Hany Abdelaal
Michael S. Adelberg
Irfan Ali
Saeed Aminzadeh
Leah Brucchieri
Lauren Easton
Lori Ferguson
Stephanie Franklin, MPS
Brita Hansen, MD, FACP
Amie Hoffman, MHA, LCSW, CCM
Bryan Lee
Dr. Lew Levy
Erica Mahgerefteh, MPH
Therese McIntyre, MPH, CPH
Jim Milanowski
Henry W. Osowski
Steven R. Peskin, MD, MBA, FACP
Mae Pfeil
Konark Rana
Martha Shenkenberg, MBA
Stephanie Shushan, MHA
Jennifer Spear
Karin VanZant
Maranda Varsik
Hany Abdelaal
Dr. Hany Abdelaal serves as President of VNSNY CHOICE Health Plans, the health plans affiliated with the Visiting Nurse Service of New York (VNSNY). VNSNY is the largest nonprofit home and community-based health care organization in the United States, providing acute, rehabilitative, end-of-life, mental health, long-term care services and managed care plans to residents of the five boroughs of New York City, Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester Counties, as well as parts of upstate New York. Dr. Abdelaal joined the plan in March of 2012 as its Chief Medical Officer and was named President in January 2015. Currently, VNSNY CHOICE Health Plan has the largest not for profit MLTSS plan in NYS, MMP (FIDA), FIDESNP, and an HIV Medicaid Special Needs Plan. Dr. Abdelaal has been involved in the duals programs and MLTSS programs for over 20 years. Previously, Dr. Abdelaal served in executive positions as Chief Medical Officer at Elderplan, Executive Director at Homefirst (NYC MLTC HealthPlan), and Associate Medical Director at Maimonides Medical Center. He completed his internship and residency in Primary Care/internal Medicine at Maimonides Medical Center.
Education:
D.O., New York College of Osteopathic Medicine
B.A., St. John’s University
Michael S. Adelberg
Mike Adelberg leads the Healthcare Strategy Practice at Faegre Baker Daniels Consulting.
He has 25 years progressive healthcare industry and government experience in Medicare,
Medicaid and commercial health insurance. Mike spent fifteen years at the Centers for Medicare
and Medicaid Services (CMS), including concurrently serving as the director of the Insurance Programs
Group and the acting director of the Exchange Policy and Operations Group in the Center for Consumer
Information and Insurance Oversight (CCIIO) where he oversaw most of the functions of the federally-run
health insurance exchanges; serving as the Director of Medicare Advantage Operations, where he supervised
the annual cycle for review and award of Medicare Advantage bids and contracts, developed CMS’s operational policy,
and led the monitoring of Medicare Advantage contractors; and serving as the associate regional administrator for
Medicare operations (Chicago Region) and the director of education and assistance programs. Mike gained private sector
experience as vice president of product development and government affairs for the Universal American Corporation,
a multi-state health insurer which operated Medicare Advantage and Medicaid health plans (subsequently acquired by Wellcare).
He has also led or co-led health policy studies published in Health Affairs and The American Journal of Managed Care. Mike speaks and publishes
frequently on healthcare topics and has served on numerous advisory committees. He’s been quoted in the Washington Post, New York Times, Modern Healthcare,
NPR, and other leading media. In his spare time, Mike is an author. He’s written three novels, a history book, several scholarly journal articles, and over sixty book reviews.
Irfan Ali
Irfan leads the Network Performance and Clinical organizations at EnlivenHealth™, developing strategies that help to influence, communicate and impact outcomes for our health plan and retail pharmacy customers. Since joining Omnicell in 2007, Irfan has held several leadership positions focused on building medication adherence solutions within the UK, European and most recently global pharmacy markets. Prior to joining Omnicell, Irfan worked at a number of UK retail pharmacy companies, creating operational models to improve the delivery of medication adherence solutions. In addition, he spent five years launching and operating consulting services for the UK and European healthcare market. Irfan is a qualified pharmacist, holding a B.Sc. in Pharmacy from the University of Portsmouth, UK.
