proof is in the metrics from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The organization has moved from one star to three and will press on toward five-star performance.

Nygaard’s résumé and accomplishments are an incredible series of unexpected twists and turns, ending with credible results. He asks those who work under him to read Robert Greenleaf’s, The Servant as Leader . He’s intent on continuing to learn and grow, because he keeps finding new ways to make an impact on healthcare. “If you want something, you’ve got to pursue it,” Nygaard says. “I have a sign in my office that says, ‘Have fun. Make a difference every day. And enjoy the journey. In that order.’” AHL

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By Will Grant

The search terms “Permobil” and “acquisition” are enough to send any browser into overload at the moment. Permobil, a Sweden-based maker of customized power and manual wheelchairs along with wheelchair cushions, back support, and skin products, has been in acquisition overdrive in the past five years, including four regional acquisitions in 2018 alone.

Former associate general counsel Ashley Nelson had a hand in each of these additions to the company, navigating the international complexities of unifying a global company and keeping Permobil on the same page. The lawyer says being flexible and sensitive to cultural differences and working to listen for the real question that’s being asked in conversations helps Permobil continue focusing on its own expansion. By helping build trust, Nelson has helped unite an increasingly complex organization focused on serving customers with a wide range of disabilities.

According to a 2018 market study, the global wheelchair market is expected to meet or exceed $6.1 billion by 2022. The driver of expanding numbers includes a growing elderly population, a rising number of spinal-cord injuries, and a myriad of mobility needs for those with physical disabilities. While manual wheelchairs remain the largest segment of the market, power wheelchair growth is expected to be significant, especially in markets with increasing obesity and more disposable income like in the United States. Permobil has sought to capitalize on these projects by acquiring a variety of companies with the aim of

delivering a fuller array of offerings and capabilities to its consumers.

Since Permobil’s 2014 acquisition of TiLite, for example, Permobil has been able to bolster its manual wheelchair portfolio with TiLite’s TiFit system, which produces customized and ergonomically fit chairs with safety and comfort in mind. Permobil’s next few acquisitions made clear that Permobil also has more than the overall chair experience in mind.

With the 2015 addition of the ROHO Group to Permobil, the company has been able to more closely focus on skin protection and positioning solutions for wheelchair users. “ROHO brings industryleading technology, medical expertise, and top-quality products to Permobil, which will further strengthen our ability to meet the needs of the people we serve,” said CEO Jon Sintorn in a press release announcing the acquisition.

Two years later, Permobil completed the acquisition of Comfort Company, another manufacturer and distributor of seating and positioning products. Earlier in the year, it also acquired Prairie Seating, which specializes in custom-molded seating.

Permobil’s continuing focus on seating was further enhanced by its acquisition of Ottobock’s OBSS and NUTEC in 2018. Ottobock’s prosthetics, orthotics, and human mobility portfolio serves to enhance Permobil’s scope and capabilities and was complemented by Permobil establishing a dedicated and clinically focused commercial team in the US.

The United States isn’t the only market where Permobil is continuing its expansion, however. The company acquired Durable Medical Equipment (DME), Ltd. in 2017 with the aim of driver-improved user access in New Zealand. DME is largest complex rehab equipment supply company in New Zealand.

On a global level, Permobil has increased its efforts to bridge the gap between manual and power wheelchairs. With the acquisition of Max Mobility in 2017, Permobil enhanced its power-assist capabilities and bolstered its aim to reduce repetitive strain injuries for users.

“Almost three out of four manual wheelchair users have shoulder pain already,” said Mark Richter, founder and CEO of Max Mobility. “By becoming part of Permobil and adding power assist to the portfolio we can expand our reach and reduce shoulder pain for users globally.”

As Permobil continues its global expansion into new and more nuanced product markets, it’s clear that by either acquisition or sheer innovation, the company has set its sights on market leader status. Permobil is ready for anything but spinning its wheels. AHL

“Almost three out of four manual wheelchair users have shoulder pain already. By becoming part of Permobil and adding power assist to the portfolio we can expand our reach and reduce shoulder pain for users globally.”

By KC Esper

Maximizing Modern Medicine

Chief technology officer

Don Ragas advances ERT’s clinical trial solutions by taking old processes paperless

Don Ragas may be ERT’s chief technology officer, but his work extends far beyond technology and software development. Instead, Ragas realizes the merit of getting his hands dirty and jumping headfirst into the field to achieve accurate, purposeful results.

Last year at ERT, he logged more than 100,000 miles traveling between the company’s offices, exploring nuances in systemic processes and improving procedures for employee engagement and efficacy. In general, Ragas seeks to “build a team that understands the greater impact of technology in the business and how to grow into a larger company.” Strengthening the company’s infrastructure has allowed it to excel through its varied endeavors, bolstering

its reputation with everyone from startups to large pharmaceutical companies.

During his years at ERT, Ragas has spearheaded efforts to continually reinvigorate the company by preparing it for new generations of technology, replacing paper with digital data recordkeeping methods, and helping perpetuate revenue growth using a combination of organic means and acquisitions. When approaching a new problem or project, Ragas says that a steady line of communication is an essential ingredient for success.

“As important as it is to know technology trends, knowing how to communicate goals and explain how technology plays a role in the management of the bottom line proves just as relevant,” Ragas says.

Scott B. Foley

Don

Ragas CTO ERT

“As important as it is to know technology trends, knowing how to communicate goals and explain how technology plays a role in the management of the bottom line proves just as relevant.”

“It’s a two-way street of being an advocate and knowing how to spend money wisely. We must represent technology to our investors and our executive leadership team to show them how the company should invest to be successful.”

Once a problem is identified and addressed, Ragas extends the line of communication to his team. He tasks them with making options for product owners and executives to consider. In a world full of possibilities, he has found that people appreciate a range of options so the scope of the problem does not feel limited.

At one end of the range are small solutions, which hardly change anything about the old practice. At the other end are big solutions that completely erase the original method in order to start fresh. Typically, people search for a solution that falls in the middle of the spectrum, balancing old ways with new methods. Ragas wants his team to present a range of options that encompass a broad swath of that spectrum.

“We understand as many of the facts as possible without overanalyzing,” Ragas says. “Because there is always a bit of risk with technology, people like options to show that solving a problem doesn’t mean one extreme or another. I always encourage my team to come back with more than one answer. My job is to keep their momentum going.”

With Ragas’s motivation, his team has learned to embrace taking opportunities as they come and to recognize when to make plans to pivot due to unexpected changes. In the context of ERT, these skills have initiated efforts to further modernize clinical data collection

“Once 5G is pervasive, we will begin to see a true explosion in wearable medical devices. We will transform into an interconnected world.”

practices, namely, by transferring paper documents in drug trial processes to a digital platform. Digitally monitoring patient vitals gives way to more accurate, cost-effective operations and prevents the possibility of human error.

Ragas and his team have built software that can capture readings from a blood pressure monitor, for example, then document it automatically, rather than needing a person to look at the reading, write it down, and re-enter the information somewhere else.

“The failure rate in clinical trials is quite high, so reducing the burden of failed trials means that there is more funding for therapies and healthcare, in addition to enhancing the quality of the trial process immensely,” he says.

By reducing resource waste during drug trials, the team at ERT is advancing clinical trial success for pharma companies, which in turn brings new remedies and treatments to patients faster and more accurately.

In a similar vein, Ragas and his team have been working to keep up with the 5G and consumer health technologies,

which will greatly advance medical processes as well. 5G technology in medicine will enable a constant ability in the cloud to keep up with patient vitals and progress. Although it is not yet pervasively deployed, Ragas promises that an upsurge in the use of this technology will occur over the next five years.

“Once 5G is pervasive, we will begin to see a true explosion in wearable medical devices,” he says. “We will transform into an interconnected world. It will keep our data signal constant to monitor heart rates, blood pressure, and more in real time. This is a path of true value creation, and we must move toward it and embrace it.”

The technology division at ERT is transforming the company into a modern, safe, efficient clinical trial data platform one digital solution at a time. Comprehensively, all these efforts go beyond achieving the bottom line. Instead, they preserve the science of healing. In Ragas’s eyes, with the right team in place and an altruistic heart, ERT will carry clinical trials and the practice of medicine to new levels. AHL

The Reason

Some executives feel the importance of their work because they have experienced its impact firsthand. Shaped by their mission to help others or by their personal experiences with healthcare, many executives are drawn to the industry from a sense of empathy and a desire to make a difference for others.

84. Peter Socarras

88. Adam Bassing

91. Gary Tomcik

94. Chad Hanson

100. Scott Landau

By Joseph Kay

Protecting Innovation

Peter Socarras discusses his patent strategy for Nevro’s electrical pain-relief device and issues in the current patent enforcement process

Peter Socarras VP, Intellectual Property Nevro

Peter Socarras’s father is a doctor, and although he never saw himself destined to enter the same profession, he shared his father’s drive to help others. Combining his own affinity for biology, engineering, and strategic planning, he completed a master’s in biomedical engineering before attending law school and embarking on a career in intellectual property law. That specialty led him to Nevro in 2012.

“When I joined Nevro, I was excited about the unique IP challenges we were facing. But more importantly for me was joining a company that was revolutionizing the pain space, and providing therapy for patients who had few other options available,” he recalls. This young company was conducting exciting research for the treatment of chronic pain. Its flagship product, launched stateside in 2015, is an implantable device that electrically stimulates the spinal cord.

Traditional spinal-cord stimulation has been around for decades: the concept is to stimulate the spinal cord using small amounts of electricity at about 40–60 pulses per second.

But spinal-cord stimulation had really been a therapy of last resort. Applied only when alternatives had been exhausted, the technique traditionally provided about

50 percent pain relief to about 50 percent of patients— often referred to as the “fifty-fifty club.” And when it worked, patients experienced a sensation known as paresthesia—a distinct tingling, buzzing, or pins-andneedles sensation that covered the area of the pain.

“That was really a Sophie’s choice,” explains Socarras. “You get some pain relief, but you have this constant tingling or buzzing sensation, which often served as a constant reminder that you were in pain. So you never really felt normal with traditional spinal-cord stimulation.”

The Nevro team investigated another approach: a high-frequency application, delivering ten thousand pulses per second to the spinal cord. Previous researchers had been skeptical of using such high-frequency waveforms on the spinal cord, expecting that unwanted

side effects would outweigh any possible benefits. According to Socarras, nobody wanted to go there.

“Our founders were really outsiders in the space. They decided to test what others wouldn’t, and build equipment that others wouldn’t. That’s the story of innovation, right? You need innovators to go where others won’t go,” he says.

And it was a genuine breakthrough. The team found that with its unique waveform, more patients got significantly better pain relief—to the tune of nearly 70 percent pain relief for 80 percent of patients. Plus, the undesirable paresthesia sensation was entirely eliminated. Patients turned on the device and felt normal again.

Now, Socarras’s team has to make Nevro’s case to the patent ecosystem in order to protect Nevro’s technology and its significant investments in bringing this technology to market. Key to that approach is a distinction between Nevro’s technology and previous spinal-cord stimulation products. From research to market, Socarras and Nevro have emphasized that the entire approach—not merely the degree—is different.

“We had to come up with a strategy for getting everyone from investors to the US Patent Office, to the district courts to pay attention to Nevro’s story and see the uniqueness in its technology.”

Once Nevro proved its sophisticated technology was superior—even receiving a rare superiority label from the FDA—the competition intensified and followers came knocking on its door. That means, to deliver a return on sizable investments, Socarras and Nevro had to navigate the patent system in a strategic way, protecting research from multiple angles and investing heavily in patent enforcement.

He suggests that the current patent landscape is inadvertently challenging to innovators and investors. He explains, “In an ideal world, an innovator’s patent application would see greater scrutiny on the front end, so as to create greater certainty on the back end. Unfortunately, the system we have is almost exactly the opposite. The reality is that a patent receives its greatest amount of scrutiny at the point in which you try to enforce it.”

Ideally, a single comprehensive patent, obtained through a rigorous application process, would suffice to

“Our founders were really outsiders in the space. They decided to test what others wouldn’t. That’s the story of innovation, right? You need innovators to go where others won’t go.”

protect an innovation. It would lock other companies out of the space—freeing innovators from the expense and burden of enforcement. Such an efficient system would encourage investment in further innovations, he says.

At the moment, though, the rules of the game require innovators to take a portfolio approach to protecting their work. Nevro holds more than 170 patents, and they are exceedingly difficult to enforce due to the expense of litigation.

“We have had the resources to build an IP portfolio and enforce it. But you can imagine that a lot of innovators out there don’t. I think that’s a problem for the system. That takes people out of the game,” he says.

“But it’s in the hands of those smaller players that real life-changing innovation takes place.”

Four years since the FDA approved its device for back and leg pain, Nevro is no longer one of the smaller players. As they pursue additional applications—neck pain, diabetic pain—Socarras is also keeping track of constant changes in the patent system and the case law around it. He’s optimistic about the outlook for Nevro and for patients.

“We’re enforcing our IP. As the market recognizes the importance and superiority of our product, we owe it to our investors to protect our IP. And we’re looking forward to vindicating our efforts and our strategy.” AHL

By Clint Worthington

Keeping the Faith

UCB’s Adam Bassing relies on midwestern values and his strong faith to drive his work as associate general counsel

For Adam Bassing, becoming a lawyer was the furthest thing from his mind growing up. Raised in a rural, bluecollar suburb of Kansas City, Missouri, Bassing came up in a community that focused more on the core midwestern values of hard work and dedication than obtaining a four-year degree. His father was a truck driver, and his mother worked as a secretary to make ends meet. Now, as the associate general counsel for global biopharmaceutical company UCB, Bassing brings those down-to-earth values, as well as his faith, to his work, leading with compassion and generosity in the process.

Bassing’s journey to college was borne out of his desire to play football. He went to Graceland University on an athletic

scholarship and graduated with a BA in history. Soon after, he began a career as a special education teacher. However, after some soul-searching made him realize that career path wasn’t for him, he switched gears and studied law at the University of North Carolina. Although the program was challenging, he says his midwestern work ethic gave him the dedication he needed to graduate and begin a fifteen-year career in law, which eventually led him to UCB.

As associate general counsel, Bassing reports to the general counsel of the Americas, whose jurisdiction runs from Canada to Brazil. Bassing’s team overseeing clinical operations, sourcing, and site services. However, that’s only half the job, according to Bassing; the

other half involves coordinating activities with his team and managing their professional development.

The latter is what Bassing particularly enjoys. Central to his approach is his desire to aid in the professional development of his team, improving skills and helping them seek out their own passions. For example, when one team member expressed an interest in a different area of the company, Bassing worked to facilitate that passion and offer opportunities for his team member to grow. And while he helps others find their passion, Bassing has made it a priority to bring lessons from his own upbringing into his work.

The values Bassing learned growing up in a working-class community are his greatest asset in his work, he says. “Always do your best,” Bassing says. “To me, it’s what a responsible person does.” Maintaining focus and putting in long hours has served him well, allowing him to adapt to the demanding schedule the legal field sometimes presents.

In addition to those core midwestern values, Bassing’s faith heavily informs his worldview and the way he manages at UCB. “I’m a committed Christian—I was raised that way, and my wife and I have made that a priority in our lives,” Bassing explains. This primarily extends

Bassing Associate General Counsel UCB

Adam

Billy Earle

Associate General Counsel of UCB

Hughes Hubbard congratulates Adam Bassing for his recognition by American Healthcare

“Always do your best. To me, it’s what a responsible person does.”

Leader

to treating clients, coworkers, and team members alike with respect and kindness. “Whether you’re the CEO or the janitor, all people are equal in God’s eyes and worthy of my respect,” he says.

For Bassing, there is no substitute for hard work; however, he also makes sure to strike a delicate balance between work and spending time with his wife and his two sons. “My number one job in life is to raise my two boys to be good Christian men,” says Bassing. “If they become good people who treat others with love and respect, I’ve succeeded in life.” While he has ambitions for his career, Bassing ultimately places his faith and family at the top of his list of priorities. “If it meant sacrificing time with my family, they’re more

important to me than another career move,” he adds.

Even so, he is proud of the work his team does at UCB and of the global biopharma company’s mission to deliver impactful solutions that patients value.

Of the company’s slogan, “Inspired by Patients, Driven by Science,” Bassing says, “That’s not just a tagline; the company truly believes it.” Although it is a for-profit company, UCB’s employees, from the CEO down, put patients at the heart of everything they do by asking one question: “How will this create value for people living with severe diseases?” Bassing sees this mission as an extension of the kind of values he holds dear, making it a great place for him to grow personally and professionally. AHL

Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP • hugheshubbard.com

By KC Esper

Positivity Is the Rule, Not the Exception

Chief Experience Officer Gary Tomcik uses positivity to amplify patient and employee happiness and advance patient rounding practices

In the course of a twelve-hour shift, physicians, nurses, and ancillary staff interact with hundreds of people. More complexly, no patient is exactly the same. Each embodies a unique medical history, specific treatment methods, and particular questions or concerns. With caregivers responsible for a multitude of patients, how can one’s experience be individualistic? How can patients feel heard, while preventing staff from feeling overwhelmed? These are the questions Chief Experience Officer Gary Tomcik seeks to answer.

At NCH Healthcare System, Tomcik strategizes how to establish a universal understanding of how its customers perceive care and to elevate the culture of the company as a result. To establish a positive culture, Tomcik first ensured that the employees at NCH were working in a happy, healthy environment. He wanted employees to feel appreciated so these attributes would transfer into their work.

Growing up in a family that emphasized the power of positivity, he recognizes the effectiveness of affirmation, and decided that actively acknowledging good work would be the first step in establishing an atmosphere where employees and clients would thrive. However, Tomcik wanted employees to have a way to receive instant gratification when it came to someone thanking them for a good deed.

Inspired by his son, Tomcik created a social media-styled platform where employees can continuously post compliments and appreciation about other coworkers. Posting compliments is highly encouraged—the comment stream is even showcased in the lunchrooms and lounges throughout the organization so the entire staff can stay updated on their team members’ exceptional performances. The site has changed the environment of NCH immensely, making acknowledging remarkable work ethics easier than ever, and in turn, making employees feel appreciated for everything they do. Holistically, Tomcik’s goal is to make gratitude commonplace throughout NCH.

“The thing that makes us so successful is that ‘thank-you,’” says Tomcik. “That goes a long way in building the foundation for an engaged workforce. Committed, involved employees will constantly drive a stronger patient experience, so it’s crucial to have a system in place where everyone feels appreciated and recognized for their efforts. Once a month, we randomly select and reward employees who were repeatedly recognized.”

Gary Tomcik Chief Experience Officer NCH Healthcare System

Since implementing the program, the power of positivity has spread fervently. Now, the program sees more than one hundred recognitions daily—each offering a unique, sincere affirmation of an employee’s dedication to their work. As more employees use the system, Tomcik has witnessed an increase in employee happiness, teamwork, and, consequently, a heightened patient experience. Team members can also add “badges” to their compliments that commend coworkers for specific achievements. Adding a “No Pass Zone Recognition Badge,” for example, means that the employee was recognized for acknowledging a patient that signaled for help.

As a four-star healthcare system, NCH strives to ensure that patients are treated with the utmost care. While the positive reinforcement program has lent itself to improving the patient’s experience, Tomcik has also extended the effort into updating the patient rounding process.

Before the update, nursing leaders would ask the same traditional rounding questions to every patient, then follow up based on opportunities found within their answers. This method tended to be more staff-centered than patientcentered, however. Considering no patient is the same, no two rounding processes should be the same either. As such, Tomcik wanted rounding experiences to be centered on building relationships with patients and customizing the process to their individual needs.

His method came with two parts: revising rounding questions and establishing partnerships between patients and nurses. Using a novel software program, Tomcik’s crew now uses prior patient experience data to notice trends in these opportunities and customize

“Committed, involved employees will constantly drive a stronger patient experience, so it’s crucial to have a system in place where everyone feels appreciated and recognized for their efforts.”

rounding questions based on specific situations. Moreover, leaders and staff are encouraged to have conversations with patients to ensure that they are comfortable throughout their stay and are recovering appropriately.

“We start from an interview to build a relationship with the patient, then set clear expectations for their experience,” Tomcik says. “As we move through each step, we’re asking the patient for feedback on our ability to meet these expectations to assess our progress, rather than just barraging them with questions. We found that when we practice purposeful rounding and use patient feedback to accelerate recovery, we see an uptick in patient perceptions.”

With a happier staff comes happier patients. These advanced methods of promoting positivity have enabled NCH team members to fulfill the company’s core value of delivering excellence in every patient experience. Tomcik and his team strive to give patients a VIP experience, so they feel more like guests in a

luxury hotel, not patients recovering in a hospital. The motivation to eliminate a hospital feel has inspired efforts like free valet parking to quell patient anxieties, white-noise machines and soft lighting in patient rooms, afternoon tea, high-quality bedding and towels, smart phone charging stations, and more.