Saeed Aminzadeh
Saeed founded Decision Point with the mission of improving health plan clinical, financial and operational performance through informed, data-driven predictions on strategic decisions. He has more than 25 years of health information technology experience, with a track record of developing innovative approaches to solve complex business problems. He has held key senior management positions at Eliza Corporation, Ingenix (currently Optum), IHCIS and ProVentive, where led high-performing teams focused creative uses of technology for practical problem- solving. Saeed is a graduate of The Johns Hopkins University with a BA in Economics.
Leah Brucchieri
Leah Brucchieri is Director of Medicare Advantage Special Programs at Humana, designing new and innovative benefits to address social determinants of health, close gaps in care, slow the progression of disease and help seniors live their best lives while keeping healthcare affordable. With over 15 years of experience in the health insurance industry, Leah’s background includes medical cost and trend analytics, provider contracting, network adequacy and access analytics, operations, and benefit design. This experience has instilled Leah with a passion and drive to improve the health of the communities Humana serves by addressing barriers that impede access to basic needs as well as healthcare.
Leah joined Humana in 2005 and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy from Centre College. She is a member of Humana’s Women’s Network Resource Group and enjoys mentoring emerging leaders. A proud New York City resident, Leah remains in awe of the ways in her Brooklyn community has banded together to address increased food insecurity as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lauren Easton
For over a decade, Lauren Easton, LICSW, has served as a Behavioral Health leader for Commonwealth Care Alliance (CCA). Over the years and in various roles, Lauren has been largely responsible for developing CCA's behavioral health integration across its care models, for creating a responsive network, and for creating many innovative programs, including CCA’s Crisis Stabilization Units. Lauren embraced the integration of behavioral health and medical care long before the concept became "trendy." She has made behavioral health integration a hallmark of program development throughout her professional life.
In her current role, Lauren is responsible for the oversight of CCA's behavioral health services, delivered through its network of behavioral health providers and internal behavioral health specialists to CCA's 22,000+ members. She is responsible for assisting clinical leadership in improving the level of integration of Primary Care and behavioral health services for CCA members and for guiding network development, cost management, and quality improvement activities. She oversees the Behavioral Health development and expansion of the One Care program and Senior Care Option Program, paying particular attention to the significant mental health needs of this population.
Lauren holds a master's degree from Simmons College School of Social Work. She also attended Boston University and the University of Massachusetts, where she completed a double Major in psychology and education.
Lori Ferguson
Lori Ferguson serves as Senior Vice President at VNSNY CHOICE Health Plan, the health plan affiliated with the Visiting Nurse Service of New York (VNSNY). Currently, VNSNY CHOICE Health Plan has the largest not for profit MLTSS plan in NYS, FIDE SNP, and a Medicaid HIV Special Needs Plan. Having held key leadership roles at Amerigroup, Horizon BCBS, Magellan Health, Lori has dedicated the past 18 years of her career to managed care, specializing in Medicare and Medicaid programs. With a Master’s in Applied Psychology and a Six Sigma Black Belt, she understands the role that people play in driving successful processes and outcomes. Having started from an entry level role, Lori has deep operational knowledge of what makes a health plan work and her successes include saving millions through process improvement, leading turn-around and start-up efforts, and driving quality and customer satisfaction.
Stephanie Franklin, MPS, PMP
Stephanie Franklin, MPS, is a Population Health Strategy Lead at Humana. Stephanie’s work is connected to Humana’s Bold Goal of improving the health of members and communities by addressing social determinants of health (SDOH). She was previously Senior Legislative Assistant for Congressman John Yarmuth (KY-3) and was the relationship manager for a large nonprofit organization in Louisville, KY. Stephanie has a Master of Professional Studies in Political Management from The George Washington University.