“Today’s ‘wows’ are tomorrow’s expectations,” Tomcik says. “We are pushing ourselves to constantly find ways to do better. Together, we foster a culture where we are delivering excellence in every patient experience and recognizing our team members for that effort.” AHL

Experiencia, powered by the AdvoCor Augmented Intelligence (AI) platform, allows teams to respond to daily challenges and improve the perception of care for patients in real time.

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By Bridgett Novak

A Multifaceted Mission

Helping raise cattle on the family farm taught

IP litigator Chad Hanson important lessons that he now applies at Medtronic

When Chad Hanson was a boy, his family raised cattle in Hugo, Minnesota. As the oldest of four children, he had plenty of chores. Looking back, he says that work also taught him about business.

Every year, his father lended him money to buy one of the farm’s yearling cows. Hanson would help raise it and then sell it the following spring. “Dad always had me sign a contract and would charge me an interest rate. Whatever money was left went into the bank or a mutual fund,” Hanson explains. This started when he was about eleven and lasted through his senior year of high school. “The first

time I dipped into that money was to buy my first computer,” he says.

Not surprisingly, Hanson thought about becoming a veterinarian and was on a prevet track at North Dakota State University (NDSU), where he earned a degree in a new field: biotechnology. From NDSU he went on to get a PhD in cell and developmental biology at the University of Minnesota, where he was awarded a National Institutes of Health molecular biophysics predoctoral fellowship. He then decided to pursue a law degree, with plans to focus on environmental law or intellectual property.

Chad Hanson Senior Legal Counsel , IP Medtronic

Medtronic’s Mission Statement

1. To alleviate pain, restore health, and extend life.

2. To direct our growth in the areas of biomedical engineering where we display maximum strength and ability.

3. To strive without reserve for the greatest possible reliability and quality in our products.

4. To make a fair profit.

5. To recognize the personal worth of employees.

6. To maintain good citizenship.

In 1998, after graduating from the University of Minnesota Law School, he joined Fish & Richardson, focusing on patent litigation and prosecution. “Two of the partners there had clients in the biotechnology and medical space. The work was interesting, and I got to interact with inventors and learn about new technologies,” Hanson says.

Seven years later, Hanson was called by a headhunter about a job at Medtronic, the world’s largest medical device company. He joined the in-house litigation team, focusing primarily on intellectual property, biology, medicine, and technology. “It is a great environment for someone like me with a keen interest in science,” he says.

One of the things that guides Hanson’s work is Medtronic’s mission statement. The six-part mandate was established in 1960 and states that the company’s purpose is to “alleviate pain, restore health, and extend life.”

“I keep those goals in mind. It helps direct where I spend time and resources,” Hanson explains. “The mission also guides us when deciding what not to do. I try to keep us out of situations where we cannot make unique and worthy contributions.”

Another thing that Hanson enjoys about working at Medtronic is the opportunity to impact the staffing of litigation matters. “It is no secret that the ability of someone to move up in a law firm depends on getting opportunities and building client relationships,” Hanson

“Some might worry about the risk of giving important tasks to people who haven’t done them before, but someone has to give them a chance.”

says. “I’ve never heard anyone say that there are too many women or minorities in the partner ranks. So, to the extent I can help promote a more diverse workforce within my world of influence, I aim to get it done.”

One of the things he tries to do is to identify opportunities for outside counsel to do something they haven’t done before. For some, it may be taking a deposition, for others it may be stand-up work before a district or appellate court, or, sometimes, being the first or second chair for a trial.

“Some might worry about the risk of giving important tasks to people who haven’t done them before, but someone has to give them a chance,” he says. “I’ve found that the people who are given these chances work extremely hard. Not only do they want to succeed, they tend to go the extra mile to make sure they don’t let you down.”

Hanson also understands how empowering people at work could impact his own family one day. “The bottom line is this: I have an eighteen-year-old daughter. If I can break down a barrier here or there, perhaps she won’t have to face some of the struggles I’ve witnessed other women face,” he says.

He also partners with outside firms to control litigation costs. “It’s all about project management, which is not traditionally taught in law school,” he says. “Law firms used to say they would do x, charge you y, and then send you a bill. That kind of one-sided conversation

Congratulations to Chad Hanson from your friends at Kirkland & Ellis

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“Law firms used to say they would do x, charge you y, and then send you a bill. That kind of one-sided conversation doesn’t work anymore.”

doesn’t work anymore. The client and the law firm need to work on that number together. It is more nuanced than simply capping or fixing spend.”

This forward-thinking approach to his work has garnered praise for Hanson from his business partners.

“Chad is both an outstanding lawyer and excellent case leader,” says Martin R. Lueck, Robins Kaplan LLP’s chairman of the board. “Coupled with his deep background in life science, he repeatedly delivers laser-sharp guidance to Medtronic in its continued pursuit of cuttingedge, life-extending technologies.”

Hanson thinks it works best to base the budget on specific tasks and build project costs from the bottom up.

“We know that attorneys on the other side of litigation matters will likely throw in unexpected things, but we must get better at building that into the budget. We should approach litigation budgets more like weather forecasting; we should recognize there is a range of potential outcomes.”

This kind of insight is another result of Hanson’s upbringing. “I was raised to be practical, and I’m a scientist by nature,” he explains. “I’m always looking for the better way to do something. I ask our outside firms to analyze what we learn from one case so it can be applied to the next. Both sides should participate in the process, strive for efficiency and success, and be dedicated to continuous improvement.” AHL

Kirkland & Ellis : Chad brings pragmatism, decisiveness, and confidence to his team, qualities that have kept us focused and costs down. Chad insisted on diverse teams that have created opportunities for junior attorneys. Several of our attorneys owe their first trial witness or argument to Chad’s confidence in his team and commitment to growing talent.

By Lior Phillips

There’s a terrible blend of intense stress and surreal quiet that comes with an extended stay in a hospital.

The beeping machines and constant whir of healthcare professionals milling about portend the potential of an emergency at any given moment; however, long-term patients may face patches of seemingly endless waiting.

In May 2013, Scott Landau and his wife, Megan, were told that she would spend weeks or even months at Mount Sinai Hospital. Megan had been pregnant with twins, and at about twenty-nine weeks gestation, she was told she had preeclampsia and that she’d need to stay in the hospital until she gave birth because of the potential for complications. “We were looking at up to ten weeks in the hospital, not able to leave the bed,” Landau says.

Despite the stress, fear, and concern, Landau, then an assistant US attorney, saw the way everyone in the building was working hard to make a difference in the lives of others. “From the doctors and nurses to the staff, everybody was unbelievably caring, attentive, and professional,” he says. And once his wife gave birth six weeks early and the entire family finished their recovery at the hospital, Landau knew he needed to find a way to join the organization and make a difference as well. Prior to that traumatic experience, Landau’s legal focus had been quite different. “Nobody grows up thinking they’ll become an in-house lawyer at a hospital; everyone thinks it’s just medical malpractice work, but it is much more than that,” he says. “I wish I’d known earlier what an incredible job it could be.”

In college, he decided that if he couldn’t be a rock star, he might as well become a lawyer so he could represent them. After earning his JD from New York University School of Law, he joined Proskauer Rose LLP because of its renowned entertainment litigation practices.

After six years at Proskauer working on everything from sports and music disputes to land use and financial services matters, Landau found himself increasingly drawn to the healthcare cases that crossed his desk. The next opportunity came in the form of an offer from the US Attorney’s office in the eastern district of New York. “That was a dream job for a litigator,” Landau says. “There’s really nothing quite like getting up in court and saying, ‘I represent the United States of America.’ That just never gets old.”

Scott Landau Associate General Counsel Mount Sinai Health System

Cathy Clarke

Legal Support for Healthier Lives

The Mount Sinai Medical Legal Partnership (MSMLP) is an independent nonprofit charity which was formed in 2015 with the goal of helping Mount Sinai’s most vulnerable patients address the nonmedical issues that often contribute to their poor health. MSMLP is based on the vision of Mount Sinai’s general counsel Beth Essig.

MSMLP helps the neediest patients get direct access to pro bono legal services so that they can address and overcome their legal issues. There are now legal clinics in hospitals across the system where lawyers from pro bono legal organizations and private law firms regularly work with patients on topics ranging from housing to immigration.

“I'm on the advisory board, and I’m really proud that we were able to take this vision and make it into a reality, to augment the incredible medical care that's provided here by helping patients address and resolve their legal issues,” says Scott Landau, Mount Sinai Health System’s associate general counsel. “There’s no limit to the work the partnership can achieve, depending on how much money we can raise and how much support we can get.”

Across six years as an assistant US attorney, Landau worked on constitutional cases and environmental cases, all the while keeping his fascination with healthcare matters. “I got amazing firsthand litigation experience that really made me the lawyer I am today,” he says. Although he was fascinated by the legal issues, Landau became a close study of the underlying science of health as well. And while that background made a job at Mount Sinai a logical fit, it was the personal experience he and his family had at the organization that made the fit perfect.

In April 2014, Landau became assistant general counsel of Mount Sinai Health System, an integrated healthcare system in New York comprising more than thirty-eight thousand employees, eight hospital campuses, a world-renowned medical school, and a large regional ambulatory footprint.

One of the larger healthcare providers in the country, Mount Sinai serves more than ten thousand patients a year, many of whom live below the poverty line. In his role, Landau’s primary focus is regulatory compliance, particularly concerning the healthcare fraud and abuse laws.

“I spend a lot of time advising clients on structuring transactions and programs to ensure compliance with the fraud and abuse laws,” he says. In addition, the system puts his background in litigation to use, both directly representing and defending the system and its employees, and working with outside counsel.

In addition, Landau has added advising on population health initiatives to his purview in recent years, working with Mount Sinai’s innovative providers and administrators on initiatives to improve the way that healthcare is delivered and paid for. “We’re looking at ways of transforming healthcare toward value-based care with a focus on care quality and patient outcomes rather than just the quantity of services provided,” he says.

“As a technology partner, it’s been a pleasure working with Scott and Mount Sinai to develop innovative eDiscovery solutions,” says Casey Hansen, regional manager at OpenText. “He has a true vision for advancing legal operations, creating efficiencies, and aligning stakeholders.”

Abrams Fensterman recognizes Scott Landau for his expertise and dedication to the Mount Sinai Health System and its partners.

Proskauer joins in recognizing alumni Scott Landau for his ongoing contributions to the success of Mount Sinai Health System

Abrams Fensterman is one of the largest full service law firms based on Long Island. The firm serves clients throughout the New York metropolitan area from o ces in Long Island, Brooklyn, and Manhattan and serves upstate New York from our Rochester o ce.

ABRAMS FENSTERMAN

3 Dakota Drive, Suite 300 Lake Success, New York 11042 516-328-2300 | abramslaw.com

Greenberg Traurig congratulates

Scott L an dau of Mount Sinai Health System for his forward-thinking leadership to deliver groundbreaking and compassionate health care.

The world’s leading health care organizations choose Proskauer as a strategic partner to drive their business forward. We are entrepreneurial, bringing unrivalled experience and a keen understanding of the industry’s dynamics.

Our 725+ lawyers serve clients from 13 offices in the Americas, Europe and Asia.

Greenberg Traurig partners with health care companies to achieve their business, legal, and public policy goals.

“Healthcare in the United States is at a critical inflection point. It’s too expensive, and the current fee-for-service delivery model is simply not sustainable in its current form.”

Many systems and hospitals around the country have been working to make that transition, a goal Mount Sinai embraces despite its challenges. “Healthcare in the United States is at a critical inflection point,” he says. “It's too expensive, and the current fee-forservice delivery model is simply not sustainable in its current form.” By helping providers navigate these changes, Landau and other lawyers like him can help organizations like Mount Sinai remain true to their missions while finding new and innovative ways to deliver exemplary healthcare.

One major legal challenge comes in ensuring these drastic changes in healthcare delivery and payment comply with a regulatory environment that was created for a fee-for-service-based system and in many ways hinders the kinds of innovations and collaborations that are necessary to the future of healthcare. “They’re like analog regulations for a digital world,” Landau

says. “Until there is thorough regulatory reform, we have to work to ensure that any new care delivery and payment models still comply with the old rules and regulations.” For example, patients with chronic diseases such as diabetes or congestive heart failure could greatly benefit from coordinated care between providers, including sharing data, remote monitoring, and alignment of incentives based on care quality and efficiency.

“Hospitals are extremely complex, vibrant ecosystems,” Landau says. “Lawyers are critical to the whole system by helping medical professionals navigate the complicated healthcare regulatory landscape so that they can focus on providing great patient care. Because of my personal experience here with my wife and children, I lived that exemplary patient service, and now I work every day to help more families in need gain access to it.” AHL

Consulting with Counsel

Eight women share their journeys to the top of the healthcare legal world, the lessons they have learned along the way, and their strategies for leading their organizations and excelling in their roles

MICHELLE OLIVER / P. 108

SHARON NOWAKOWSKI / P. 112

ROBYNN VAN PATTEN / P. 116

BARBARA MCCLUNG / P. 120

JENNIFER TOUSIGNANT / P. 124

STEPHANIE WISDO / P. 130

HEATHER CANDY / P. 134

KEELEY CAIN WETTAN / P. 138

“The odds seemed against me, but I was determined to make the dream a reality.

Later in life, I embarked on the path to become a lawyer in New York.”

As a twelve years old, Michelle

Oliver set her sights on working as a New York City lawyer, and didn’t let anything stand in her way

BY LIOR PHILLIPS

Michelle Oliver first came to New York at age twelve as part of a family trip. Looking around Manhattan as the plane landed, Oliver knew she was destined to leave her native Ireland and make a life in the Big Apple. “It was the most fascinating place that I had ever seen—the hustle and bustle, the diversity, everyone walking around with such a sense of purpose,” she says. “The odds seemed against me, but I was determined to make the dream a reality. Later in life, I embarked on the path to become a lawyer in New York.” After years of hard work, study, and determination, Oliver not only achieved that dream, she’s done so at the upper echelons of her field, currently serving as general counsel for the Point of Care business at Siemens Healthineers, as well as head of legal, operations lab diagnostics.

Early on, to fulfill that promise herself, Oliver went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in both business and law at University College Dublin. “I got to see how the law was built through case law, and then I also got to see the practical aspect of that work in business,” she says.

After excelling there, Oliver felt ready to finally make the leap to the States; when it came time for postgraduate study, she attended New York University School of Law (NYU) to earn her master’s of law in international law. She didn’t yet have the confidence of those powerful lawyers she had seen walking in Manhattan, but Oliver worked to overcome any obstacle that arose.

“With only 3 percent of commercial cases going to trial, clients are far more focused on transactional work,” Oliver says. To be effective in a legal role requires people who aren’t only great lawyers, but who can be great on their feet as well, and are skilled at persuading their audience that their position is the strongest. “US law firms still think and operate very traditionally, meaning these jobs are too often reserved for Americans, and it’s extremely challenging for an ‘outlier’ to gain entry.”

Business Lessons from New York Real Estate

Before she had risen to her first prominent legal role, Michelle Oliver moved at least ten times in her first four years in New York. At one point, Oliver shared a Brooklyn apartment with nine other people—but that’s not even the most unique story she has of her Big Apple housing experiences. “There was even a time when I rented a psychiatrist’s office and slept on the couch,” she recalls. “One night I was so exhausted after working on a case that I slept through all of my alarms and woke up to find the psychiatrist walking in with a patient the next morning. Those experiences really shaped my ability to be flexible, resourceful, and work well with a variety of personalities.”

But Oliver craved that opportunity—to interact with others, to think on her feet, to be involved in important commercial cases. She fought for that opportunity by writing numerous letters to law firms that she’d be honored to work for, while taking on small contracts here and there to pay the bills. Eventually, she got the call from Thelen Reid Brown Raysman & Steiner LLP, accepting a job as a commercial litigation associate. “That was my first big step in terms of beginning a full-fledged career as a lawyer in New York,” she says.

From there, Oliver moved to Steptoe and Johnson, acting as a commercial litigation associate. But not long later, Oliver felt that it was time to move in-house and broaden her horizons. “I had forgotten how intriguing business was,” she says. “When you’re in a law firm, at times you can have the myopic view that the world revolves around the law. But when you step into a business, you realize how naive that is.” The opportunity to learn more about that juncture came in the form of a corporate counsel role at Breckenridge Pharmaceutical, Inc. Not only did she thrive as an in-house lawyer, but she found herself enraptured by the inner workings of the healthcare industry.

Breckenridge dealt in generic pharmaceuticals, which meant Oliver had to deal with compliance, complex commercial contracts, and all the regulations that come along with the healthcare world. There was also the opportunity to help shape business strategy from the legal office. And when Siemens came calling in 2013 with an opening for an in-house counsel role, Oliver leapt at the opportunity to contribute to a global healthcare organization.

At the beginning of her tenure, Oliver worked closely with the general counsel and worked as hard as she could, learned as much as she could, and added as much value as she could. Even when business partners would only expect her to call into a meeting, Oliver would hop on a plane to make a personal connection and ensure she could provide the best legal guidance possible. After five years of growth and rising leadership roles, she attained a general counsel position in 2018.

Oliver sits within two businesses within Siemens Healthineers: she works as general counsel for the Point of Care business, and as head of operations for legal for the lab diagnostic business. “I get to keep my feet in two very different markets from a healthcare perspective, but as it’s all centered around diagnostics, they’re also complementary,” she says. In both roles, Oliver primarily focuses on how on legal guidance can help shape the strategy of the business itself.

While Siemens Healthineers continues to strive toward being an enabler of healthcare providers worldwide, Oliver supports the lab automation business in its efforts to pioneer radical change in clinical laboratories, including enhanced lab efficiencies and workflow excellence.

And after childhood dreams of becoming a lawyer in New York, Oliver is acting as an integral part of one of the largest global organizations in the world. As a global general counsel, Oliver is responsible for some of the most complex global deals within her business areas. “The fact that what I do ultimately enables the business to improve healthcare for patients gives me the passion to strive for my best every day. I’m proud to have achieved this stature career-wise, and also to work for Siemens Healthineers.”

Blank Rome LLP is proud to recognize Michelle Oliver for her outstanding leadership and legal career at Siemens Healthineers.

We are honored to work with you and the entire team.

“The great thing about moving in-house is that from outside you can only make a suggestion, but in-house you get to see it through.”

Sharon Nowakowski traces her professional journey to her first in-house counsel position with Akorn

Pharmaceuticals

BY MANISHA RITA

SHARON NOWAKOWSKI / SENIOR COUNSEL, CORPORATE AND SECURITIES & ASSISTANT CORPORATE SECRETARY / AKORN PHARMACEUTICALS

A native of the Chicago suburbs, Sharon Nowakowski has forged a career working at law firms in the city as outside counsel. Once she moved to Akorn Pharmaceuticals, however, she had to adapt a new mind-set as she as she took on her first in-house role.

“The great thing about moving in-house is that from outside you can only make a suggestion, but in-house you get to see it through,” Nowakowski says. In February 2016, she was hired to serve as in-house senior counsel for corporate and securities as well as assistant corporate secretary at Akorn Pharmaceuticals. Her team consists of four attorneys, including a general counsel and one paralegal.

One of the most exciting things about moving in-house for Nowakowski has been her ability to build stronger and better relationships with the company. Although she had worked with Akorn in the past as outside counsel, for her this move meant getting to know more of the business and engaging with professionals throughout the company firsthand. In all of her projects, Nowakowski strives to build trust and loyalty with those whom she interacts, she says.

After graduating from Loyola University Chicago School of Law, she was hired to work at ABN AMRO Bank N.V. She had worked there during law school as part of an externship, and the company hired her upon graduation. Her next job at Bryan Cave LLP was when she first encountered Akorn. Before going there, though, she worked for the firm Polsinelli PC.

During her time at Polsinelli, Akorn reached out to her with an offer to move in-house for the organization, which she did in 2016. She had to learn the ins and outs of an in-house position quickly, as she was hired to come onboard while the company was in the midst of a restatement. An added challenge, Nowakowski says, was that a new independent auditor was hired for this process.

“The office was constantly filled with an army of people at that time,” Nowakowski says. This meant working with multiple groups of people who were new to Akorn and the restatement process. To successfully complete this initiative, Nowakowski says it was important to work collaboratively and ensure there was transparency across the board.

“It’s important to let people know what’s coming because, in this field, no one likes surprises,” she says. Coming in, the stakes were high for Nowakowski as her goal was to help keep the organization from getting delisted by NASDAQ. The deadlines were tight and despite the moving cogs within the organization, Nowakowski and her team were able to swiftly establish required new policies and filing disclosures to keep the company listed on the stock market.

Recently, there have been more shifts in the structure, and Nowakowski is focused on helping onboard several new executives, including a new president and CEO. This means that she and her team have to arrange for these executives to sign multiple disclosures and file a lot of paperwork on their behalf, she says. All of this is time sensitive and requires coordination with the entire team.

Nowakowski’s attention to detail and habit of frequently asking questions can be traced back to her days as an editor.

“If you keep doing the things you enjoy, they add up and all come together.”

“I wanted to see what it was like out in the world, so I pushed pause on my law career and got a job as an associate editor of the World Book, an educational publication,” she says. At this time, she had just graduated from the University of Illinois with a bachelor’s in arts. That job largely involved breaking down complex concepts and ideas in the world of education into digestible and easy-tounderstand language for its readerships. “That’s essentially what I do today when it comes to contracts and negotiations for mergers and acquisitions,” she says.

When it comes to law, there are numerous ways to interpret text and there needs to be a nuanced understanding of laws and regulations, so she emphasizes the importance of asking questions while working in a team. This way everyone is clear on objectives and able to work toward the same goals. Years after exiting the world of educational publishing and entering law school, she is happy she made that decision.

“I love what I do because it gives me a new perspective on problemsolving and helps me work with other people,” she says. Looking back at her career she reflects, “If you keep doing the things you enjoy, they add up and all come together.”

Polsinelli proudly supports Sharon Nowakowski, Senior Counsel and Assistant Corporate Secretary, Akorn, Inc., because her work provides inspiration for action.

“When everyone rows in the same direction with the same rhythm, magic happens.”

At Community Medical Centers, Robynn Van Patten and her team collaborate to find unique ways to fund much-needed patient services

BY REBECCA ROBERTS

Community Medical Centers (CMC) faces a unique set of challenges. Based in Fresno, California, the network of healthcare facilities serves a population that is typically lacking in resources. Providing top-quality care for these patients in a manner that is also financially viable for the organization requires creative solutions, including ways to generate revenue to offset the costs of necessary services, finding ways to engage patients in preventive and aftercare, as well as motivating physicians to be a part of CMC and to align with its vision of long-term population health management. As the chief legal officer at CMC, Robynn Van Patten’s role extends far beyond the realm of law. She is heavily involved with strategy, operations, and finding solutions that best allow CMC to serve the patient base in the Central San Joaquin Valley.

Much of CMC’s patient base struggles with poverty and limited English skills. Some are undocumented workers, and as a result of their financial constraints and other hardships, many don’t have the resources or support network to adequately follow through on aftercare when they are discharged.

ROBYNN VAN PATTEN / CHIEF LEGAL OFFICER / COMMUNITY MEDICAL CENTERS

“We get our physicians engaged with decision-making from a partnership perspective, and we include them in discussions so they feel invested in the outcome and know they have a voice.”

CMC sees a high volume of emergency room visits, and it is working to decrease this by providing more preventive services and outpatient care. Additionally, there are some unique healthcare challenges to the region. Fresno is an agricultural area that sits in a basin, conditions that lead to a population with a high rate of asthma and other pulmonary problems.

About 50 percent of this patient base receives Medi-Cal, California’s state-sponsored health plan that serves low income individuals. Because Medi-Cal is reimbursed at a lower rate than many other managed-care providers, CMC generally suffers a financial loss from treating these patients that must be recouped elsewhere. Van Patten emphasizes that CMC’s approach to this is focused on patient care above bottom lines.

“Our view isn’t ‘let’s cut corners,’ it’s ‘let’s avoid duplication,’ and be smart and thoughtful in our decision-making,” she says.

One of the ways CMC has balanced its budget is by developing its own health insurance plan, which has an HMO option, a PPO option, and covers more than eighty-five thousand of

CMC’s employees and their families. The Knox-Keene licensed plan is also offered to other large employers in California’s Central Valley, and Van Patten advises and works with leadership to ensure the health plan complies with state and federal regulations.

CMC has also forged a partnership with Family Healthcare Network (FCHN), a federally qualified health center. Through this partnership, CMC was able to transfer some preventive outpatient services and affiliated employees to FCHN. Due to its status as a federally qualified health center, FCHN receives higher reimbursements for these services. “This enabled us to guarantee and potentially grow these services to our community for preventive and follow-up care,” Van Patten says. “It also allows us to have physicians reimbursed at a higher rate.” She explains that while this solution was costly to implement up-front, it’s a benefit for the community in the long run and has saved CMC $10 million per year that it had been losing by providing these services in-house.

Internally, CMC has focused on streamlining its operations to avoid costly redundancies. Each of CMC’s four hospitals and other care facilities previously had its own CEO, as well as a CEO for the whole system; CMC consolidated the leadership team under one CEO for the whole system, in addition to one CEO for all of the hospitals. By integrating an executive team that managed all of the network’s facilities, CMC was able to consolidate food service, human resources, better manage nurse staffing, and implement other efficiencies. This has increased efficiency and has aligned vision. “When everyone rows in the same direction with the same rhythm, magic happens,” Van Patten says.

Due to the specific challenges faced by CMC, Van Patten and her colleagues are working hard to recruit and retain physicians. Van Patten focuses on being empathetic to the challenges faced by physicians themselves, especially with a low reimbursement rate, and notes that young physicians often have a lot of student debt, older physicians must acclimate to the evolving EMR process, and all are working long hours with less face time per patient. “We get our physicians engaged with decisionmaking from a partnership perspective, and we include them in discussions so they feel invested in the outcome and know they have a voice,” she says. “We have a lot of key medical directorships, academic medical rotations and opportunities, and try to recruit people who have a heart for this population.”

Ultimately, Van Patten and her team strive to work with CMC’s operations team to bring in physicians that share the same values that brought her to the organization. She points out that, like most hospitals, CMC is a nonprofit driven by a mission to serve the public good. Having witnessed the devastating consequences that can result from a lack of consistent, quality care, she is passionate about ensuring the availability of healthcare for all. “I really believe that access to quality healthcare is a fundamental human right,” Van Patten says. “Every person deserves care and access to that care on a basis that is blind to that individual’s financial status. That is my personal mission, and I am grateful to work for an organization that honors the same vision.”

Arent Fox LLP and its nationally recognized Health Care group values its relationship with Community Medical Centers, and we thank Robynn Van Patten for partnering with us. Our goal is to serve as trusted legal advisors and provide creative, cost-effective counsel, and solutions to prominent institutional healthcare providers. Visit arentfox.com/services/health-care

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Arent Fox’s nationally recognized Health Care practice provides legal and regulatory counsel on largescale transactions, medical staff matters, regulatory compliance, investigations, litigation, and healthcare IT.

Our nationwide team consists of more than 40 full-time health care lawyers who serve as trusted advisors and provide creative, cost-effective counsel and solutions to an array of prominent institutional health care providers.

Contact Us Lowell Brown Health Care Chair and Partner 213.443.7516 lowell.brown@arentfox.com

Smart In Your World

arentfox.com

“You are always doing something new with cutting-edge science, but you don’t have to do all the hard field work and spend years doing research.”

After contracting malaria during a research trip to Sierra Leone, Barbara McClung pivoted from a career in science to focus on law

BY BILLY YOST

“I can’t remember, because of the malarial fever, how I figured out they were diamond smugglers.” Barbara McClung’s decision to go to Penn Law School had more than a few moving parts, but she can trace it back to her days as a doctoral student conducting field work in Africa.

The current chief legal officer for Caribou Biosciences Inc., a leading CRISPR genome-editing company, has leveraged her wide array of IP experience to cultivate and maintain Caribou’s growing patent portfolio. But before she came to lead Caribou’s legal team, McClung imagined a different career for herself.

As a PhD student, she found herself in Sierra Leone studying black-and-white colobus monkeys when she became seriously ill. Only aware at the time that she was very sick, McClung had to cut her research short and return home. On the way back, she found herself on a long layover in Monrovia, Liberia, drinking water to try to offset her spiking fever and barely able to remain upright. That’s when two sociable but unassuming men began chatting with her. “I told them that I was so sick I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to get back on the plane,” McClung says. The two men readily offered to help her onto the plane but wouldn’t answer any questions about what they had been doing in Sierra Leone.

Upon arrival in New York, the two men emerged from the plane restrooms decked out in expensive-looking suits. “It wasn’t until later that I realized Sierra Leone had a lot of diamonds and these guys were essentially diamond smugglers,” McClung says. After making it back to the States and a handful of hospital visits later, McClung knew two things: she had contracted malaria on her trip, and it was time to adjust her career path.

BARBARA MCCLUNG / CHIEF LEGAL OFFICER / CARIBOU BIOSCIENCES INC.

McClung says patent law provided her an alternative that offered the best of both worlds in terms of combining her love of science and her passion for learning. “You are always doing something new with cutting-edge science, but you don’t have to do all the hard field work and spend years doing research,” McClung says. The chief legal officer thinks the time she spent traveling and learning prior to law school has provided her a broader perspective than had she gone straight to law school, thus providing benefit at Caribou, where gene editing ethical questions range from editing human embryos to editing tobacco plants.

McClung says initially, the opportunity to join Caribou in 2015 didn’t appear legally complex enough to catch her interest. “Caribou hadn’t done a big round of financing yet, and I told the CEO, Rachel Haurwitz, that they didn’t need someone with twenty-eight years of legal experience.” Haurwitz understood but suggested that McClung sign a nondisclosure agreement

before the conversation continued. That’s when McClung started paying attention.

It was then that McClung learned of the extensive patent battle between the University of California, Berkeley— Caribou’s founders are scientists from this university—and the Harvard/MIT-backed Broad Institute over who first invented the transformative CRISPR-Cas9 technology, which could enable easier and more versatile gene editing. McClung’s response to Haurwitz then: “Oh, you need me.”

McClung was Caribou’s first hire on its general and administrative side; the fifteen or so other employees at Caribou were scientists. “I was the first person to ask for a file cabinet, and a printer, and a telephone on my desk,” McClung says. “Everyone else had a laptop in the lab and was self-sufficient.”

From zero file cabinets and patents in 2015, Caribou now boasts twenty-eight patents and a wide array of patent licensees, and McClung’s legal team includes a transaction attorney,

Barbara McClung (standing) teaches osteology to a group of archaeology students in Puerto Rico.

Courtesy of Barbara McClung

a paralegal, a contracts manager, and a director of intellectual property. She expects the legal team will continue to grow.

Caribou’s success has transitioned the company from a general research platform further into a company focused on human therapeutics. And that shift has meant moving from developing platform-based IP to looking at more specific applications.

Caribou plans to double its office and lab footprint in Berkeley, California, this summer, up from sixty employees now.

“For me, one of the challenges is going to be helping to maintain the Caribou culture, because it is very, very strong,” McClung says.

McClung says that a strong code of ethics, from the CEO on down, has made Caribou an easy place to work.

“The patents and licenses are great, but sometimes it’s the things I don’t have to worry about that are successes to me,” she says. McClung says she isn’t tasked with many of the PR nightmares that befall other start-ups whose culture may not have ethics as strongly ingrained.

McClung’s job is also made easier, she says, by developing relationships with the scientists conducting research at Caribou. It creates an easy platform to get important information right away and is one of the best parts of working in-house for her. “When you’re a partner at a firm and everything is going fine, no one talks to you anymore,” she jokes. “In-house, I get to learn something new every day.”

Fish & Richardson salutes Barbara McClung for her inspiring leadership, creative legal mind, and continued success. We have seen the importance of her contributions to Caribou Biosciences during the multiple matters we’ve had the privilege of working with them on and are

When your business is creating breakthrough medical technologies and therapies, you need a legal team well-versed in sector-specific transactional, regulatory, and intellectual property matters.

We are proud to work with industry pioneers like

enabling them to focus on developing transformative therapies and technologies.

Contact Mintz for innovative guidance that helps you leverage opportunities and navigate challenges.

proud to partner with Barbara and her team.

“IP practice in this area requires understanding not only your own products, but also the competitive landscape— both in a very granular way and on a high strategic level.”

Jennifer Tousignant, head of intellectual property at TESARO Inc., sees a connection between her legal work and her passions outside of the office

BY JACQUELINE ZENN

JENNIFER TOUSIGNANT / VP & CHIEF IP COUNSEL / TESARO

Setting and executing short-term goals to accomplish a long-term vision is the hallmark of Jennifer Tousignant’s approach to her career and life.

As a vice president and chief intellectual property counsel at TESARO Inc. and an accomplished dressage rider and sport horse breeder, she knows more than a few things about conquering individual challenges and stacking those wins together to accomplish something major.

She began working at TESARO in 2016, but her career in intellectual property began long before that. In fact, Tousignant’s extensive background in the biotechnology space, including in IP, coupled with her passion for dressage and sport-horse breeding lends her a unique perspective on the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry.

Tousignant’s decision to begin a career in the sciences was inspired by an early experience with one of her mother’s preschool students who was living with cystic fibrosis. Her

experience in lung biology research as part of her undergraduate studies in chemistry led to her first position in the biotechnology industry at Genzyme Corporation (acquired by Sanofi in 2011). Following successful research at the bench and as an inventor on several patent families, Tousignant was recruited to join Genzyme’s legal department to focus on IP law.

“Because I worked both at the bench and then in-house at Genzyme while I went to law school, I learned the business from the inside, which gives me a wonderful, bottoms-up perspective. I understand the business of science is the process of bringing new drugs and treatments to the market all the way from the research lab to commercial,” she says.

Tousignant’s career and understanding of IP is also informed by her passion for horses and her extensive experience with competitive riding in dressage and sport-horse breeding—all of which involve plenty of day-to-day decisions that combine for positive and noteworthy results.

Outside of her work at TESARO Inc., Jennifer Tousignant has a passion for riding dressage horses and breeding sport horses.

Connor Triehy

Horses seemed to simply be part of Tousignant’s DNA. Her first riding experience was at eight years old, and she was hooked. That said, she says she’s always been a horse person. “In fact, I taught myself to read so I could learn about horses, since I didn’t come from a horse family.”

After graduating from the University of Virginia and launching her research career at Genzyme, Jennifer started riding at Apple Valley Farm. Apple Valley specialized in dressage—an equestrian sport that requires a highly skilled horse and rider to perform a series of carefully choreographed movements. It was there that she met her mentors and began her dressage practice seriously, which led her to eventually open her own breeding farm, Rhodes Farm.

“Dressage is amazing. It’s an incredible feeling to be that connected to your horse, a twelve-hundred-pound animal, and to be able to direct the horse through a ride. It’s a sport that requires a uniquely complex combination of theory and athleticism.”

In dressage and in breeding, there’s an endgame, Tousignant says. “All of your work from the beginning is to produce a successful riding horse,” she says. “While you need to focus on the short game of understanding what the foal is when it is born, you also need to consider how they develop in sport. This means focusing on how your horse is doing today and what will be needed in two, three, or even ten years from now.”

Her work at TESARO isn’t all that different from breeding dressage horses, she says. Tousignant joined TESARO to build the IP department from the ground up, and the company recently was acquired by GlaxoSmithKline.

Intellectual property in this field is particularly complicated due to the competitive nature of the space and the use of therapeutic combinations. “IP practice in this area requires understanding not only your own products, but also the competitive landscape—both in a very granular way and on a high strategic level.” she says. Her department’s long-term strategy is to embed IP into the business so that it is integrated throughout the entire research and development process, including education of the entire business in a way that makes the entire company stewards of its IP.

“Because I worked at the bench and then in-house at Genzyme while I went to law school, I learned the business from the inside, which gives me a wonderful, bottoms-up perspective.”

The Building Blocks Of Dressage Riding:

The word “dressage” is derived from a French term that translates to “training.” Dressage riders have the goal of strengthening their horses while developing the horse’s talent through different levels of competition in the sport.

• Champion dressage horses are bred to have three pure and expressive gaits, athleticism, and good characters.

• Rigorous breeding standards and classical training combine to make a successful horse and rider team.

• Dressage riders train for years—both in riding as well as in course-based and practical judging training—to achieve the riding scores and pass the tests they need to become qualified as judges.

Oncology is a crowded and competitive intellectual property area, so when companies like TESARO have a new treatment being developed it’s important to keep the business side of things in mind. “I’d like to see a greater understanding of the commercial aspect of intellectual property,” she says. “It’s easy to get lost in the academic side of things—but it is most important to have commercially meaningful IP rights, both offensive and defensive ones.”

The business aspect of science is complex and sometimes not understood, which is why Tousignant finds it so compelling. “The science starts with basic research on compounds, and it ends with changing the lives of patients in need.”

We congratulate our friend, Jennifer Tousignant of TESARO Inc., on her continuing leadership and accomplishments. It is our pleasure to work with Jennifer and TESARO as a strategic partner to drive their business forward. To learn more about the firm, visit proskauer.com

Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP:

“We are proud of our partnership with Jennifer Tousignant and TESARO. We admire Jennifer’s leadership and dedication to improving the lives of patents within the cancer community. We congratulate Jennifer on this very well-deserved recognition.”

-Irena Royzman, Partner

Connor Triehy

We are proud to work with innovative, collaborative leaders in the life sciences industry and congratulate the many achievements of Jennifer Tousignant and TESARO.

We are thrilled to congratulate Jennifer Tousignant for her recognition in American Healthcare Leader. We celebrate the accomplishments of Jennifer and the entire TESARO in-house legal team, and are grateful for their commitment to changing the lives of those with cancer.

Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP is a New York City based law firm with more than 200 lawyers. The firm is included on The American Lawyer's 2018 "A-List" of the 20 leading law firms in the United States. Patterson Belknap delivers a full range of services across approximately 20 practice groups in both litigation and commercial law. For more information, please visit www.pbwt.com.

“I had been in pharmacy since I started pharmacy school at eighteen, and now I was thirty and wondering what else was out there.”

Harmony Biosciences’

Stephanie Wisdo helps shape the biopharmaceutical company’s legal function by utilizing her previous pharmacy experience

BY BILLY YOST

WISDO / GENERAL COUNSEL & COMPLIANCE OFFICER / HARMONY BIOSCIENCES,

STEPHANIE

Harmony Biosciences was founded in 2017 with the goal of providing new and novel options for rare and orphan diseases, with a focus on central nervous system disorders like narcolepsy. Though still in its infancy, the company’s investigational product is under review by the FDA, and it has the potential to bring a novel, first-in-class treatment option to people in the US living with narcolepsy. The fast pace of an emerging life sciences company is an ideal destination for Harmony’s general counsel and compliance officer Stephanie Wisdo, whose background enables her to bring a varied background and diverse perspective to her role at Harmony. Wisdo has done it all, from employment law to litigation. But it’s her seven years as a pharmacist that no doubt have given her a distinct advantage as in-house counsel at the biopharmaceutical company. As Harmony Biosciences matures, Wisdo tackles her dual role to help shape the emerging company’s processes and practices.

After spending seven years both in hospital and retail pharmacy roles, Wisdo says the transition to law came at a time when a transition made sense. “I had been in pharmacy since I started pharmacy school at eighteen, and now I was thirty and wondering what else was out there,” she says.

Such a dramatic pivot didn’t provide Wisdo with many role models to emulate, but it may have turned out to be for the best. “I didn’t know any lawyers when I started the process, and I really had no idea what I was getting myself into,” Wisdo says. Starting out in a new career, working long hours, and tackling junior-associate tasks was challenging. After a stint in employment law, Wisdo moved to a construction law firm where she gained more practical experience running her own cases. It also became clear to her that a career in litigation wasn’t where Wisdo wanted to wind up.

She left her role to devote her full attention to passing the patent bar exam. “Everyone said I was crazy to leave without a job, but to have any meaningful chance of passing the patent bar my first time, I needed to study all the time,” Wisdo says. That decision paid dividends, as Wisdo did pass the bar, and patent law opened up an entirely new set of experiences for her. That patent law experience has helped Wisdo with everything from negotiating contracts to understanding life cycle management. In addition, advising on IP matters is now one her of day-today duties, she says.

“Staying up to date on the science of what’s happening in the market is helpful.”

As both general counsel and compliance officer, Wisdo’s multitude of law and pharma skills are ideal for the number of roles she finds herself inhabiting on any given day. “It’s great to have a baseline understanding on a variety of issues,” Wisdo says. “It means that I’m able help when it comes to finding solutions, even when it’s from a pharmacy service or patient service perspective.”

Wisdo’s early years in hospital pharmacy still inform the way she approaches her legal role. “There was one pharmacist I worked with a lot, and whenever he worked, there was a line of nurses down the hallway coming to him with questions,” Wisdo says. “His personality and his approachability is what made everything work there.”

Wisdo learned that no matter what the occupation, be it a hospital pharmacist or in-house legal counsel, making people feel heard, understood, and appreciated often goes just as far as the advice itself. “I try to drop whatever I’m doing and to be approachable,” Wisdo says. “You have to make time for people.”