Brita Hansen, MD, FACP
Dr. Brita Hansen is a board-certified internist and clinical informaticist. She has served in senior and executive leadership roles in clinical operations, quality and informatics across provider organization, industry and health plan settings. Her work focuses on the use of data- and technology-enabled clinical process improvement to improve care delivery, decrease waste and improve health outcomes. In her role at UCare, she supports Health Service Analytics, population health data management and risk adjustment. She continues her clinical practice as an internal medicine hospitalist with a focus on high- acuity, medically complex and underserved patient populations.
Amie Hoffman, MHA, LCSW, CCM
Amie Hoffman is currently Director of Behavioral Health for Geisinger Health Plan and is a goal-driven,
accountable, and empathetic healthcare professional with over 16 years of experience in both acute and
outpatient settings, last 8 in the managed care industry. In her current role, Amie was instrumental in the
successful in-sourcing of Geisinger Health Plan’s behavioral health benefit from an outside vendor and the
development of an innovative, expanded care model to serve members in the community. An experienced
leader with a demonstrated history of working in the hospital and health care industry, she has a proven
track record of successfully managing staff, impacting managed care outcomes and improvement of patient
engagement strategies. Throughout her career, she has implemented training and development programs
for staff, in addition to serving as a preceptor for new employee onboarding and a field instructor for
students working towards Master’s in Social Work degrees.
Early in her career, Amie focused her work in the behavioral health and non-profit space, supporting a
variety of populations ranging from children with mental health needs, older adults with physical disabilities
and complex medical conditions, adults with complex behavioral health needs and beginning in 2012,
Medicaid population. Drawn to new programs and initiatives, Amie was part of the startup team for the
LIFE Geisinger programs, Older Adult Behavioral Health Unit through UPMC Susquehanna and the
integration of the social work role with the rollout of Geisinger Health Plan’s Medicaid plan. Some examples
of previous work includes case management services to high risk patients through coordination of care,
education and extensive collaboration with community resources. Amie also aided with social and medical
needs that include drug and alcohol, mental health and domestic violence.
Amie obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, Master’s in Social Work and more recently obtained her
Master’s in Health Administration from St. Joseph’s University in 2018. She is currently licensed as a
Clinical Social Worker in Pennsylvania and holds a Certified Case Manager credential. A native of
Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, Amie and her husband are the parents of a 2 year old Quinn, 2 Golden
Retrievers and a cat.
Bryan Lee
Bryan is a seasoned Healthcare Executive with over 30 years’ experience working with Payers and Providers focused in Government Programs, operations, compliance and payment practices. He possesses a deep understanding of how to build, implement and leverage technology to achieve performance improvement. He as built successful teams focused on providing comprehensive business process and compliance management solutions for Medicare Advantage, Medicaid and Commercial Marketplace health plans. His expertise in CMS transaction processing and regulatory requirements has led to the successful design and implementation of dynamic rules-based healthcare analytic solutions.
He has significant P&L management experience with a track record of business growth and profit improvements. He has been successful in leading multi-year, multi-million dollar projects, operational consolidations as well as continuous improvement initiatives that achieve bottom-line results. Bryan has driven change with his leadership style stressing expectations that align with business goals. This coupled with unwavering accountability at every level of the organization results in the achievement of the desired cultural and financial results.
Dr. Lew Levy
Dr. Lewis Levy provides medical leadership for Teladoc Health’s global network of
physicians and oversees the company’s leading clinical quality initiatives. Steward to
the company’s global medical advisory boards, he is responsible for assuring best-in-
class medical standards are met across all clinical areas.
Previously, Dr. Levy was Chief Medical Officer at Best Doctors, until the company was
acquired by Teladoc Health, and served as a subject matter expert on medical cases
from around the world. With more than 30 years of clinical experience as an internist at
Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates in Boston, Dr. Levy’s expertise spans the
healthcare spectrum, from treating low-acuity conditions to consulting on highly
complex, specialized cases. Dr. Levy is a member of the IBM Watson Health for
Oncology Data and Evidence Innovation Council, as well as a member of the NBGH
Institute on Health Care Costs and Solutions. He is also a member of the NCQA
Telehealth Expert Panel and NQF's Subcommittee on Technology & Transformation.