Wisdo’s credibility is further enhanced by the fact that she is still a registered pharmacist, staying current with continuing education requirements. “I think a lot of people who work in-house in pharmaceuticals only really learn about the medicines that their companies develop,” Wisdo says. “Staying up to date on the science of what’s happening in the market is helpful.”

Although Wisdo says there are more pharmacists-turnedlawyers in law today, she says that those looking to duplicate her journey should be ready for anything. “Try not to go in with any preconceived notions of the job you will have,” Wisdo says of a continuingly difficult employment market for pharmacists, but lawyers even more so. “Just embrace that you have taken time to start a new career and see where it takes you.”

at KPMG.com/us/forensic.

Emerging biotech companies face many challenges when launching a product in the US. Stephanie Wisdo brings years of experience helping emerging companies understand the legal and compliance landscape and help them build a sustainable compliance infrastructure from the beginning. KPMG ’s partnering with Stephanie has also helped to operationalize the complex requirements of the Government markets in the US.

“A lot of times, businesses may not understand the liability that they can create with a simple decision without thinking about the larger consequences for the organization.”

From streamlining multiple hospitals policies and systems to rewriting handbooks, Heather Candy discusses what it’s like being the first-ever labor and employment attorney at Adventist Health

BY MANISHA RITA

“The facts are always interesting, there is always something new,” says Heather Candy, chief counsel for all of Adventist Health’s labor and employment matters, as she describes the benefits of labor and employment law. A Sacramento native, Candy has been practicing law for more than twenty years. Now in her second year at Adventist Health, she is part of a newly formed Office of General Counsel, which provides the legal support and regulatory compliance for 20 hospitals, 270 clinics, more than 30,000 employees, and providers in three states: California, Oregon, and Hawaii. As the only labor and employment attorney for the system, her role entails not only advising and managing issues for various facilities, departments, and locations, but she is also responsible for writing, amending, and developing policies and procedures, ensuring compliance, and managing litigation.

Prior to Adventist Health, she was with two Sacramento law firms exclusively working on labor and employment law matters. She then moved in-house for the eye insurance company Vision Service Plan. Her experience overseeing all aspects of labor and employment matters, but also business matters, has been integral to be an effective in-house attorney. “With my background and professional experience, I know the arc of what can happen when a decision is made,” she says.

Prior to her department’s creation, all of the organization’s legal matters were handled by outside counsel. Having in-house counsel allows an organization to have a legal, holistic view of the many complex issues occurring and to be able to positively impact decisions being made. Adventist Health’s Office of General Counsel is working on building and supporting the changing shared services model of the organization and integrating its legal services into the system.

“It’s tricky,” she says. “It’s even more challenging when you have a business that’s not used to doing business without a lawyer around at all times. Getting the business to recognize the value of in-house counsel takes time since you have to earn their trust. You can do this by being an effective resource when consulted.”

Her focus is to find a solution that may not have been thought of before or suggest an improved approach to a problem. Drawing on her experiences from private practice, she is distinctly equipped to handle unusual complex problems and circumstances.

She once had a client, early on in her practice, who needed to send a technician down to Colombia to upgrade an expensive heart monitoring system. This was early 2000, and the business was concerned for the safety of their employee and what it could do to protect its employee. Ultimately, it was decided to fly him to Colombia and the machine and doctor were brought to the airport so that the technician could make the upgrade there. It was an issue that most couldn’t imagine and the solution involved not only the practical legal issue, but a practical business solution to ensure the safety of the employee. Examples like this are what make Candy so comfortable tackling the challenges of her current role.

One of the goals of this new Office of General Counsel is to support the integration of all of the facilities into the larger hospital system so the department can better guide and positively influence decisions with a system-wide approach. With an organization of this size spread across three states, the Adventist Health legal team has been working on streamlining the system’s legal issues and funneling them through one channel and directing it to the right person.

“Getting the business to recognize the value of in-house counsel takes times since you have to earn their trust.”

When Candy joined Adventist Health, the organization had employee handbooks for each hospital and other facilities, totaling more than twenty versions. Partnering with human resources, she consolidated the system’s policies into one handbook, streamlining and creating consistency for the company. This effort took more than a year and required access to documents and employees that would be difficult to manage in an efficient and cost-effective manner as an outside counsel.

She has found that some of the most important traits to being a successful in-house counsel are the ability to stay calm and balanced, in addition to offering responses that do not create chaos for the organization.

“The idea is to provide support that the company’s business needs but to also know when to step back. It’s not a job where you give off-the-cuff responses,” Candy says. With a total of sixteen employees—five reporting to her and seven other lawyers in the department— she and her team have worked hard to pull as much work in-house, improving efficiency and saving on costs. “A lot of times, businesses may not understand the liability that they can create with a simple decision without thinking about the larger consequences for the organization,” she says. For Adventist Health, Candy and her department will continue to be the safeguards against risk to keep the company headed in the right direction.

Newmeyer & Dillion is proud to partner with Heather Candy and the Adventist Health team to propel its workforce and empower its leaders. With more seventy-five attorneys practicing in employment, business law, privacy and data security, insurance law, and trial work, Newmeyer & Dillion delivers legal services tailored to meet each client’s needs.

Seyfarth Shaw LLP is proud to partner with Adventist Health and congratulates Heather Candy on being selected for this honor.

Propelling Workforce Solutions

Seyfarth is a team of 850+ attorneys in the U.S., London, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Melbourne, and Sydney offering an international platform to serve your business and legal needs in litigation, employment, corporate, real estate, and employee benefits. We pride ourselves on our core values of being client focused, forward-thinking, and innovative. With our SeyfarthLean client service model, we provide unparalleled transparency and collaboration with our clients. Seyfarth Shaw. The difference is clear.

We are proud to partner with Heather Candy and applaud her contributions to Adventist Health and the Healthcare Industry.

Your organization’s most valuable asset is its employees. That’s why we partner with leaders before we act - to ask about your business, your goals and your deepest concerns. For more than three decades, Newmeyer & Dillion has used the answers to propel workforce solutions.

Newport Beach | Walnut Creek | Las Vegas newmeyeranddillion.com

“I try to prioritize the most important tasks so that I am treating myself as a human being rather than a machine.”

Keeley Cain Wettan is helping turn Gilead Sciences into a leading example of the modern-day workforce

BY KC ESPER

Before becoming vice president of litigation and investigations at Gilead Sciences, Inc., Keeley Cain Wettan had accumulated broad experience in both law and politics. She completed an internship at the House of Commons in the United Kingdom during undergrad, worked in politics after graduating from college, and attended UC Berkeley with a particular attraction to the public service component of her studies. During her experience as a law clerk and then through some pro bono legal work she completed, Wettan witnessed the impact law has on society as a whole and the influence her work had in determining someone else’s future.

As Wettan’s legal career unfolded, her clients noticed the energy she dedicated to every case. She was not just there to argue a side—she was there to win. Wettan spent several years at a large New York law firm managing federal and state court litigations, arbitrations, and government and internal investigations, including representing the boards of directors in government investigations and litigations relating to the financial crisis of 2008. As interest in Wettan’s talent increased, though, so did her workload. After having her first child, she realized that devoting energy to her own life was just as important as devoting it to her clients. Like many working parents, Wettan was faced with the complex task of juggling life and work. Just after her second child was born, she decided to take a break.

KEELEY

CAIN WETTAN / VP, LITIGATION AND INVESTIGATIONS / GILEAD SCIENCES, INC.

“I took a couple years off and had my third child in the meantime,” she explains. “In hindsight, I’m thankful I had the time and opportunity to do that. But, when my youngest daughter turned one, I started missing the intellectual challenge of law. I didn’t want to give up on being a lawyer. I spent so much time on my education and training that I wanted to give myself another chance to try something different and see if I could make it work.”

Finding a job at Gilead was a serendipitous opportunity. After learning about the company from a mother at her daughter’s kindergarten, Wettan researched Gilead and noticed it was seeking a litigator. Within six weeks of applying, she started the newest chapter of her career.

Now, seven years later, she has built a life without having to sacrifice time on her job or with her family. She keeps her experience at her previous positions in the back of her mind while she navigates her work, allowing her team the flexibility to take on the roles of both parent and lawyer.

Wettan says that finding this middle ground is less about balance and more about prioritizing: “There’s so much work here that, if you’re not careful, you’ll never go home. I try to prioritize the most important tasks so that I am treating myself as a human being rather than a machine,” she says. Throughout her time at Gilead, she has emphasized the importance of parents staying flexible to accommodate their lives with respect to their work, whether that means coming into work early so they can also pick up their kids from daycare at the end of the day, or taking a call from home to help manage competing responsibilities.

To Wettan, putting trust in her team to protect the company while they live their respective lives is the key to making this system work. At the same time, Wettan also emphasizes the importance of maintaining a dialogue about this balance. As a result, her team has become proficient in working effectively and supporting each other through their circumstances both inside and outside the office.

Wettan’s experience as a working mother has made her an advocate for working parents, especially women. She teaches women who work with her to assert themselves in law as strong, capable leaders. In a career saturated with older, male colleagues, she advises women in her field to never back down and to “never be interrupted.”

Since coming to Gilead, she has used this mentality to tackle several stubborn, long-term legal cases rather than simply settling the matter. Within a short time of arriving at Gilead, she was asked to manage a high-risk arbitration that resulted in a complete win for the company. She went on to manage other litigations, including a case that her outside counsel strongly urged the company to settle. Gilead refused and went on to win at trial.

“When my youngest child turned one, I started missing the intellectual challenge of law. I didn’t want to give up on being a lawyer.”

ropesgray.com

Arnold

& Porter congratulates our friend and client Keeley

Wettan

on her well-deserved recognition as a thought leader in the life sciences legal profession.

More recently, Wettan has successfully managed the daunting Gilead Sciences, Inc. v. United States ex rel Campie case, which started as a government investigation, escalated to the Supreme Court, and continues to unfold throughout a ten-year process. Each of these accomplishments proved Wettan’s dedication to her craft, as she rejected the easy, traditional route of settling cases, instead following her intuition to come out on top.

Wettan extends her mentality to stray from archaism through the retention of her outside counsel. When seeking new partnerships, she only considers firms that have women or people with diverse backgrounds in lead positions, in an effort to reward and encourage law firms that are hiring and promoting women and minorities.

“Keeley is exactly the kind of person Simpson Thacher attorneys love to work with: smart, savvy, and relentlessly pushing for excellence. From her leadership on cases to her commitment to diversity and inclusion, she sets the bar for the industry,” says Brooke Cucinella, partner at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP.

Wettan also encourages the recruitment of diverse candidates internally. “We constantly question how we can reach prospective lawyers in college and high school,” Wettan says. “We want to make sure that we are finding people to recruit and develop in these roles because we need diverse leaders in our industry,” she says.

Though her work style has changed compared to her early years in law, Wettan’s drive to win for her clients never faded. At Gilead Sciences, she continually sees the impact her work has on its clients. She is particularly proud of the company’s impact on HIV treatment. “Gilead is influencing the community by changing the entire landscape of HIV,” she says. “It’s so rewarding to for my daughters to see the medicines we make and show them how they truly help improve patients’ lives.”

The enthusiasm Wettan has for her work permeates through her efforts to win each case and serve as a role model for other parents, women in law, and her daughters alike. With the incredible amount of support Wettan has, she embodies what it takes to be an effective lawyer, a dedicated coach, and a working parent.

Major players across the healthcare industry—pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, medical device and equipment manufacturers, health insurance companies, hospitals and other providers—turn to Simpson Thacher for deep experience navigating the complexities of the industry. From structuring multibillion-dollar mergers and obtaining antitrust approval to advising on disputes and high-stakes investigations, our healthcare group combines industry-specific experience with unrivaled excellence in the legal disciplines that most affect healthcare companies.

The Business

Healthcare is a constantly evolving industry that demands executives to plan ahead. Often, this means business leaders need to address departmental- or company-wide issues to remain focused on driving innovation and devising strategies to maintain a high level of care.

144. David Entwistle

150. Vipin Gopal

154. Tony Hall

158. Ashley Ridgeway-Washington

162. Eric Santoro

166. Edward Pfleging

174. Donald Death

180. Anthony LaPlaca

184. Ahmad Sharif

188. Stefan Sulzer

192. Garrett Whitney

196. Chuck Larsen

Transforming the Patient Experience

David Entwistle is leading the cutting-edge upgrade to Stanford Health Care’s campus, revolutionizing patient care in the process

By Charlene Oldham | Portrait by Cass Davis

David Entwistle President & CEO

Advanced technological features are so deeply embedded within Stanford Health Care’s new hospital that they start at a subterranean level. To meet California’s new seismic standards, architects built the facility on 208 base isolators that will allow it to shift up to three feet in any direction during an earthquake, says David Entwistle, Stanford Health Care’s president and CEO.

“The building stays intact and is basically rotating on its base to prevent damage in the event of an earthquake,” says Entwistle, who explains that the hospital was designed to withstand an 8.0 magnitude quake. “I hope we never have to, but it would be quite amazing to see that.”

The facility’s focus on architecture also extends skyward in the form of a threestory atrium crowned by a glass dome that’s 120 feet in diameter. Within the hospital’s walls, patients and their families will also find 368 all-private rooms equipped with tablet computers and TVs meant for more than entertainment. Patients can use their tablets to order food, cue up educational material about their medical condition, and stream content to the 55-inch televisions in their rooms, all of which have sleeping sofas to accommodate overnight guests. They can also video conference with their healthcare providers directly from bed using the in-room tech tools. The building’s grounds also feature more than four acres of gardens designed to create a unique healing environment both inside and out at the 824,000 square-foot hospital.

“Whether you’re talking about the larger private rooms and the amenities there, or the aesthetically pleasing way that we have used art, or even the architecture of the building, it’s an amazing facility,” Entwistle says. “What we have tried to achieve in the hospital we built is to create the care environment that will help healing.”

The new facility also has some sleek features that would be at home in an Apple store; no coincidence given the current Apple store concept was designed by Ron Johnson, a Stanford Health Care board member. Stanford also has partnerships with Silicon Valley companies including Cisco, Intel, and VMware.

“As we worked with Rafael Viñoly Architects, we wanted to make sure we had a look and feel to the space that, in essence, would expose the technology and sophistication that we have here at Stanford,” Entwistle says.

At the same time, some of the building’s innovations are decidedly low-tech. The hospital’s operating rooms also include windows, which haven’t been a standard feature in the past. The facility’s waiting rooms are also larger than those in the original hospital, which was constructed in 1959, and patient rooms all include oversized glass that allows occupants to enjoy natural light or easily darken the room for daytime naps. These are seemingly small changes that can have

a significant impact on patient and staff satisfaction, according to Entwistle. He says input from the hospital’s staff and its patient and family partner program participants helped project planners tailor technology and other building perks with patients and providers in mind.

“We feel the experience the patient has when they come in has a lot to do with what their health outcome is,” he says.

“Using our caregivers, using our staff, and truly using our patient and family partnership program allows us to evaluate these things and look at what would be the most meaningful for our patients.”

Prioritizing the patient experience has become increasingly important for hospitals now that more people are approaching healthcare from a critical consumer perspective. Entwistle says his previous organization, University of Utah Hospitals and Clinics, was the first in the country to put patients’ physician satisfaction scores online. Today, that transparency is becoming the norm across the industry.

Stanford Health Care’s sleek new hospital design improves patient safety while making them feel at home.

“I think that data—whether you are looking at quality data, cost data, experience data—is becoming much more visible to patients now than it was before, which allows them to make better educated decisions about where they want to go for healthcare.”

State-of-the-art imaging equipment, expanded laboratory space, and other upgrades in the new hospital will be less visible to patients, but contribute to care for years to come, Entwistle says.

To offer a few practical examples, he explained that doctors can now use sophisticated iMRI equipment in operating rooms to search for signs they have completely removed a tumor while a patient is still undergoing a procedure. This often eliminates the need for a second surgery. Stanford Health Care clinicians can also tap genetic data to develop targeted care plans for cancer patients based on what their

bodies will respond to best. And the academic medical center’s deep data sets and cutting-edge technology have helped healthcare providers solve some medical cold cases that have stumped other doctors.

“Because of that genetic data and some of the other things we have been able to put together in large data sets, we can now diagnose up to 25 percent of patients coming in here who were previously undiagnosed,” he says.

Entwistle believes academic medical centers, where he’s spent the majority of his more than twenty-year career, set standards for the healthcare industry in more ways than one. Academic hospitals teach and train the physicians of the future, and their labs provide the petri dish for much of the medical research happening today. Finally, academic hospitals allow providers to put ideas into practice.

Features such as large windows and overnight sofas are staples of Stanford Health Care’s new patient rooms.

“So that education, teaching research and the application of that in our clinical care environment really allows us to be innovative and also to bring forward the latest in treatments and technologies— setting the bar for the field,” he says. “I really feel like we are developing the next generation of medicines and also the caregivers who will provide them.”

But, once caregivers have been trained and those new medicines tested, they should be doing more of their work outside the hospital setting, Entwistle says. Like many healthcare companies, Stanford Health Care operates an expansive network of specialized outpatient clinics and medical centers where patients can reap the benefits of the research and innovations of the flagship academic hospital from the comfort of their own beds by the end of the day.

“Hopefully, over time, there will be less and less of a reliance on the hospital for a lot of the things that you can do on an outpatient basis, which makes it better for the patient, even though we have created a great environment.” AHL

“We feel the experience the patient has when they come in has a lot to do with what their health outcome is.”

New iMRI technology is improving operating room procedures and bolstering health outcomes at Stanford Health Care.

By Kathryn Kruse

Data, Analytics, and Healthcare’s Promising Future

Eli Lilly and Company’s Vipin Gopal on why he believes data and analytics can create better outcomes in healthcare

In March of 2018, Vipin Gopal, PhD., MBA came to Eli Lilly and Company to take on the role of chief data and analytics officer. No small task, he is responsible for the multinational company’s enterprise-wide data and analytics strategies and execution. “I am excited about the impact and possibilities of data and analytics in healthcare,” he says. Gopal believes that they can transform healthcare for the better.

Gopal developed his passion for data and analytics early. A math protégé, he attended the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, and then moved to Carnegie Mellon University for his doctoral education. This experience stoked his passion for applied mathematics, a field he has been in for more than twenty years.

Gopal cut his data analytics teeth doing, quite literally, rocket science. “Healthcare is a different kind of rocket science,” he says. In the world of rockets and the like, you can model the underlying

Vipin Gopal Chief Data and Analytics Officer

Eli Lilly and Company

The Data of Inclusion

Vipin Gopal has always had a passion for promoting diversity and inclusion, specifically in the technology industry. At his previous position as the senior vice president of analytics at Humana, he served on the company’s Inclusion and Diversity Council and was an executive cosponsor of an employee resource group. He specifically challenged the low rates of women in the field by leading a majority-female team.

“I was fortunate to build a leadership team with lots of women on it. This attracts other women because the organization is reflective of who they are,” he says, sharing credit for the achievement with his team. Ever the data analyst, he points out that the team’s high performance demonstrates the feasibility of female success in tech.

At Lilly, Gopal is continuing his commitment to build diverse teams. This includes multidisciplinary teams with individuals from different backgrounds, academic and otherwise. “Solutions to big, complex problems must come from many disciplines, from diversity,” he says.

physics to a high level of precision, he explains. However, healthcare involves many variables, including human physiology and behavior, which are not well understood. These nuances create interesting challenges. “We break down complexities in manageable ways to answer questions,” he says. Gopal’s team is bringing advanced capabilities such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and predictive analytics to address pertinent business questions in various functions at Lilly.

His interest in healthcare came from an unexpected source: a desire to honor his father, a man who spent his career in the insurance industry in India. After his father’s death in 2006, Gopal decided to honor his legacy and shift into the insurance space, serving in leadership positions at health insurers Cigna and Humana.

In Gopal’s current role, his goal is to help efficiently develop new and better medicines and solutions for patients, using insights generated from high-quality data. To achieve this, he is continuously identifying and building capabilities in strategic advanced analytics and data science disciplines. As an example, he points to the development of natural-language processing technologies, explaining that rapidly mining huge amounts of text can improve research methods.

However, larger, better data sets and analytic solutions are not sufficient by themselves. To make an impact, it is critical to ensure data analytics solutions are enabling significantly improved business results, not just sitting on the shelf. Toward this end, Gopal’s team partners with other departments to identify and solve key business questions. “The biggest success factor for analytics functions is creating value by addressing business priorities,” he says.

“The biggest success factor for analytics functions is creating value by addressing business priorities.”

Of high interest to Gopal is making an impact across the pharmaceutical value chain. The industry average, he says, is at least ten years for a new medicine to go from initial discovery to regulatory approval, and then onto the patients who are waiting. Much of this time is dedicated to clinical trial studies. To reduce this wait period, Lilly is leveraging data and analytics, along with other efforts, to significantly improve the speed of its development activities. It has reduced the average time from first human dose of a potential new medicine to commercial launch by more than two years

“My team is working to improve data and analytics competency across the corporation,” he says. These functions, traditionally, have existed in various departments across the company. Gopal envisions a balanced, federated data and analytics structure with a centralized core, allowing him and his team to form partnerships to solve key business problems and develop next-generation strategies for data management and analytics. This will also create opportunities to share knowledge and ideas, he says. Gopal finds pride in helping and growing talent to become key contributors and leaders. Starting ahead of the data analytics curve, he is excited that his work that has impacted multiple industries. Although it’s not quite rocket science, Gopal has embraced the complexities of healthcare and the seemingly endless possibilities data and analytics may unlock in its future.

By Clint Worthington

Becoming Best in Class

University of Missouri System’s Tony Hall focuses on consolidating campus-wide spending into a centralized shared service and cultivating diversity and inclusion in the organization’s supplierspending objectives

One of the things that sets University of Missouri Health Care (MU Health Care) in Columbia, Missouri, apart from other academic health systems is its centralized, full-service supply chain. The University of Missouri System (UM System) Supply Chain addresses the needs of MU Health Care as well as academic procurement for all the UM System, which includes four university campuses located throughout the state. It’s an ambitious program, one that employs a variety of programs to drive cost savings by eliminating redundant operational support activities and cutting down overhead, while assuring patient care is never negatively impacted.

For assistant vice president and chief procurement officer Tony Hall, who came to the UM System in 2009, the

work represents an aspiration for UM’s supply chain to be best in class. Whether demonstrating to other academic healthcare organizations that shared supply chains are cost-effective or spearheading initiatives to improve diversity in vendor selection industry-wide, Hall’s work, along with some valued business partners, carries significant value in the realm of supply-chain management.

“Our mission is to enable leading healthcare providers, such as the University of Missouri, to become best in class while simultaneously attaining their cost-savings goals,” says Marc Schessel, SCWorx founder and CEO.

The key to UM System’s success, Hall says, is its adherence to a fundamental theory behind shared services in the procurement world. “It’s all about economy

Assistant VP & Chief Procurement Officer

of scale and collaboration,” he says. Prior to the shared system, UM had independent purchasing units for each of its four campuses and its academic health system, which created redundancy in procurement. “Instead of $600 million–$700 million to manage centrally, you have $100 million here, $100 million there,” Hall remarks. With the centralized UM System Supply Chain model, the system can better reduce expenses, share competitive bidding events, handle contracts, and more—all with fewer people. UM System allowed Hall to consolidate management roles from one director per campus to one director of the entire system, as well as to reduce the size of operational support. Now, there’s a financial call center that centralizes and handles all calls for procurement and financial operations, maintaining the same level of scale with 35 percent less procurement staffing and far less redundancy than in the previous decade.

Although MU Health Care leverages its nearly $200 million supply budget to take advantage of any collaboration efforts with the university, it also has very specific initiatives and programs it depends on to reduce expenses annually. In addition to its physician-centric Value Analysis program, MU Health Care recently entered into a seven-year agreement with a vertically integrated business partner that is projected to produce $14.7 million in savings through reduced costs of distribution, commodity management, and a push to exponentially grow its commitment to private-label manufactured items. UM System also integrated this partner’s catalog contract module into the “Show-Me Shop” program. This will result in further opportunities to build on standardization and contract spend by allowing all

Tony Hall

University of Missouri System

Courtesy of University of Missouri Health Care

“We need to exponentially grow our ability to reduce expenses for our health system and campuses. The pressure to do that is not coming—it’s here.”

of the campuses to purchase items under contract that were once exclusive to the healthcare system.

Hall credits advances in communication and supply chain technology with the ability to create a shared system like UM’s, which results in expense reductions and revenue enhancements that approach $20–$25 million annually between MU Health Care and UM’s campuses. The vertically integrated distributor model is anticipated to significantly impact expense management programs for MU Health Care in the coming years.

UM System’s success has already attracted other institutions to the idea of creating shared supply chains—for which the organization has provided feedback on lessons learned so far. However, Hall is quick to mention that UM’s unique integration between its academic medical center and the university campuses

has proven successful in areas such as its medical school, further proving the shared service concept is bearing fruit. “We don’t draw the line for procurement activities between departments or divisions anymore,” says Hall. “Our team provides a comprehensive and complete service line in this centralized model.”

In addition to consolidating the campus into a unified supply chain system, Hall’s team is also working diligently to integrate successful diversity and inclusion initiatives into UM System’s supply chain operations. These efforts are modeled in support of UM’s model of Inclusive Excellence, which emphasizes expanding diversity in faculty and staff, as well as expanding recruitment efforts for diverse applicants.

For MU Health Care, these inclusion initiatives extend to suppliers as well. Prime suppliers are encouraged to seek

out and utilize second-tier vendors who fit their diversity requirements, but who are not certified first-tier suppliers.

Hall believes these initiatives can have a larger effect on the way suppliers think about their own diversity spend, exposing them to diverse vendor relationships they may otherwise overlook. “We can help others identify where they’re doing business and make diversity a priority for them too,” he says.

While the shared supply chain system and its resulting inclusion initiatives are making a positive impact at UM, Hall plans to do more in the future to improve UM System’s effectiveness. “We need to exponentially grow our ability to reduce expenses for our health system and campuses,” he says. “The pressure to do that is not coming—it’s here. We know there’s always opportunity to be better, but best in class is what we aspire to.” AHL

By KC Esper

As a woman adept at taking life’s reins into her own hands, Ashley Ridgeway-Washington has found that a career should elevate employees to their full potential, not just make them feel like their job is a stepping stone to something new. After exploring jobs in agribusiness, law, and human resource management, Ridgeway-Washington accrued universal strategies in successful communication and strategic employee placement.

In her current position as system director of human resources at CHRISTUS Health, she emboldens her employees to venture on a similar journey as her own, finding a position that fits their personality, then continuously learning and growing once that spot is found.

“The team at Willis Towers Watson is proud to partner with Ashley as she develops the inclusive culture and community at CHRISTUS Health,” says Andy Rader, senior director at Willis Towers Watson.

As a whole, Ridgeway-Washington’s theories on human resource solutions easily translate into all positions as they provide intuitive insight on how to run a department at its optimal capacity.

Ridgeway-Washington spoke to American Healthcare Leader about her HR philosophy at CHRISTUS and the importance of company culture.

Ashley Ridgeway-Washington System Director of Human Resources CHRISTUS Health

How have your past experiences in law lent themselves to your current HR strategy?

I think every experience that you have, whether it be professional or personal, helps to build and develop your career. I’m an advocate for bringing your whole self to work and being your best self at work. That demands authenticity and excellence. It means that you bring all of your personal and professional experiences into the office, and you leverage the wisdom gleaned from that journey to add value to your organization.

One of my core responsibilities is to ensure that employees are treated with dignity and integrity. My legal training helps me analyze complex employee issues, work through employee-relations concerns, guide leaders on sensitive matters, and it reinforces my credibility as I coach leaders to find best practice solutions to the human capital challenges they face.

How does your work bolster the culture of CHRISTUS?

Leaders can either build up cultures or denigrate them. Part of the reason why I came to CHRISTUS Health is because it already had a phenomenal culture that I wanted to promote and build upon. In my role, I’m a culture champion. I am mindful that my actions leave a wake that either promotes our culture or calls it into question.

I promote our core values of dignity, integrity, compassion, excellence, and stewardship. As I coach leaders and guide employees, I encourage them to be savvy in championing and navigating the culture, which includes building organic relationships, executing with excellence, and engaging in partnership at work. Most importantly, I try to model my behavior by embodying servant leadership in my own employment journey because it encourages others to adopt the same mentality.

How do you promote growth and empower employees as they settle into positions?

I promote growth and development within my span of control. I consider strategic development to be a business imperative. My expectation is that as a team, we will not go into the next year knowing the exact same thing we knew last year, so I invest in professional conferences and development opportunities. Together, we create space to learn, challenge each other, and think as a group. We invite diversity of thought into our conversations and encourage the consideration of new perspectives. I prioritize my team’s growth, consider their ideas, and empower them to have a sense of ownership in the work they do.

I coach leaders in alignment with my team model. I believe that if we are leading employees, or truly calling ourselves visionary leaders, the employees reporting to us should be flourishing. They should be growing. How can we do that if we are not leveraging opportunities for development, disruption, and design thinking? As leaders, our greatest charge is growing and developing our teams professionally and personally throughout their employee life cycle.

How do you ensure employees continue to thrive throughout their tenure with the company?

At CHRISTUS, we want employees to feel a sense of inclusion, engagement, and ownership throughout their tenure with us. We recognize that the employee journey has seasons, so we want to ensure that employees have a consistent engagement experience when they enter our organization, during their tenure, and even as they depart.

We try to meet employees where they are. If someone isn’t aligning with our expectations, we provide support and resources to empower them to be successful. We also promote innovative talent solutions through development opportunities, cross-training, and stretch projects to determine whether an employee could be more successful in another role. We’ve found that engagement and retention have increased because employees feel empowered in their own their career and invest in their future.

“I’m an advocate for bringing your whole self to work and being your best self at work. That demands authenticity and excellence.”

We have reduced turnover by more than 30 percent and have dramatically improved employee engagement over a three-year span. These numbers say that we are getting it right every day, and it translates into happy, engaged, and productive employees that promote the CHRISTUS culture.

As a nonprofit, how does CHRISTUS compete to attract top talent?

CHRISTUS’ mission is to extend the healing ministry of Jesus Christ. We are a health system committed to care for the poor and to invest in the communities we serve. Our culture promotes meaningful work that people want to be part of. Our corporate headquarters sits in one of the largest, most competitive employment markets in the country, yet we consistently attract top quality talent. Why? Because we take care of the whole employee by offering competitive wages, phenomenal workplace culture, and limitless learning and development opportunities. The work we do resonates with professionals seeking more than a paycheck and is particularly attractive to millennial professionals. Ultimately, we know that living your passion is a place of fulfillment and when you’re practicing your passion, it doesn’t feel like work. AHL

Willis Towers Watson congratulates Ashley Ridgeway-Washington

System

Director, Human Resources, Christus

We applaud Ashley Ridgeway-Washington for her leadership and dedication.

Together, we unlock value and see potential from every angle.

By Billy Yost

No Playbook for Litigation

AstraZeneca’s senior litigation counsel Eric Santoro on minimizing litigation risk and making the hard decisions

Eric Santoro’s early years in law showed him that any strategy based on a predictable playbook is most assuredly a losing one. It’s a lesson the senior litigation counsel at AstraZeneca and 2016 American Conference Institute’s “Champions of the Products Liability Defense Bar Award” winner gleaned from some of Philadelphia’s most well-known litigators at the firm Ballard Spahr. “Successful litigators need to work hard and be strategic, creative, and even a little audacious,” Santoro says. “Those are lessons I brought with me when I went in-house and try to instill in all the litigation teams that I manage.”

While there may be no playbook, Santoro’s accomplishments on behalf of AstraZeneca warrant a deeper look into the his approach on working to minimizing litigation expenses. “Minimizing litigation can have multiple meanings: minimizing ultimate exposure, reducing litigation costs and expenses, or doing a better job of avoiding litigation altogether,” Santoro says. “All of these are important because litigation can be costly, even when you are successful, and money spent on litigation is money that the company doesn’t have for its core business activities.”

Here, Santoro offers five pieces of advice on how to minimize litigation costs, learned from his twenty years of extensive litigation experience.

Hire the Best Team

“One of the most important parts of my job is hiring the right people when a matter starts,” Santoro says. “As the team leader, I work to build chemistry and provide leadership to make sure the team works well together.”

Santoro says that these teams often have to work long and grueling hours together, so promoting a positive team culture is imperative. “A team that doesn’t like each other and doesn’t have fun together is less likely to be successful.”

As a leader, Santoro believes the most valuable quality he can offer is his willingness to listen. “When teams assemble for material litigation, you’re hiring people you think are good at their jobs and are people you trust,” Santoro says. “It’s important to give them the opportunity to speak and to listen to their advice.”

Eric Santoro Senior Litigation Counsel AstraZeneca

“It’s my job to listen, but that doesn’t necessarily mean being deferential. The teams I manage benefit from me challenging their advice and assumptions, and I benefit from the iterative decision-making process that follows.”

That willingness to listen comes with a caveat: “It’s my job to listen, but that doesn’t necessarily mean being deferential,” Santoro says. “The teams I manage benefit from me challenging their advice and assumptions, and I benefit from the iterative decision-making process that follows.”

Evaluate Litigation Risks Correctly

Another element to successful litigation, Santoro says, is properly evaluating risk. This allows a legal team to proactively build a strategy around that risk. And while situations change and adjustments have to be made, an evaluation provides a framework in which everyone can move ahead confidently. That confidence, Santoro admits, can begin to waver on some stakeholders’ parts if litigation seems to be dragging out, even though nothing has really changed in regard to the initial evaluation. “I view it as my job to keep everyone

grounded and confident and not to let nerves, anxiety, or a potentially high-damages award undermine a winning strategy,” Santoro says.

Communicate With All Major Stakeholders

“It’s important to understand where litigation fits in to the overall business and to not let litigation goals supersede overarching business priorities,” Santoro says. This is especially important at a research-based biopharmaceutical company like AstraZeneca. “It’s incumbent on the in-house lawyer to devise a strategy consistent with business priorities and lead the overall team to effectuate that strategy.”

Be Creative

Santoro says that to be successful, creativity is key, but that doesn’t mean taking unreasonable or irrational risks. “It does mean you have to take on some

risk and be willing to out-think and outmaneuver your adversary,” he says.

“Treat each case as a new challenge that requires a unique solution.”

Being creative also means a willingness to be flexible when things aren’t playing out as expected or as hoped. “Sometimes the case strategy doesn’t play out as you initially envisioned it,” Santoro says.

“It’s important to be humble enough to recognize when you made a strategic misjudgment and then be savvy enough to reevaluate and make adjustments before it is too late to do so.”

Control the Costs

Santoro’s last tip for minimizing litigation is controlling costs. Part of this process can be linked to spending appropriate amounts of time on risk evaluation.

“You can’t allow your team to get into the habit of trying to mitigate every potential litigation risk regardless of how remote the possible outcome is,” Santoro says.

“The best litigators are able to evaluate a case quickly, distill what matters, and allocate resources accordingly.”

Santoro says working to minimize litigation expenses is a part of his in-house role he handles with extra care because of where that money could be spent. “Every dollar you spend on litigation is money the company does not have to spend on research and development for new and potentially life-saving products,” Santoro says. “This is a responsibility I take very seriously.” AHL

Santoro

By Rebecca Roberts

A Master Plan to Improve Patient Care

After Montefiore Medicine Academic Health System’s decade of unprecedented expansion, Edward Pfleging uses master planning to bring the organization’s many facilities into a strong network of patient resources

Pfleging SVP, Facilities and Real Estate

Medicine

Edward

Montefiore

Montefiore Medicine Academic Health System has expanded exponentially over the past decade, acquiring eight hospitals and assuming operational responsibility for the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. It now has campuses in Rockland, Westchester, and Orange Counties in New York, as well as its original headquarters in the Bronx, and it has increased its footprint by 10 million square feet to a total of 12.5 million.

With the onset of this expansion came questions about how to consistently provide the best patient care across the entire Montefiore system. To answer these questions, Montefiore embarked on a year-long process to develop a master strategic plan that prioritizes comfort and ease of access for patients and clinicians, as well as how to maximize research and education synergies with Einstein.

The executive at the helm of this master plan is Edward Pfleging, senior vice president of facilities and real estate. He joined Montefiore more than thirty years ago in an entry-level engineering position, and has been with Montefiore his entire career. Over the course of Pfleging’s tenure, he has been exposed to all aspects of the hospital system’s operations, putting him in a prime position to harness the master plan’s potential as a vehicle for exceptional patient care.

Pfleging’s team has retained Perkins Eastman, a design firm specializing in healthcare, as the master planner. Stantec, a community-centric design firm, is providing project management services. Involving internal stakeholders in the master plan is critical for an organization as expansive as Montefiore. Pfleging describes several levels of leadership in this process, including a committee that comprises members of Montefiore’s board of trustees who have real estate experience and a steering committee that includes executives from across the entire hospital system who meet once a month.

At these steering committee meetings, Pfleging’s team presents data collected by Perkins Eastman and actively solicits members’ opinions on potential masterplanning scenarios. “It’s important that any scenarios and big ideas align with our ability to actually implement them. We’ll go to the steering committee and build a consensus around potential scenarios, then bring them to our real estate planning and development committee on the board of trustees,” Pfleging explains.

“It’s important that any scenarios and big ideas align with our ability to actually implement them.”

The goal during the first year of the master-planning process is to create a road map that integrates all of Montefiore’s campuses into a unified health system.

“In a big way, it’s mostly how we can achieve the best use at each of our facilities,” Pfleging says. By the end of the first year, Pfleging wants a plan in place for each campus, including where any new structures will be built, which buildings will be rehabbed or expanded, and what the development of the surrounding area will look like.

Pfleging’s team is also evaluating Montefiore’s real estate holdings from a financial perspective, identifying underutilized assets that could generate capital.

“Many healthcare systems sit on a tremendous amount of owned properties that have a lot of value, and part of this valuation is to see if we can monetize any of those assets and build funds to further our mission,” says Pfleging.

“Ed Pfleging is a true professional who understands the big picture and appreciates small details,” said Joe Simone and Guy Leibler, owner and president of Simone Development, respectively, in a joint statement.

“He knows healthcare design and facilities management are key to the industry to deliver a comfortable and confident environment.”

“In a big way, it’s mostly how we can achieve the best use at each of our facilities.”

Generating the master plan road map is broken into three phases. The first, which was completed in January 2019, was focused on gathering information. Pfleging’s team had extensive conversations within Montefiore to determine the specific needs of each site and to create a collective vision. They also examined the zoning around each of Montefiore’s campuses and the real estate valuation of Montefiore’s properties.

In the second phase, the information discovered in phase one is being used to create scenarios for each of Montefiore’s sites and to establish a set of common principles. At the core of these principles is the end goal of elevating the experience of patients, students, faculty, and clinicians; integrating all of Montefiore’s sites and resources into a cohesive, interconnected system; and strengthening Montefiore’s financial standing. The third phase involves building on the scenarios created in phase two and sharing the details of the master plan with the Montefiore community at large.

“Ed and his team have adopted a system-wide, high-reliability approach to support their environmental health and safety efforts that has resulted in significant quality improvements, cost containment, and is well received by regulators,” says Don Death, founder and CEO of Readiness Rounds.

To further integrate Montefiore’s many campuses and build a network of care for patients, Montefiore is looking to create two main hubs, one in the Bronx and one in Westchester County. Each of these hubs provide complex patient services such as transplants, heart surgery, and other higher-level care.

• Mechanical Engineering

• Plumbing Engineering

• Electrical Engineering

• Fire Protection Engineering

• Mission Critical Design

• Sustainable Design

• Feasibility Studies

• Condition Assessments

“The master plan also includes updates to many of Montefiore’s buildings . . . Amenities such as more dining options, better furnishings, and family visiting spaces will be added.”

The master plan also includes updates to many of Montefiore’s buildings. “Our facilities provide safe and compliant care, but they’re old, and the healthcare delivery system has changed dramatically,” Pfleging says. “Customer service is a big piece of this, not just in terms of access and care, but having hotel services and amenities and the aesthetics that a patient deserves.” Semiprivate rooms will be converted to singles. Amenities such as more dining options, better furnishings, and family visiting spaces will be added. Wayfinding and parking will be improved to better accommodate patient access in many of Montefiore’s campuses that have grown organically over the years. Green spaces will be added as a respite for visiting families, clinicians, staff, and faculty.

Although much of the master plan is internally focused, Pfleging’s team remains cognizant of changes happening in the areas surrounding Montefiore’s campuses. As such, the organization has participated in public transportation work groups. Many transit options are being added to the Bronx, including bus lines and three train stations, all of which will increase access to Montefiore’s sites.

Pfleging says that a master plan is long overdue, but he’s glad that it’s happening at the tail end of Montefiore’s unprecedented expansion rather than several years prior. This way, his team can take all of Montefiore’s sites and resources into account to create a fully integrated regional academic health system. AHL

Zetlin & De Chiara LLP congratulates Ed Pfleging and Montefiore Health Systems on this richly deserved recognition. We admire your continued dedication to excellence and innovation in healthcare, as exemplified by the Montefiore New Rochelle Hospital project. As your construction counsel, we share your excitement in building a healthier world.