With an extensive teaching career, Dr. Levy has taught at the Harvard Medical School
and the Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He also serves as an executive mentor for
Conexión, a non-profit organization focused on developing and advancing
Hispanic/Latino leaders. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Cornell University, Dr. Levy
holds a medical degree from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and
Dentistry. He completed his residency in Internal Medicine at the Graduate Hospital of
the University of Pennsylvania.
Erica Mahgerefteh, MPH
Erica has more than 15 years of experience in project management and currently works to implement Medi-Cal care delivery changes for Kaiser Permanente in the Southern California region. Most recently, she supported the Department of Healthcare Services' Health Homes Program rollout within Kaiser which consists of intensive care coordination, including supportive services for members experiencing homelessness. She provides oversight for the agencies that provide housing navigation and tenancy support services and currently participates in the California Health Care Foundation's Homelessness and Healthcare Learning Community.
Before joining Kaiser Permanente, Erica conducted a population health analysis at Glendale Adventist Medical Center to identify the high-utilizer population and held a position at Health Services Advisory Group--the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services quality improvement organization for Arizona and California--focused on motivating positive behavioral change for clinicians and patients.
Erica earned her Bachelor's degree in Communication from the University of Southern California and her Master's in Public Health from UCLA.
Therese McIntyre, MPH, CPH
Therese is a Population Health Strategist with PacificSource Health Plans currently serving two regions in Oregon – Central Oregon and the Columbia Gorge. In her role at the health plan, Therese works with provider partners to bring evidence-based population health strategies to their quality and risk adjustment work. Therese previously worked at a Central Oregon FQHC where she helped create their population health program and developed a training program for staff. Prior to her work in Oregon she was the Director of Communications and Legislative Affairs for a quasi-government agency of the Baltimore City Health Department providing enrollment and services for recipients of Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program for Baltimore City residents. Therese is passionate about shifting health care systems to focus on prevention, health outcomes, and health equity.
Jim Milanowski
Jim Milanowski has over 22 years experience in the management of mental health, substance abuse, behavioral health managed care and medical care coverage programs. Mr. Milanowski currently serves as the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Genesee Health Plan (GHP), administering a community based indigent health care plan. The health plan has covered over 70,000 Genesee County residents since 2001. Since the start of enrollment into Affordable Care Act in 2013, GHP has conducted outreach and enrollment sessions with over 15,000 Genesee County residents. The health plan received the 2015 Pinnacle Award from the Michigan Association of Health Plans for this effort.
As a strong advocate, his expertise includes working to reduce racial disparities, uncompensated care, and the impact of chronic disease. During his leadership, Genesee Health Plan has received the national quality award from URAC for Best Practices in Patient Empowerment and Protection, the Greater Flint Labor Council's Community Partnership Award and the Robert M. Pestronk Excellence in Public Health Award. He is a founding member of the Health Net Collaborative, and a member of the Greater Flint Health Coalition Access, Dental and Medical Group Visit Committees. He is the Treasurer of the Michigan Association of County Health Plans and is on the Board of Directors for the Genesee Community Health Center.
Mr. Milanowski received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from Spring Arbor University and his Master's of Science degree in Clinical Psychology from Eastern Michigan University. He is a limited-licensed psychologist in the state of Michigan, and has extensive counseling experience with adult, child, and adolescent populations.
Henry W. Osowski
Hank Osowski, a Founding Member of Strategic Health Group, is an experienced health care executive and strategist who has provided leadership to commercial, Medicare and Medicaid health plans for more than 30 years. He currently is the Managing Director of Strategic Health Group, a new boutique strategic and financial advisory firm dedicated to bringing seasoned leadership to enable health care organizations to succeed in a challenging and changing environment. He is an expert in Medicare Advantage and Medicaid long-term care strategies.
Formerly, as Senior Vice President Corporate Development, he was a key member of the senior leadership team that the company from a near death experience to an exceptionally strong financial position. He led SCAN Group's efforts to expand into seven additional California counties. Hank also led SCAN's entry into Arizona and served as the initial President of SCAN Health Plan Arizona and SCAN Long Term Care. The service area expansions represent approximately a quarter of SCAN's membership and added nearly $450 million to SCAN's revenue. He also led the organization's strategic planning efforts and initiated an innovation development regimen to seek improvements in care coordination practices and future care outcome protocols.
Prior to SCAN, Hank served as a Principal in a national health care consulting organization providing a range of strategic, financial and development services for health plans, physician groups and hospitals. He began his California career as a member of the senior management team responsible for the turnaround and financial survival of Blue Cross of California. In this capacity, Hank led the financial turnaround of the Individual and Small Group Division and provided leadership to the organization's strategic planning efforts.
Earlier he served as Vice President International Operations for American Family Life Assurance Corporation where he directed the activities of the company's Canadian and European operations. In this role he directed the development of start-up operations in the United Kingdom, Germany and Italy, as well as the financial turnaround of the company's Canadian operations. Earlier, Hank also served as Director of Insurance Consulting Services for Coopers and Lybrand, a predecessor to PriceWaterhouse Coopers.
Throughout his career, he has been a frequent speaker on critical issues and challenges facing the Medicare and Medicaid programs. In 2011, Hank spoke to the Managed Medicaid Congress about principles for structuring effective long term care programs, to the Medicare Market Innovations conference about opportunities for strengthening a plan's five star quality rating and offered his strategic projections for the future of Medicare. He also spoke to a diverse health care and technology audience at the Healthcare Unbound conference about leveraging the power of technology to improve the quality of health outcomes and care interventions.
Steven R. Peskin, MD, MBA, FACP
Steven R. Peskin, MD is the Executive Medical Director Population Health at Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey. His expertise encompasses physician leadership, medical delivery management, performance improvement in health care, contracting; applications in technology include mobile/social media, clinical/scientific communications for health care professional and consumer audiences.
Dr. Peskin is the former Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer for MediMedia USA, CEO of Pharmaceutical Research Plus, President/COO of Nelson Managed Solutions and has worked in multiple executive positions in health plans at PacifiCare Health Systems, CIGNA Healthcare, and John Hancock. Dr. Peskin has authored industry and scientific articles, book chapters and spoken at various conferences and events about physician leadership, the medical home, mobile health and social media.
Dr. Peskin is an Associate Clinical Professor in the Department of Medicine at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. He is a clinical preceptor at The Eric B, Chandler Clinic for interns and residents in Internal Medicine. Dr. Peskin assists with the Population Health and business of medicine training for the Rutgers RWJ Internal Medicine physicians in training.
Dr. Peskin is a Diplomat of the American Board of Internal Medicine and a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, serves as Governor for the Southern Region of the ACP in New Jersey, Board of Trustees for Friends of the National Library of Medicine, editorial advisory boards of The Journal of Population Health Management and Managed Care and is a Senior Scholar in the School of Population Health at Thomas Jefferson University. His community service includes the Boards of the Greater Donnelley Neighborhood Initiative and Young Audiences of New Jersey.
Dr. Peskin received a bachelor’s degree from The University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and a medical degree from Emory University School of Medicine. He completed residency at Saint Elizabeth’s Medical Center in Boston and holds an MBA from the Sloan School of Management at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Mae Pfeil
Mae Pfeil, MSW is the Director of Clinical Integration for Columbia Pacific CCO at CareOregon. She received her Master’s of Social Work from the Portland State University in 2008 with a focus on community-based and structural approaches to alleviating poverty. Mae worked at various community- based organizations within the social safety net before joining CareOregon 7 years ago. She has applied that background to her approach in building value-based payments designed to facilitate healthcare transformation.
Konark Rana
Konark is healthcare executive with 15 plus years of experience
in healthcare strategy, creating clinical, member centric solutions
which helps organizations to increase revenue, decrease costs
and improving operational effectiveness by addressing people,
processes and technology across every aspect of the healthcare
payer lifecycle.