Johnson Controls, Inc. recognizes and salutes the leadership of

Edward Pfleging, PE Senior Vice President Facilities and Real Estate

Johnson Controls, Inc. has partnered with Montefiore Medical Center across all campuses to help provide efficient, sustainable, and intelligent solutions to help introduce savings through many projects. The relationships built between Montefiore leadership and staff have broaden the needs and expectations to provide a safe and efficient hospital experience.

Johnson Controls is a global diversified technology and multi industrial leader serving a wide range of customers in more than 150 countries. Our 117,000 employees create intelligent buildings, efficient energy solutions, integrated infrastructure and next generation transportation systems that work seamlessly together to deliver on the promise of smart cities and communities. Our commitment to sustainability dates back to our roots in 1885, with the invention of the first electric room thermostat. We are committed to helping our customers win and creating greater value for all of our stakeholders through strategic focus on our buildings and energy growth platforms. For additional information, please visit www.johnsoncontrols.com or follow us @johnsoncontrols on Twitter.

not

Johnson Controls, Inc.

8 Skyline Drive, 1st floor Hawthorne, NY 10532

866-854-4572 www.johnsoncontrols.com

A Platform to Combat Complexity

Readiness Rounds has tasked itself with creating higher reliability in healthcare

By Billy Yost | Portraits by Gillian Fry

Donald Death Founder & CEO

Readiness Rounds

Founded in 2008, Readiness Rounds’ goal of making hospitals better equipped to handle the constant flow of critical information to care for patients is now more than a decade in. The company’s founder and CEO, Donald Death, has watched his creation evolve to meet new and ever-changing challenges in the healthcare industry of the twenty-first century. “I don’t think there’s another industry that matches the complexity of healthcare,” Death says. “I describe it as 1,000 miles wide and 10,000 miles deep.” The company’s flagship platform aims to reduce labor for those who are most overworked in the healthcare industry, particularly frontline managers, by narrowing down what can often be dozens of disparate data-storage platforms and Excel spreadsheets into a single location. After integration, the platform also identifies performanceimprovement priorities and comprehensive reporting to support regulatory surveys.

By Death’s calculations, a typical nurse frontline manager interfaces with somewhere between 20–30 independent systems that they are expected to not only navigate, but respond to, manage, and report out, while continuously meeting all requirements of safe patient care. “To describe this as impossible is just being kind,” Death says. “Most of us can deal with one, two, three, maybe four systems; beyond that you’re just going to give up. It’s too much.”

Readiness Rounds’ own evolution is a result of its founder’s belief that the software-as-a-service model wasn’t doing enough to address real and reversible problems in healthcare. “Simply saying, ‘Here’s the platform, here’s the process, go use it well and things will get better’ is kind of the conventional model,

and, to be blunt, it’s where we started,” Death says. “But as we got into it, we knew we could go further.”

Working with hospitals to implement the platform has allowed Readiness Rounds to make sure healthcare organizations are utilizing the service to its fullest potential. Expecting already overworked staff to learn another new piece of software on their own is often a battle lost from the get-go, Death says.

Moving into the hospitals has made it easier for Readiness Rounds to ensure its product is delivering where it counts. “We agree on improvement outcomes with the hospitals,” Death says. “And we put ourselves financially at risk until we achieve those outcomes.”

Death says the second and more fundamental piece of being more than a

“High reliability is something that is not present in healthcare, nor is it very well understood in the industry. I don’t care whether it’s me or someone else, but it’s vital to get that message into healthcare that there are huge improvements to be made.”

software-as-service company comes down to safety. “We want to apply a higher reliability model toward improving hospital safety and improving the quality of the outcomes,” Death says. “Simplifying the manager's workload is a huge win, but the real success is when it’s used to drive improvement, because it's performance improvement that improves the safety of the processes.”

The fundamental issue, Death believes, is raising the standard of acceptable outcomes in healthcare overall. “High reliability is something that is not present in healthcare, nor is it very well understood in the industry,” Death says. “I don't care whether it's me or someone else, but it's vital to get that message into healthcare that there are huge improvements to be made.”

A recent Johns Hopkins study reports that more than 250,000 people die every year from medical error. It’s the third-leading cause of death after cancer and heart disease, and Death sees radical change needed to address what amounts to an epidemic.

Readiness Rounds has already forged collaborative partnerships with healthcare organizations across the country, including successful implementations at White Plains Hospital, Ellis Medicine, and Montefiore Health Systems. Death says demonstrating measurable improvements has been the most surefire method of continuing collaboration, and by using Readiness Rounds’ platform to drive improvement, those collaborations are a win-win for both organizations.

While Death says the ever-rising costs of healthcare always play a factor in organizational investments, in the case of the Readiness Rounds platform, he believes there’s a much wider perspective necessary. “Far-less complicated industries have proven it; if we can make quantum leaps in terms of healthcare safety, it will, in turn, lower its cost.”

Death says that improving health outcomes too often isn’t the desired end of health processes. “It’s the same old model: when quality improves, costs actually decrease,” Death says. “For a lot of people in healthcare, decreased costs are counterintuitive to their business.” And while it remains a complex, high-profile, and highly regulated industry, Readiness Rounds believes it can help remove “complex” from the equation. AHL

By KC Esper

Bringing New Perspectives to Deep-Rooted Values

As general counsel, Anthony LaPlaca blends modern viewpoints with Invacare’s well-established core values to support the company’s longevity and inspire change

When Anthony LaPlaca moved from the automotive industry into healthcare as senior vice president, general counsel, and secretary for Invacare, he immediately immersed himself into the new, dynamic market. As medtech companies introduce leading-edge medicines and treatment methods, companies like Invacare are matching the pace of these innovations through technology that supports patients by providing essential solutions for a broad range of clinical conditions. From therapeutic support surfaces to customized mobility devices and personal care products, Invacare helps patients and their caregivers navigate their worlds more easily and naturally.

As general counsel, LaPlaca oversees global legal affairs, compliance, and corporate governance, which support Invacare’s goal of designing, manufacturing, and distributing durable, clinically complex medical equipment for its customers. Although his job lies within a legal framework, LaPlaca extends his efforts beyond his department to create a community-oriented culture that infuses the legal department’s voice into the operational development of the company’s business strategy. Throughout his tenure at Invacare, he has succeeded in ensuring his team has a seamless partnership with operations, strengthening the company’s mission as it pushes toward the future.

Anthony LaPlaca SVP, General Counsel & Secretary Invacare

Since joining Invacare’s team in 2008, LaPlaca has worked alongside several CEOs to both advance the company’s mission and modernize it.

“I was hired by the founder of the company who built it into an industry leader, but who has since retired,” LaPlaca says. “It has been exciting to welcome our new CEO, Matt Monaghan, who brings in fresh ideas and a bold vision to transform our business and drive the innovation of clinically complex solutions for the patients we serve. We’ve developed a strong symbiotic relationship.”

Invacare primarily serves the postacute care and home-care markets as it develops products for people with congenital, acquired, or degenerative diseases. As the population ages and baby boomers reach retirement, demand for Invacare’s products increases. From a business perspective, this demand foreshadows profitability. From a humanitarian perspective, the efficacy and utility of Invacare’s products has demonstrated how the company positively impacts the lives of its customers.

“We produce mobility devices for people who have some form of paralysis, whether it’s from a spinal cord injury or from a progressively degenerative disease,” he says. “Our products give customers the ability to get involved in the community, go to work, and participate in the activities of daily living.”

Invacare also manufactures products that support the recreational interests of those living with limited mobility. For instance, the company has developed power add-ons for manual wheelchairs, which enable users to engage in activities that otherwise would be difficult or impossible, such as going for hikes with their family.

“Seeing the benefits these solutions provide to our customers is both gratifying and inspiring,” LaPlaca says.

“Our products give customers the ability to get involved in the community, go to work, and participate in the activities of daily living.”

While Invacare helps patients with their daily living needs, LaPlaca attests that these successes “all ride on the quality and dedication of Invacare’s people.” During his tenure, he has advocated for the empowerment and inclusion of his legal team members into many aspects of the business—both inside and outside of the legal department—to help carry the company’s positive results to fruition.

LaPlaca earned his team a seat at the table with both senior management and the board of directors, which “ensures Invacare has the right governance and compliance structures in place to support the business mission,” he says. In other words, his team is an invaluable resource that allows the company to remain on top of its legal and compliance obligations as it drives business strategy forward. LaPlaca, who played a key role in onboarding new directors, is particularly proud of the recently refreshed board’s breadth

of experience and diversity. His team members also interact directly with the board to give important updates, reinforcing their credibility as a strong and effective team.

As the company embraces these practices, LaPlaca has noticed his team flourish in a new light. The team has become a crucial piece in Invacare’s operational puzzle. Not only do members of other departments seek the legal team’s help, but the team has strengthened its initiatives to take on tasks that embolden their analytical strategies.

“I give my team members wings to follow their ambition to have a broad impact on making the business better, even if it’s outside the confines of their job description,” LaPlaca explains. “As we transform, our culture has adopted a ‘can-do’ attitude. A lot of our leaders have come up through the ranks to take on more and more responsibility, and it is amazing the results that people can achieve when you empower them.”

For LaPlaca, constant change is not intimidating—it’s exciting. As he looks toward the future, he notes that Invacare is becoming a “more fast-paced organization that is focused on the efficiency and continuity of our transformative journey, while remaining committed to our customer-centric, innovative culture.” With a highly engaged and recently refreshed board of directors and executive leadership team in place, as well as a focused, dedicated, and proactive legal team to help serve as the backbone of the company, he is confident that Invacare will continue to have a positive impact on its customers’ lives. AHL

Calfee, Halter & Griswold LLP: “Anthony is that wonderful combination of a brilliant legal mind, a practical thinker, and a warm and engaging personality. Year after year, he has done amazing things for Invacare and it has been a pleasure for our Firm to support him in his many endeavors.” - Douglas A. Neary, Chairman.

Calfee recognizes the leadership and accomplishments of Anthony LaPlaca, Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of Invacare Corporation. Congratulations on this well-deserved recognition by American Healthcare Leader.

Calfee has a long history serving clients in the health care industry. Since helping with the original buy-out in 1979 that created Invacare, Calfee has partnered with Invacare every step of the way to help it go public, engage in numerous financings and public offerings, buy and sell dozens of businesses, harvest a robust intellectual property portfolio and overall become a powerful force in the home care and long-term care markets.

Our Health Care group is comprised of experienced health care regulation, mergers and acquisitions, and intellectual property attorneys, as well as a deep bench of attorneys across multiple legal practices, who have deep knowledge of the unique issues related to serving health care industry clients. Calfee represents a variety of health care organizations and providers, as well as medical device, pharmaceutical, health care technology, and wellness companies.

For 116 years, we’ve been helping clients solve their most complex legal challenges and grow their businesses. To learn more contact:

Douglas A. Neary, Chairman dneary@calfee.com 216-622-8285

Thomas M. Welsh, Partner

Michael G. VanBuren, Partner mvanburen@calfee.com

By Rebecca Roberts

Ahmad Sharif describes himself as a physician by training with the passion and experience of a tech expert.

Early in his career, Sharif was approached by an EHR company to review one of its products and was struck by how misaligned the content was with a surgeon’s thought process and workflow. “It didn’t look like anything a surgeon would do. The software designers looked at surgery workbooks and went from there. Documentation was backward, and they had some processes at the bottom that needed to happen at the beginning,” he explains.

The experience brought to light the many gaps between IT and medicine, and the wheels were set in motion for Sharif to dedicate his career to bridging those gaps and improving patient care through thoughtful design, development, deployment, and optimization of IT.

After that experience, Sharif joined an EHR company and consulted with health systems across the globe supporting technology implementations, optimizations, and governance of clinical information systems.

Sharif knew that he had to develop a good understanding of the software development life cycle and how best to communicate with IT teams to help physicians provide the best care, so he taught himself to configure and code clinical applications. He eventually took a position as the chief medical information officer at Resolute Health,

where he created a hyper technology-enabled environment from scratch. Under his leadership, Resolute Health System achieved the landmark HIMSS Analytics Electronic Medical Adoption Model Stage 6.

In 2015, he joined Fresenius Medical Care, a leading global renal products, devices, and services company. Fresenius Medical Care North America operates more than 2,700 dialysis clinics, vascular access centers, and urgent care clinics, among other chronic disease management services. At Fresenius, Sharif is the senior vice president and CMIO, where his focus is on using technology to enable and support clinicians so they can provide the best-quality care. Sharif emphasizes that technology solutions should be user-friendly and centered around a user’s workflow.

Ahmad Sharif, MD MPH SCPM SVP and CMIO

Fresenius Medical Care North America

One of the primary bridges Sharif is building between IT and clinicians is fostering better channels of communication. Sharif wants clinicians to understand the amount of time and resources it takes to design, implement, and deploy IT systems. Conversely, he wants Fresenius’ IT staff to understand the strain and requirements clinicians have on their time, and what barriers slow them down. Without this mutual understanding, frustration can build on both sides. Sharif says that collaboration between clinicians, IT staff, and other supporting roles on the business side of the organization is vital. “I want to create a platform and environment where clinicians, businesses, and IT technicians are collaborating, coordinating, and on the same page about needs, requirements, and opportunities.” He says, “It’s important to remember we are all providing patient care together.”

To facilitate clear communication between IT engineers, clinicians, and business colleagues, Sharif

encourages the IT team to ask probing questions. He stresses the importance of not only listening to what clinicians verbalize, but also observing how they work. IT and informatics staff visit Fresenius’ dialysis clinics and other care venues to observe how the products they create are being put to use and to then understand the vast complexities of care delivery. Through a balance of conversations and active observation, IT staff can ask clinicians questions about what they need and then build appropriate tools to support patient care.

Sharif also strives to create an environment in which the contributions of the IT team are supported and appreciated. He notes that typically IT receives attention and scrutiny when something isn’t working properly. However, Sharif recognizes the team needs to also receive acknowledgment for things that work well. He celebrates National Health IT Week at Fresenius and consistently reminds his IT team that they are an intrinsic part of delivering high-quality patient care.

With constantly evolving IT solutions, Sharif has become adept at change management. “To be a change agent, you need to learn what the environment is like,

Ahmad Sharif strives to open better communication channels between clinicians and IT personnel.

“I want to create a platform and environment where clinicians, business, and IT are collaborating, coordinating, and on the same page about needs, requirements, and opportunities.”

what motivates people, and what their drivers and pain points are,” he explains. “The first step to implementing change is to overcommunicate so that everyone understands the rationale behind the change.” Sharif says that getting buy-in from the right stakeholders within an organization is important, and he cautions against a onesize-fits-all approach. Something that worked previously at a different organization may not work as smoothly in another context.

Currently, Sharif and his team are cultivating products that help patients take control of their care at home. Fresenius’ clinical, business, and IT teams are dedicated to developing solutions that will help patients interact virtually with their providers, and are investing in systems and tools to provide proactive interventions and support programs for patients and providers.

Another priority for Sharif is providing best-in-class solutions for nephrology practices. Acumen Physician Solutions is a Fresenius subsidiary and a leading nephrology practice EHR system. Acumen recently partnered with Epic to power its next generation EHR system called Acumen 2.0. This unprecedented partnership allows nephrology practices to take advantage of Epic’s powerful tools with Acumen-developed, nephrology-specific workflows, content, and services. Acumen has recently added Acumen Revenue Cycle Management Service to support the nephrology practices. Acumen Revenue Cycle Management is the solution for allowing doctors to spend more time with their patients while Acumen’s trusted, experienced team manages the practice’s billing. Bridging the gaps between clinicians and IT is ultimately a means to improve patient care, but it comes with the additional benefit of improving the financial health of the practices. Acumen Revenue Cycle Management helps practices get paid faster, with fewer denials and more efficient claims, ultimately leading to more attention to patients’ care.

Sharif has been utilizing his expertise as a physician and technologist, and relying on his strong business acumen to ensure that providers have the tools necessary and the services available to provide the best patient care. “My highest priority is making sure our staff is happy and we provide the best available tools and services to deliver care to our patients. When our physicians and clinicians are happy and confident in their resources, they provide better care for the most important people: the patients.” AHL

By Rebecca Roberts

Why Partnering with the Business Matters

With a background that spans several countries and professions, Stefan Sulzer takes a multidisciplinary approach to his role as Head of Legal, US & Canada at Alcon

Courtesy of Alcon

Stefan Sulzer Head of Legal, US & Canada Alcon

Stefan Sulzer’s career trajectory has taken him through diverse experiences and across continents. He grew up in Switzerland and began his professional journey working as an investment advisor at a Swiss bank, then attended law school and worked at an international law firm. He credits his Swiss heritage with sparking his interest in international law and instilling in him a global outlook.

“Because of Switzerland’s size and location, it has developed strong business connections with other countries. An international mind-set and open-mindedness is crucial for success,” Sulzer says.

To quench his curiosity about the differences between civil law in continental Europe and common law in the United States, Sulzer extended his education at the University of Michigan Law School, where he received his master’s degree in law and also worked as a research scholar for two years. He joined the global healthcare company Novartis in 2007 as head of corporate finance and legal at the Novartis headquarters in Switzerland. He moved to Fort Worth, Texas, in 2011, shortly after Novartis completed its acquisition of Alcon, assuming responsibility for supporting Alcon’s business development and licensing functions.

Later, he took on the role of head of legal and compliance for the Latin America and the Caribbean region before stepping into his current role as head of legal for the US and Canada region. The combination of his experience in finance and law drives his vision that an in-house attorney should function as an essential partner in business. Now, as Alcon has become an independent, stand-alone company after the spin-off from Novartis, Sulzer looks forward to the increased opportunities for his team to embrace an entrepreneurial spirit and take ownership of the new challenges coming their way.

Sulzer says that he works best in an environment where he’s constantly challenged to step outside of his comfort zone and learn new things. He loves the constant evolution of the legal field, and his multifaceted background has allowed him to fold seemingly divergent responsibilities into his tenure at Alcon. What ties these various elements together is his commitment to serving as an integral part of the business. He compares his role to that of a football player, saying, “I want to be the legal business partner of choice, playing on the field with the team, not just supporting them from the sidelines.” In the same way that football players have to earn their spot to the play the quarterback, Sulzer stresses that an in-house lawyer must earn their seat at the table with the business. He sees three essential elements to becoming a legal business partner of choice: you have to understand the business, you have to be close to the business, and you have to add value to the business. Understanding the business simply comes down to knowing the products and how they are sold, Sulzer explains. For instance, going on field rides with sales representatives provides valuable insights on how the sales force interacts and engages with customers and promotes products. Closeness to the business is based on proactive involvement. Sulzer adds, “You need to become part of the business team. This may start with a simple thing like taking an office close to the business function, rather than sitting with the legal department. Colocation provides an opportunity to easily engage in discussions with the business, allowing you to identify and address legal issues early on.”

To become the legal business partner of choice, you also have to add value to the business. “It’s not just about being a great lawyer; it is something that goes beyond legal knowledge,” Sulzer says. It is about that team on the field—boiling down complex ideas into simple execution, orienting yourself toward the solution, and taking a big-picture view.

An in-house lawyer must be able to explain complex legal issues in a way nonlawyers can understand, Sulzer says. If you have a brilliant legal idea or strategy but you are not able to effectively communicate it, that brilliant idea or strategy may never be executed. As a legal business partner of choice, you work with the business on solutions and keep a well-crafted and researched legal opinion as a backup, he says. Sulzer sees in-house lawyers in a unique position to connect the dots.

“I want to be the legal business partner of choice, playing on the field with the team, not just supporting the team from the sidelines.”

Alcon’s spin-off from Novartis presents great opportunities to dive deeply into the medical device business, and Sulzer is thrilled about the prospects this presents for his team. “It’s important to me to empower team members and see how everyone in the organization makes a positive impact on the success of the organization,” he says. Sulzer continues to build the interdisciplinary nature of his team, going back to his holistic approach of adding value to the business. “We are continuing to further integrate my team as enablers of the organization by developing expertise and providing legal advice in several connected areas, such as commercial, advertising and promotion, and communications, enabling us to tear down silos to become a more nimble organization,” he explains.

Ultimately, Sulzer’s efforts put his entrepreneurial spirit into action to stretch beyond business to the company’s mission of enhancing people’s quality of life. “It’s not just legal work,” he says. “We help people see brilliantly, and that makes our work even more purposeful and rewarding.” AHL

Norton Rose Fulbright is honored to work with Dr. Stefan Sulzer and the talented legal team at Alcon Inc. Our vision is to provide world-class legal support to our clients through our business principles of quality, unity, integrity, and community.  Please visit nortonrosefulbright.com to learn more.