Currently as a Director of Product Strategy and Development
within Gateway Healthplan he focuses on strategizing, designing
and implementing innovative and transformative programs that
support Gateway’s members throughout their journey to self
reliance while positioning Gateway to be at forefront in the
industry. He and his team contributes to support growth, value
based payments, clinical and quality (HEDIS, Stars) programs
and outcomes.
Jennifer Spear
Jennifer Spear is a Population Health Strategy Lead with Humana’s population health team. Jennifer is in charge of executing interventions and programs that address food insecurity in Humana’s member population and the communities they serve. Additionally, she works closely with community partners, the clinical community and other partners to address the health related social needs, particularly food insecurity, of people, where they are receiving care. Spear previously led employee awareness strategies dedicated to raising awareness around the importance of social determinants of health and Healthy Days. Prior to her role working with food insecurity, Spear implemented member call programs that focused on Healthy Days assessments, which is how Humana is tracking progress toward its Bold Goal – that the communities it serves will be 20 percent healthier by 2020 and beyond.
Martha Shenkenberg, MBA
Martha has been a health care consultant for more than thirty years. She has focused on implementing clinical programs throughout the United States. Currently she is with Kaiser Permanente in Pasadena where she leads all the Medi-Cal clinical implementations in Southern California. Her next area of focus will be to implement CalAIM in an integrated delivery network. Martha received both her BSN and MBA from the University of Virginia. Prior to joining KP, she worked at Deloitte Consulting and BoozAllen.
Stephanie Shushan, MHA
Stephanie Shushan is a healthcare administrator with experience in program and operations management in academic, hospital and healthcare systems settings. In her role current role, she manages the Mental Health Integration Program (MHIP). This program integrates behavioral health in Federally Qualified Health Centers across Washington State through the evidence-based Collaborative Care Model. This program and her work intersects with broader efforts of behavioral health and physical health integration, telehealth and provider education and training.
Karin VanZant
Karin VanZant is the Vice President of Integrated Community Partnerships at CareSource. Since
2015, Mrs. VanZant oversees the work of Social Determinants of Health at CareSource and the
full integration into the Population Health Model. Specifically, Mrs. VanZant has built the Life
Services strategy, CareSource’s brand of SDOH partnerships, programs and pilots. The first and
largest program of Life Services is JobConnectTM - a workforce development program that assists
CareSource members to enter into full-time, permanent employment. In 2015, JobConnectTM
started in Ohio and expanded to Indiana and Georgia Medicaid Markets as of 2017. Karin leads
a team that is currently working on hunger and housing strategies as a part of Life Services.
Prior to joining CareSource, Karin was the co-founder and Executive Director of Think Tank, Inc.
For ten years as this organization’s leader, Karin assisted the team to live out the mission of
equipping and facilitating collaboration among people and organizations seeking ways to
promote greater connectedness and a more thriving community.
Karin VanZant has a MPA in Public Administration (2008) and a BA in Social Work (1998) from
Wright State University. Karin is certified in various curriculums that address comprehensive
poverty issues in the United States. She has helped author presentations and curriculum for use
within nonprofit, business and faith-based organizations seeking to become relevant and
holistic in their approach to poverty alleviation. Mrs. VanZant is an Adjunct Professor at Antioch
Midwest University and Wright State University on a variety of subjects including US Hunger
and Poverty, Justice and Equity, Introduction to Human Services, Grant Writing, Leading
Change, Coaching as Management, Holistic Case Management and Emotional Intelligence. She
lives in Springfield, Ohio with her husband and two boxer dogs.
Maranda Varsik
As an experienced healthcare professional, Maranda Varsik has worked on a variety of different healthcare transformation and quality improvement projects including work in risk-based value-based payments (VBP), meaningful language access, and community paramedicine. Prior to this Maranda worked in FQHCs in California and Oregon implementing EMRs and participating in value-based payment (VBP) programs. Being a participant and creator of VBPs provides a unique perspective and Maranda uses to facilitate healthcare transformation.