By Billy Yost

Innovations to Smile About

Garrett Whitney on how Delta Dental’s move to downtown Seattle positioned the organization to improve oral health for the patients and communities it serves

For Delta Dental of Washington, driving meaningful change for the organization literally meant navigating to the city center it now calls home. After nearly thirty-five years in the suburbs of Seattle, the dental benefits provider believed it could be more effective if it relocated to the city’s urban core to be surrounded by other innovative organizations striving to meet customer expectations in dynamic, new ways.

Chief information officer Garrett Whitney, a champion of Delta Dental’s technological development, is a sixteen-year veteran of the company. Whitney says that the physical move for the company to downtown Seattle has afforded broader access to tech talent and creative minds. “Building relationships that help us do our best work is vital to success for our employees, consumers, and partners,” says Whitney. “We’ve seen a number of different organizations moving into core hubs where the culture fosters creativity and learning.”

Numbers back up this assertion. Seattle has grown by nearly 19 percent since 2010, which ranks as the

fastest rate of growth among the fifty largest US cities in that timeframe.

Employers have realized that access to more amenities in a concentrated area may be a draw for millennial talent. Companies such as Uber, Groupon, Oracle, and Snapchat have all established a presence in downtown Seattle. “The new office location has inherent energy,” says Whitney. “Amazon is just across the street, and we have more efficient access to our own valued clients and partners. It’s easy to walk a few blocks or hop on a bus if staff want to join a meet-up or collaborate with other professionals.”

According to Whitney, Delta Dental’s focus on their workspace has also played an important role in the recruitment of new talent. “As I interview candidates, one of the consistent comments I hear is that they love the open, bright space in the heart of a dynamic environment,” he says. “At Delta Dental, we know that we must always think about what we do now, and how we can deliver our service in creative new ways. Evolving our business and engaging our people in the process can be easier if your space supports your philosophy.” Whitney says his military background has provided him a good foundation for understanding large, complex

Robert Wade

Garrett Whitney CIO Delta Dental of Washington

“We’ve made bold moves, created an engaging environment, and modernized our infrastructure. Now we look forward with a focus and passion to consistently deliver an outstanding customer experience.”

systems and the ways that they evolve over time. For Delta Dental, the physical move was also paired with a technology shift that included an extensive infrastructure consolidation, including outsourcing data centers with support from West Monroe Partners.

“Garrett is a visionary leader with a keen focus on practical innovation that drives real business value,” Kristin Irving, senior director, healthcare and life sciences at West Monroe Partners, says. “He has a command of both technology and the dental ecosystem, resulting in the unique ability to drive innovation, not only within his organization but the broader industry. His leadership and guidance will enable a successful digital transformation journey at Delta Dental of Washington, while raising the bar for the rest of the industry.”

The focus on technology was no accident. “Technology is a key factor in overcoming the inequities, barriers, and inefficiencies in the system to realize that goal,” he says. The less time Delta Dental’s employer groups, providers, and partners have to worry about how to solve these problems, the more time the company can devote to what problems matter in delivering positive healthcare outcomes, Whitney says.

Whitney says evolution for Delta Dental also means continuing to improve to meet customer expectations for their healthcare experience in ways that put the company on par with responsive tech innovators. “That’s not to say we seek to become Apple or Amazon, but we need to understand what they are doing in the market because

they are setting expectations for interactions with different brands in our lives,” Whitney says.

This means raising the bar for customer experience and delivering smarter connections by taking a thoughtful look at what customers expect. In an age where tasks such as purchasing groceries or getting movie tickets can be achieved with the tap of a button, the health sector needs to realize that it is quickly becoming the norm for customers to expect the same ease when it comes to managing their health, Whitney says.

For the dental carrier, Whitney believes a strong foundation has been set for the organization to continue leading the transformation of the oral health system. “We’ve made bold moves, created an engaging environment, and modernized our infrastructure,” Whitney says. “Now we look forward with a focus and passion to consistently deliver an outstanding customer experience.”

By removing unnecessary barriers and focusing on what matters most, Whitney says, Delta Dental will simplify oral healthcare for all. AHL

West Monroe Partners LLC : Garrett is a visionary leader with a keen focus on practical innovation that drives real business value. He has a command of both technology and the dental ecosystem resulting in the unique ability to drive innovation, not only within his organization but the broader industry. His leadership and guidance will enable a successful digital transformation journey at Delta Dental Washington, while raising the bar for the rest of the industry.

• Business Architecture and Transformation

• Strategy and Insights

• Technology and Digital Transformation

• Operations Optimization

By KC Esper

Preserving Modern Genius

White & Case LLP’s intellectual property partner Chuck Larsen defends and protects the lifeblood of the medical technology industry

A constantly evolving world like ours requires perpetual innovation. Inventors work regularly to produce cutting-edge solutions to problems, test them for effectiveness, and introduce them to the public to create a new normal. In the medical technology field, the best inventions can be valuable, lifesaving resources. But as new technologies flood the market, the possibility of others co-opting the technology and using it as their own becomes an ever-greater possibility. White & Case, LLP’s intellectual property partner, Chuck Larsen, works tirelessly to protect his medtech clients from such theft.

At White & Case, Larsen ensures that groundbreaking medical technologies are protected and allowed to flourish. Each case centers on the design or function of a product with clinical significance, and his aim is to protect each product’s intellectual property to improve its opportunity to benefit patients. Because he is a dual-qualified lawyer, he deals with these types of cases internationally and domestically, representing his clients in the United States and in Europe, tailoring his strategies to achieve global protection for his clients’ technology.

That background is a bit unusual, as IP approaches are traditionally very territorial, with US lawyers focusing on US strategies, and lawyers outside of the US focusing on their respective jurisdictions. But with his transatlantic qualifications and experience, Larsen bridges that gap.

“I approach my work from a global perspective to help technology develop in its early stages,” he says. “When I file a patent application, I first have to consider whether the idea is a subject worth protecting, meaning it has to be a new and innovative solution. Then, I must be mindful about which body of law I am submitting an application to in order to determine if a particular technology is innovative or traditional.”

That approach can be rather complex in a transatlantic medtech strategy because the law and procedure in the US and Europe differ dramatically. Take for example the area of “patentable subject matter,” as it applies to in vitro diagnostics. This legal principle is a threshold question of whether an invention is sufficiently technical to merit even adjudication for patenting—well before assessing whether the invention is new.

In the world of medical diagnostics, the US and Europe have fundamentally opposed approaches to that question; the US applies a legal standard based on evolving Supreme Court law, whereas the European laws are largely governed by a statute called the European Patent Convention.

The complexities of medtech IP strategy are often seen in litigation. In the medtech area, when highly relevant technologies are developed, they often face significant patent litigation. Well-known examples include stents, pacemakers, orthopedic implants, blood sensors, spinal stimulation, and blood pumps.

Chuck Larsen Partner, Intellectual Property White & Case LLP

“Ultimately, I dig deep to understand my clients’ technology. And, the better I am at that, the better I can advise them on how to navigate their problems no matter how much innovation the industry is seeing.”

The goal of Larsen’s work is to help clients navigate that almost inevitable “clash between patents” and technology. He aims to help clients protect their ideas without infringing on someone else’s work, while protecting his clients’ rights in their own innovations.

When patent clashes occur, however, he gladly accepts the challenge. Patent disputes are often started in patent office litigation in the US and Europe. Chuck routinely practices in both venues, termed IPR proceedings (in the US) and European oppositions (in Europe). These cases require him to advocate for clients in real-time, meaning he must be able to adequately defend a position as the argument unfolds inside the courthouse. According to Larsen, successfully handling disputes in those types of intellectual property cases requires a combination of motivation and preparedness.

“There is no substitute for preparation,” Larsen says. “If you really know the

prior art and the technology involved, and you love what you do, you can be successful. You cannot undervalue motivation or preparedness. Ultimately, I dig deep to understand my clients’ technology. And the better I am at that, the better I can advise them on how to navigate their problems no matter how much innovation the industry is seeing.”

Larsen handles cases on many different cutting-edge technologies. In addition to medical device hardware and in vitro diagnostics, he represents clients in the adaptation of artificial intelligence and machine learning as it relates to organizing and deploying therapeutics for the human body.

Whether that application involves determining drug dosage or configuring the operating parameters of a medical device, innovative AI technology has the potential to greatly improve the diagnosis and treatment of disease. In cases that involve invasive measures, for instance, machines can use sensors to monitor the

patient’s response to therapy and rewrite instructions for the device to improve the therapy’s delivery. The entire process has begun to open avenues to achieve more accurate, personalized procedures.

Understandably, fascinating work like this is the reason why Larsen was originally attracted to the field. Before going to law school, his concentration was in chemical engineering with an emphasis on biomedical technology. He says, “I’ve always enjoyed applying engineering principles to real-world situations. Applying engineering to the medical field made the material more tangible and more interesting.”

But, his passion for his work goes far beyond its real-world application. His inherent enthusiasm for problem-solving propels his efforts and offers a platform to teach others based on his successes. With Larsen at the forefront of preserving innovation, clients with significant medical technologies are in good, global hands. AHL

The Impact

Executives know there is an increasing need to help individuals manage their own health anywhere and anytime. To do that, healthcare leaders are developing products and services and offering resources catered to different communities’ needs—all aimed at motivating them to stay engaged with their health and empowering them to be their best, at home or at work.

200. Peter Kim

206. Dale Mackel

210. Fred Berger

213. Sherry Ward

218. Suzzette Jaskowiak

221. Michael Ventrone

The Business Case for Inclusion

Thermo Fisher Scientific’s Peter Kim shows that focusing on company culture and diversity and inclusion will drive bottom-line results

By Kathryn Kruse | Portraits by Gillian Fry

Peter Kim VP, Culture and Counsel Thermo Fisher Scientific

Peter Kim understands the value of a multicultural perspective. Born in Vietnam to Vietnamese and Korean parents, he had lived in Saigon, Seoul, Tehran, and Southern California, fled two failing governments, and decided he wanted to be a lawyer by the time he finished high school. Kim chose employment law because, “It’s why my parents fled to the US,” he says. “Employment law is fundamentally about ensuring people have equal opportunities to succeed at work without regard to their protected characteristics, particularly their country of origin.”

At Thermo Fisher Scientific, where he serves as vice president, culture and counsel, he now uses his skills and experience to improve employee engagement by shaping the culture, embedding diversity and inclusion into the company’s DNA.

In his previous role at Pfizer, Kim also supported diversity and inclusion initiatives. “I saw the importance of acknowledging, listening, and understanding diverse perspectives so that employees feel that they matter and can do their best work,” Kim says. That role—where he ran an ethics program out of Dubai for the Middle East and Africa—meant checking his assumptions and biases, being willing to see through different lenses, and understanding and respecting different cultures and value systems.

“There is a great need to understand why people do what they do, because what seems abnormal or unusual to Americans may be perfectly normal to others,” he says. “We need to focus on mind-sets, beliefs, and values to understand behavior.”

This idea is a cornerstone of his work at Thermo Fisher Scientific, where he leads culture, engagement, ethics, employment law, and diversity and inclusion through the human resources and legal functions.

When he started his position in 2014, he began to use data and external benchmarks to assess needs and opportunities, particularly in relation to employees’ willingness to voice internal concerns.

Kim knew that the roughly ninety complaints the company fielded from its 50,000 employees most likely indicated that employees did not feel comfortable escalating issues that affected their well-being and the company’s performance. “It is hard for an employee to be fully invested in the company’s mission if they don’t feel supported, valued, and emotionally and psychologically safe,” Kim says. Such workplaces can decrease an employee’s commitment, impact their productivity, and diminish trust and wellness, Kim says.

At a financially disciplined, global, and growing company like Thermo Fisher Scientific, competing for additional resources for employee happiness, diversity and inclusion, and ethics must come with a strong business case. Kim argues increased trust, transparency, and feelings of emotional and psychological safety lead to increased engagement from employees.

The outcome is more discretionary effort and, thus, increased productivity without increased head count.

“There needs to be a place where people are recognized and rewarded, and they see action for sharing ideas or raising concerns,” Kim says. Another benefit of appreciating and understanding diverse perspectives is it strengthens the effectiveness of compliance programs, particularly for countries outside of the US.

An increased focus on diversity and inclusion also helps Thermo Fisher Scientific meet the evolving and growing needs of its customers. With customers around the world, the company needs employees who reflect that diversity. For example, 40 percent of Thermo Fisher Scientific’s end customers are pharmaceutical and biotech companies, which focus on strengthening their therapeutic pipeline. They want to work with partners who can help drive innovation and maximize productivity. This requires a diversity of thought and perspectives essential to driving innovation.

As he advances the goal of embedding diversity and inclusion into the organization’s culture, Kim leads a culture and counsel team of twenty-two people to implement change. The company has launched employee resource groups for different demographics, including women, African Americans, employees with disabilities, members of the LGBT community, and Hispanic employees. These groups create bottom-up efforts around communication, trainings, and advocacy. They also surface ideas for the rest of the company, promote diversity of thought, and drive a culture of inclusion.

Managing and measuring progress hasn’t been easy. Kim’s team has created diversity and inclusion indices, introduced new questions on the annual employee-opinion survey, and explored

other measurement strategies to assess impact. He has also tapped into the behavioral sciences to better understand human motivations. “I feel like we are on a learning journey,” he says. “I am by no means an expert, but I love the idea of trying something new to potentially drive different and better results.”

Kim’s team recently created an inclusion narrative with leadership input that seeks to engage the company’s executives on why inclusion is important to the future success of the company. The narrative allows leaders to tell their own stories about inclusion—but to do so in a way that feels authentic and cohesive. Leaders also put out monthly profiles

talking about their own ethical dilemmas with the intent of promoting more transparency, discussing these issues openly, which will lead to better compliance.

All of these programs have had a significant impact. Although it may seem counterintuitive, Kim is happy to report an increase in complaints. His in-house team—now comprising eight dedicated employees, up from a part-time ad-hoc role—annually investigates more than 600 complaints from Thermo Fisher Scientific’s employees. Kim has also seen complaint-type diversification.

All of this signals increased transparency, trust, and psychological safety. Looking at the bottom line, increased

internal responsiveness correlates to decreased external complaints. The resulting legal cost reductions mean millions in savings, with mitigation of risk to boot.

Having kicked off top-down and bottom-up strategies, Kim will now home in on Thermo Fisher Scientific’s 11,000 middle managers. “One of the biggest workplace stressors,” Kim says, “is when employees need to pretend to be someone they are not.”

Kim envisions the company in a space where employees spend energy on their actual work instead of trying to fit in. A more inclusive workplace has far-reaching effects as empowered, involved, and connected employees do their best work, which enables the company’s customers to make the world healthier, cleaner, and safer. AHL

“Working closely with Peter, it has been a pleasure observing his keen business acumen and unwavering focus on corporate ethics, which complement his sharp legal mind. Remarkably, his character as the nicest person in the room attests to his quiet confidence. This well-deserved honor comes as no surprise to Paul Hastings.”

—Brad Newman, Partner, Paul Hastings LLP

Ogletree Deakins is a labor and employment law firm representing management in all types of employment-related legal matters. Ogletree Deakins has more than 850 attorneys located in fifty-three offices across the United States and in Europe, Canada, and Mexico. The firm represents a range of clients, from small businesses to Fortune 50 companies. ogletree.com

Jackson Lewis P.C. is a law firm with more than 900 attorneys in major cities nationwide serving clients across a wide range of practices and industries. Having built its reputation on providing premier workplace law representation to management, the firm has grown to include leading practices in the areas of government relations, healthcare and sports law. Named the "Innovative Law Firm of the Year" by the International Legal Technology Association, the firm’s commitment to client service and depth of expertise draws clients to Jackson Lewis for excellent value-driven legal advice.

Tanya A. Bovée

Jackson Lewis P.C.

90 State House Square 8th Floor

Hartford, CT 06103

Direct: (860) 331-1561

Main: (860) 522-0404

Tanya.Bovee@jacksonlewis.com www.jacksonlewis.com

By Roland Archer

Creating Peace of Mind at Home

A keen interest in healthcare brought Dale Mackel to Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Nebraska, where he’s finding ways to help those in the state sleep easy at night knowing they’re covered in case of an emergency

Dale Mackel says his move into the healthcare industry stemmed from a desire to return to his roots in Nebraska. After having worked for Motorola for nearly five years, Mackel moved to Coventry Health Care in Omaha in October 2009, before working for Aetna and eventually landing his current role as executive vice president of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Nebraska (BCBSNE).

Throughout his corporate career, Mackel paid attention to employee benefits—particularly to health insurance for the peace of mind that it can bring to a worker. Even Motorola, he says, served as a training ground for his current role as it provided him with a perspective on healthcare plans outside of the healthcare industry.

It’s a valuable asset to have for one of the largest health insurers in the state, and Mackel says the company remains focused on its mission of leading the way in patient-focused care. To that end, Mackel says BCBSNE is in the midst of revising its strategy, which in addition to expanding its core business and continuing integrated-care delivery, will also include fine-tuning its capital deployment and focusing on more value-based information. The Nebraska Department of Insurance last year approved BCBSNE’s plan to form a mutual insurance holding company.

“We requested permission to create a mutual insurance holding company to be called GoodLife Partners Inc.,” Mackel said in a statement at the time. “The holding company structure will give Blue Cross greater strategic and organizational flexibility to pursue growth and innovation.”

Under the reorganization, Goodlife Partners gained the same board of directors as Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Nebraska, and the move did not affect members’ insurance coverage or premiums.

BCBSNE policyholders have voting rights in BCBSNE. After the reorganization, the membership interest moved to GoodLife Partners, while policyholder contract rights remained with BCBSNE.

“Successful insurance companies in the future— especially health insurance companies—must have structural, financial, and strategic flexibility,” Mackel said in the statement. “This will benefit our members, our community and the state.”

BCBSNE is doing as much as it can for its members as healthcare remains in a state of flux throughout the nation. In September 2018, the organization announced it would expand its Medicare Advantage plans to nine additional counties throughout the state, bringing the total to fifteen. The coverage goes beyond

“The holding company structure will give Blue Cross more more strategic and organizational flexibility to pursue growth and innovation.”

original Medicare, offering low monthly premiums as well as fitness center memberships and benefits such as dental, vision, hearing, and chiropractic plans. Additionally, one of BCBSNE’s plans includes access to the BlueCard Network, which offers coverage throughout the United States.

“Dale sees the forest for the trees—that combination of deeply understanding the details while also leading with strategic vision, a combination that’s rare among many executives,” the team at Deloitte said in a statement.

In January 2019, BCBSNE also joined with Clarkson Regional Health Services Inc. as partners in Think Whole Person Healthcare in Omaha. Think is an organization dedicated to lowering the cost of care by keeping people well and out of the emergency room and the hospital through a team approach with patients, physicians, care coordinators, pharmacists, and registered nurses

working together. The clinic also has a pharmacy and walk-in urgent care.

According to Think’s data, this approach is working. For Medicare patients alone, Think delivered Nebraska’s lowest cost of care per person in 2017 at $8,798—a savings of $1,244 compared to the state average and $2,067 in savings compared to the national average. Think has one of the highest Medicare quality ratings among the nation’s 472 ACOs.

“Think has been leading the way in changing how healthcare is practiced in Nebraska,” said Dr. Joann Schaefer, BCBSNE executive vice president, in a statement about the partnership. “The independent primary-care model plays a key role in Think’s success. By treating the whole person, in a coordinated effort, Think has been able to improve the quality of care and reduce costs. With Clarkson’s help, we hope to expand upon what we’ve started.” AHL

By Charlene Oldham

Finding a Home at Temple University

Fred Berger has cultivated relationships with patients and colleagues at Temple University Health System since his first day as an intern sixteen years ago

As an undergraduate student at Temple University, Fred Berger was lucky enough to land an internship with the college in Philadelphia.

“I came in for an interview to work at Temple University Health System (TUHS) and, the same day, I was offered an internship. When I graduated the following year, I didn’t want to be anywhere else other than Temple,” says Berger, who rose through the ranks of the university health system and now serves as its director of benefits and pension administration.

While his route to work hasn’t changed a lot in the past sixteen years, his role has evolved dramatically, as have employees’ expectations of what workplace benefits should look like. When he joined TUHS as a full-time benefits analyst after graduating from college in 2003, he says employees were presented with a benefits

package as a recruitment and retention tool, with most people not giving their benefits a second thought after selecting their plan as a new hire.

“But, over time, it’s evolved to incorporate employee engagement and well-being, allowing employees to be better stewards of their own health,” says Berger, a Philadelphia native whose family includes many other Temple alumni.

Temple’s tools for driving engagement include a partnership with Accolade, a personalized health and benefits navigator. Accolade pairs individual employees and the family members covered under their plan with a team of healthcare and benefits professionals who are on call to answer any questions they may have. This service provides personalized support as people navigate their health and benefits needs.

Berger Director, Benefits and Pension Administration

Berger says Accolade’s contact information replaces the phone numbers for insurance companies on the back of TUHS insurance cards, and callers can expect to connect with the same Health Assistant each time. Accolade’s employee support teams also include nurses and other professionals who provide healthcare and benefits support by phone or electronically.

“They build a relationship over time,” he says. “It’s not like you call once and never speak to the same person again.”

Among other services, Accolade also delivers targeted tips and reminders, reaching employees through their mobile device, via email, through Accolade online, or in the office, based on an employee’s preferences and needs. Matt Eurey, senior vice president of customer and health plan partnerships at Accolade, says he’s seen the “power of personal advocacy” increase over the past three years of working with TUHS.

“With every member interaction, relationships between members and their Accolade Health Assistants grow stronger, and the technology becomes

smarter,” Eurey says. “That means our support gets more personalized, more efficient, and more effective over time.”

More than 53 percent of families covered by TUHS benefits used Accolade in the past year. Those who used it also expressed a high level of satisfaction with the service. Accolade’s impact has extended beyond anecdotes, as well. Before becoming the company’s first healthcare client in 2015, TUHS was experiencing a 5–10 percent annual increase in medical insurance costs and a 7–15 percent increase in prescription coverage costs. Within a little over a year of introducing Accolade, Temple executives started seeing some of those trends change, and the service is still saving TUHS money while improving employees’ experiences with the healthcare system, Berger says.

“Over the past fiscal year, our hospital admits went down 15 percent, our in-patient days went down by 13 percent, our hospital readmits went down by 26 percent, and our preventive services utilization went up,” he says of those covered by TUHS medical plans.

“Over the past fiscal year, our hospital admits went down 15 percent, our in-patient days went down 13 percent, our hospital readmits went down by 26 percent, and our preventive services utilization went up.”

Fred

Temple University Health System

Accolade also delivers a better healthcare experience for TUHS employees, which is just as important as financial results, Berger says.

“The results TUHS has achieved— nearly perfect employee satisfaction and tens of millions of dollars in cost savings—illustrate a couple of key points,” Eurey says. “First, healthcare is so complex that even people working in the system need support to navigate it. And second, a long-term trusted relationship, backed with technology, is the most powerful way to provide that support.”

In-house efforts—including everything from weekly emails and other key communications from the TUHS benefits department, as well as an on-site Weight Watchers group—have helped increase employees’ engagement and accountability for their own health, whether it be physical, mental, or financial.

But Temple aims to continue to improve how it helps employees on those

fronts, Berger says. Over his tenure with the organization, benefits packages have expanded to include retirement planning tools and employee assistance programs. Among newer initiatives, Berger and his team are also planning to expand TUHS’ mental health support services and debt management offerings for everyone from younger employees who might be struggling with student loans to older workers who might be trying to pay their kids’ way through college, and more.

“We want to promote well-being. It’s not just about a medical plan. It’s a complete well-being program that addresses different aspects of people’s careers and the stressors in their lives,” Berger says. “If you are able to alleviate those concerns, it allows employees to feel secure with their health and their jobs of providing care to others. That result makes them remarkably better at focusing on their critical mission of healing people, saving lives, and providing hope.” AHL

Temple University Health System has succeeded in strong employee satisfaction, as well millions of dollars in cost savings through its partnership with Accolade.

Courtesy

By Peter Fabris

The Rewarding Work of Benefits

BJC HealthCare’s benefits expert Sherry Ward is using all of her expertise to revamp the employee total rewards program for one of the largest healthcare organizations in the country

Shortly after joining BJC HealthCare in 2014, Sherry Ward faced a difficult challenge that, if not handled well, could jeopardize her mission. The new vice president of human resources, operations, and total rewards had to implement a sweeping change to the company’s short-term disability benefit.

This long-established program was designed for employees to accrue hours of time off for temporary disabilities based on their length of tenure. An efficiency consultant hired before she joined BJC had found that some employees were taking as much as seven times more time off than average for certain medical issues. The program also had another flaw—newer employees could not quickly accrue sufficient banks of time, leaving them without enough paid time off to care for a newborn baby or recover from a major surgery.

The business case for changing the program was sound. Ward decided to scrap the concept of bankable hours in favor of a disability benefit that would provide appropriate time off for all workers, regardless of how long they were employed. The proposal prompted some resistance, though, from long-tenured employees who had accrued a sizable bank of disability hours.

“They felt like they were giving up something that they had earned over the years,” Ward recalls. This perception could not only create ill will that could hurt acceptance of the program reform, but also put Ward’s credibility at risk. If she failed this first test, her plan for a redesign of employee total rewards (benefits, wages, recognition, work life, and career development) would be harder to achieve. She had to find a way to convince BJC’s employees that giving up the disability bank concept would be worthwhile for everyone and create a financial safety net for all eligible employees.

Drawing from expertise in finance, HR, and marketing, Ward was up to the immediate challenge as well as the larger test that would impact her credibility with all 31,000 employees. Having begun her career as an actuarial consultant for Towers Perrin (now Willis Towers Watson), Ward had gravitated to human resources roles with a number of large companies including Sara Lee, Brown Shoe Company, Solutia, and, most recently, Maritz before joining BJC. The skills gained from earning her master’s degree in finance and marketing helped provide the communications skills needed for this mission, she says.

Ward VP, HR, Operations, and Total Rewards BJC HealthCare

After accepting the job in an unfamiliar industry, Ward wasted no time delving into the culture of one of the largest healthcare organizations in the country. She launched a series of employee focus groups almost immediately, holding sixty-two of these sessions at BJC’s fifteen hospitals and multiple community health locations over the first few years of her tenure. These sessions were essential, she says, for her to learn about healthcare and BJC’s various constituencies—physicians, nurses, research scientists, and administrative and operational specialists—a diverse collection of individuals. “I wanted to get a sense of what they valued in benefits and rewards,” she recalls. “What were their expectations, and how did they vary by demographic, location, and culture?”

In fact, there were some differences by gender, ethnicity, and tenure that impacted how employees viewed and valued BJC’s benefits plans and rewards structure. Certain benefits were more important to some constituencies than others. She also noticed

that there were subcultures within larger cultures. For example, physicians and nurses in pediatrics expected what Ward describes as a “softer, hands-on approach” in how HR presented and explained how benefits programs worked. “That’s because they provide more hand-holding for their patients and parents caring for children as their mission,” Ward observes. Insights like that would help guide how she and her staff rolled out the new disability plan, and later, the new total rewards initiatives, including a new rewards platform and mobile app.

Ward held town hall-style meetings with Q&A sessions so that employees could ask questions about the new disability plan and other proposed changes. Her presentation featured salient graphics that outlined the business case for eliminating the hours bank and its full impact. She made a convincing case, and by and large the change was accepted by the workforce as a competitive change, as well as part of an overall enhanced total rewards road map for BJC.

Sherry

“We weren’t doing a good job of telling our own story.”

Ward also worked on the creation of an internal multimedia marketing effort to pitch the new total rewards program that included home mailings, in-person presentations, short videos, and supporting materials for the employee service center, which is staffed by specialists in employee programs. Ward infused her style into much of the copy for the various communications pieces. “I needed them to sound like me and for employees to believe that BJC cared about them,” she explains.

A keystone of the rewards launch, the portal would allow employees to access the full scope of offerings in one location online. Each employee would be able to view the benefits available to them, their eligibility, and find out detailed information on benefits offerings, including how to enroll and participate in them.

Within her first year, Ward launched the total rewards strategy and portal, which included a mobile app connecting all of the offerings in an annual statement. In addition to a rundown of healthcare, disability, retirement, and other benefits, the portal also includes a

This recognition of your exemplary leadership is well deserved. Benefit Recovery Group is proud to support you and BJC HealthCare as you continue to lead and innovate for the future.

“You can’t argue with data. It guides you where to focus and what to do next.”

section on career development. The latter is critical given worker shortages in the healthcare industry that fuel high turnover in some disciplines. The portal offers employees a view of their career path, including programs such as leadership training and tuition reimbursement, that can help them advance. It also gives supervisors a view of employees’ pay rate, length of service, qualifications, and career advancements so that they can help guide their team’s growth.

Though BJC already had a highly competitive benefits package, “We weren’t doing a good job of telling our own story,” Ward says. “There was no portal that tied everything together.” Integration of information is a game changer, she notes.

Although she was confident that the rewards marketing effort would be effective, she also took pains to measure its impact. Data including website usage analytics, employee engagement scores, short surveys on specific initiatives, and the number of and types of inquiries at the employee service center all provided feedback. Ongoing analysis of this information is crucial to gauge the impact of communication, Ward says. “You can’t argue with data,” she says. “It guides you where to focus and what to do next.”

Data analysis and creative communication, along with human resources expertise, all have been essential to Ward’s work. She has used all of her training and

experience for the mission she signed on for more than four years ago. There’s more to do, but she’s already set a strong foundation and put the framework in place to make BJC’s employee total rewards program a competitive advantage in a tough battle for talent. AHL

Benefit Recovery Group congratulates Sherry Ward for demonstrating exemplary leadership and implementing innovative plan design features during a time when employees’ healthcare needs are rapidly changing.  We are proud to support Sherry and BJC HealthCare with an innovative subrogation process designed to help maintain costs, satisfy fiduciary responsibilities, and ensure a first-class member experience.

Cigna’s collaborative partnership with BJC HealthCare improves affordability, choice, and the total health and well-being of the individuals we serve. Employee health is a core value for both of our organizations and Sherry Ward’s flexibility and strategic thinking has helped us meet BJC’s evolving needs and goals together.

Congratulations to Sherry Ward on this well-deserved honor. Sherry was instrumental in bringing an innovative solution like Livongo to the BJC HealthCare population. Livongo’s partnership with BJC has allowed us to empower their employees and family members with chronic conditions to live better and healthier lives.

By Billy Yost

Suzzette Jaskowiak jokes that she procrastinates more than most when it comes to getting her prescriptions.

Knowing that about herself, that’s how she approaches thinking about patients managing their own health. The Walgreens vice president of pharmacy, health and wellness technology and her team consistently enlist new and emerging technologies to help assist patients in tasks they tend to overlook. From implementing notification systems reminding patients to pick up their prescriptions to inbound-call speech recognition that can assist customers without having to press a button, Walgreens is focusing on using tech to meet its customers on their own terms.

Jaskowiak leads a constantly widening scope of services for the pharmacy chain that focuses on improving patient outcomes by making more healthcare services readily available in stores. And with Walgreens processing millions of prescriptions a day, Jaskowiak is finding new ways of better managing every customer.

Jaskowiak says that it makes sense for the company to be focusing on improving health outcomes. “The US ranked last among eleven comparable countries for health outcomes, despite having the highest percapita spending,” Jaskowiak says. “We’re looking to be a convenient healthcare setting for patients to improve those outcomes.”

That means being able to more proactively manage disease states and their links to other health problems. For example, it’s important for diabetics to receive regular eye exams. By launching Walgreens Optical directly in stores, Walgreens helps these patients be able to more easily manage their health in a single setting. For similar reasons, Walgreens has partnered with LabCorp to provide lab services in stores. “Whether a physician suggests a one-time test or a patient has standing orders to get tested every few months, we have

locations close to home and work. And they can come to one place for those tests and for their medications,” Jaskowiak says.

Another component of Walgreens’ technological rollouts is centered around improving patient adherence. The company is utilizing machine learning to devise strategies when it comes to notifying patients about prescriptions, reminding patients to take their prescriptions, and, as a result, take more control of their health. “It’s no surprise that we’ve found that the more expensive a medication is, the higher the likelihood the patient won’t come in and pick it up,” Jaskowiak says. “If we can be a more embedded part of that conversation, maybe we can find a formulary alternative for a $100 medication that only costs $5.”

The Walgreens Save a Trip Refills assists patients who have multiple medications (and likely multiple doctors) and have to return to the pharmacy several times a month. “We align all of the patient’s medications to a single date so they only have to come in one time,”

Jaskowiak says. “For some people, that has made their lives much easier. The more likely a patient is to get their medication, the more likely they’re going to take it.”

No Longer the Exception

“I am a female leader in technology, which is pretty unusual,” says Suzzette Jaskowiak, Walgreens’ vice president of pharmacy, health and wellness technology. “I feel an obligation to help other women with their careers.”

Jaskowiak has spent a considerable amount of her life advocating for women in STEM and combating the sliding numbers of women in tech careers. “In 1995, 37 percent of computer scientists were women. Today, it’s only 24 percent,” she says.

Jaskowiak speaks publicly, including as a member of Women In Technology International, on topics like gender bias and inclusion. She started the Women in Technology group at Walgreens, which later rebranded as InclusivIT to encourage men to join. “We need more male allies to join the movement,” Jaskowiak says.

When it comes to more girls in STEM fields, Jaskowiak says programs need to start early. She has been involved with Girls Who Code and Lumity to encourage girls to focus on STEM careers. “Given that jobs are increasingly tech-focused, we are facing a significant issue from a talentpool perspective,” she says. “Both girls and boys can excel in tech fields, so the time to address this is long overdue.”

“The US ranked last among eleven comparable countries for health outcomes. We’re looking to be a convenient healthcare setting for patients to improve those outcomes.”

Jaskowiak is able to make such an impact on patients’ lives with the help of some key business partners. “Genesys solutions are deployed to assist Walgreens to achieve their CX goals using omnichannel, AI, and predictive and analytics tools to help the patient in the best possible way,” says Sunny Nanda, senior account executive at Genesys. “Together, Genesys and Walgreens are strong strategic partners to make the patient life easier as much as possible.”

Taking the medication, however, presents an entirely new set of issues that Jaskowiak is beginning to take on. Medication reminders and tracking via the Walgreens app help communicate information not just to the patient, but to the entire care team. Jaskowiak says that many patients do not relay vital information they received from their physicians. “We can still self-report,” Jaskowiak says. “But a lot of technological innovations are allowing a better flow of information into what’s really going on, allowing the care team to create a better care solution.” Products like Abilify’s MyCite, a pill with a sensor that digitally tracks whether patients have ingested their medication, is one example of innovation on the horizon.

“We have all these different ways of getting in touch with patients on their own terms while protecting their health information,” Jaskowiak says. “We just want to make it as easy as possible for people to live healthy lives.” AHL

By Kathryn Kruse

Healthy Numbers, Healthy People

With tens of thousands of members and hundreds of millions of dollars in costs to consider, Michael Ventrone and his team pair data analysis with innovative programming to steer healthcare for Honeywell

Twenty-one years ago, Michael Ventrone came to Honeywell to do what he had been trained to do: finance. Fifteen years later, the company offered him a role in its benefits department, a transition that could seem like an unusual choice—a finance guy dealing with healthcare. Ventrone says he didn’t know that much about the benefits landscape when he entered the space. Previously, he had supported HR and legal teams, but from the outside. “As an employee I used the benefits plan, but that was about it,” he says.

Now, as Honeywell’s vice president, global benefits, Ventrone can see that the choice to blend finance expertise with benefits is an obvious one. With a more than a $500 million annual spend for employee medical benefits, Honeywell’s decision to put someone with a finance background in charge of the team makes sense. Although Ventrone had some learning to do around healthcare specifics, he was already versed in analyzing data to understand outcomes and steer decisions.

With an eye on the company’s budget and a dedication to keeping care as affordable as possible, Ventrone and his team have had several wins. In 2012, they shifted to a single-option, highdeductible plan with a tiered premium structure, where employees who earn more pay a higher premium. Since then, plan deductibles and copays have remained flat, though there have been some adjustments around vision and dental coverage. For the past four years, Ventrone has kept medical premiums steady.

While still applying his finance background, Ventrone says he now sits further upstream in decision-making. From that vantage point, he is dedicated to the great challenge of keeping costs steady and providing his members with great programs to help them navigate the complex medical system.

“For large employers, the current medical trend upward is unsustainable, and it’s a big pill for employees to swallow,” Ventrone says. He and his team, however, use data mining and analytics around per-employee, per-month pricing, as well as tactics aimed at vendor management, contracts, and working with partners on program design to maintain costs. “I didn’t realize the level of work that went into keeping rates in line,” says Ventrone. He also embraces the shifting nature of his field. Unlike his previous work, Ventrone’s role is one of constant reaction. “Before, everything was scheduled. You knew when the books were going to close.

In the medical space, you still have deliverable dates, but a new piece of legislation, a news article, or a report comes out—that can change everything,” he says. This means Ventrone and his team must process new information and find solutions quickly.

“I am part of the decision-making process. I’m not just the finance guy in the room who is brought in afterward,” says Ventrone. This, however, does not mean that he controls everything. Normal medical trend means constant flux. If vendor costs shift, Ventrone is responsible for offsetting, at times, huge costs. To do this, he works closely with Honeywell’s procurement, finance, and legal organizations to understand bottom lines and negotiate with vendors.

“You are like the general manager of a business, with a very large budget to manage,” Ventrone says of his position. In the US, 40,000 employees are enrolled in the health plan, and it covers 90,000 members.

Ventrone is very clear, however, that he does not work alone. When talking about his lean, effective team, he says, “They are rock stars. They deserve as much credit as I do.” Along with collaboration and passion, Mike O’Keefe, director, health care finance and analytics, explains their success, saying, “We are at the forefront of companies controlling healthcare costs. I believe we do this by making smarter business decisions and not chasing the latest fad.”

One of those smart business decisions is implementing programs designed to help members make informed decisions about care. In 2017, Honeywell, in partnership with ConsumerMedical, launched a cancer support program designed to provide high-touch advocacy and help patients to understand their diagnosis and treatment options. This program currently sees about 20 percent enrollment and a fair amount of success. Melissa Fitzgerald, senior manager, integrated health programs,

Michael Ventrone VP, Global Benefits Honeywell

John McCarthy

“In the medical world, you still have deliverable dates, but a new piece of legislation, a news article, or a report comes out that can change everything.”

who, among other things, oversees vendor management and member communication for the program, says, “One in four participants have made a provider change or sought a second opinion.” The program also helped three members catch a misdiagnosis.

For many programs, “Honeywell uses the stick approach” to drive member engagement, Ventrone explains. Instead of relying on the proverbial carrot to motivate employees to act in a particular way, Ventrone designs legally compliant negative incentives (i.e. “sticks”) to induce desired behaviors. This “stick-rather -than-carrot” approach, which is grounded in numerous studies of human nature and behavioral psychology, has proven to be overwhelmingly effective at driving up employee engagement over a broad array of healthcare programs, Ventrone notes.

For example, Honeywell offers a surgery decisionsupport program, also through Consumer Medical, for

“I am part of the decision-making process. I’m not just the finance guy in the room who is brought in afterward.”

five common surgeries with more than one effective treatment option. The program educates participants so they can make the treatment decision that is right for them. Originally an incentivized program with 20 percent engagement, members are now penalized $1,000 if they do not engage. After this program’s implementation, participation improved to 92 percent, Ventrone says. He also says that 25 percent of participants decided to not get an unnecessary surgery and pursue other options.

Having significantly improved enrollment, Ventrone faces a different challenge with Honeywell’s benefits programs. “Enrollment and engagement are two separate things. Everyone struggles with engagement,” says Ventrone.

Though there are frustrations, Ventrone is excited to be creating and implementing meaningful programs. He remains optimistic as he and his team address the challenge to ensure employees know about programs when they need them. Steven Jacobs, director international benefits and labor, explains the leadership team’s optimism. “We are successful due to our open

communication style, ease of collaboration, an availability of tools and resources that keep us organized, great leadership, and, most importantly, an enjoyment in working together.”

Ventrone adds, “The benefits space is complex but exciting. We are providing support and knowledge so that people can make better decisions and, at some point, this will make someone’s life better.” AHL

Workplace benefits are the foundation of many families’ financial futures and Securian Financial can help protect those futures. Securian Financial brings decades of specialized expertise to the creation of successful employee benefit programs. We are proud to work with Honeywell to bring their employees’ financial security through group life insurance.

ConsumerMedical is a medical ally that empowers employees and their families to make better decisions along their healthcare journey. Our comprehensive solution integrates medical decision support, expert medical opinion, and claims advocacy to guide individuals throughout their healthcare journey, reducing unnecessary elective surgeries and driving patients to the highest-quality providers.

Four Generations. One Workforce.

We’re MetLife and we’re for the workforce. Today, four generations are working together — all with different needs. So we partner with you to provide expertise, guidance, and employee benefit plans that can make businesses more attractive to the people who make it successful.

MetLife is proud to work with Mike and the Honeywell benefits team. We are dedicated to supporting their mission to offer positive programs that improve the health and welfare of Honeywell employees and their families

That’s why so many organizations count on Securian Financial as a long term partner for their Group life and voluntary benefits. Our adaptable, consultative approach puts your success first, so you get the most relevant solutions for your business and your employees, today and always. Learn more at securian. com/groupinsurance

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