Rise

Halima Ahmadi-Montecalvo Epidemiologist, Social and Behavioral Scientist Adjunct Professor, Milken Institute School of Public Health

George Washington University

Dr. Ahmadi-Montecalvo is a public health leader and SDOH researcher with extensive experience in research and evaluation design, strategic business development, and development of recommendations for policy and program implementation. She is a dynamic equity-centered leader with expertise in developing and leading high functioning teams, developing partnerships, and using a data driven approach for system transformation with a focus on value-based care and improving health outcomes for underserved populations. Her research focuses on the social drivers of health and health inequities, with a particular interest in issues explaining factors within the social and built environment that affect the lives of vulnerable population groups. Dr. Ahmadi-Montecalvo is the Associate Vice President of Research and Evaluation at Unite Us, where she leads evaluation efforts to measure the value of social care investments.

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

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

Keith Bell VP of Quality & Experience

Ingenia

Keith is a seasoned professional with a wealth of experience in health plan management, direct care, and vendor settings. With a solid background in public health, he possesses expertise in program and product development, health care analytics, and enhancing health care quality and member satisfaction from both payer and provider perspectives.

Before joining Ingenia Health as Vice President of Quality and Experience, Keith served as the Vice President of Quality at Health Data Decisions, specializing in improving health care quality for Medicaid, Medicare, and Marketplace health plans, along with government programs and provider networks. He has led successful clinical quality initiatives at prominent organizations like Neighborhood Health Plan, Harvard Pilgrim Healthcare, and Boston Medical Center HealthNet Plan. His technology experience includes working as the health care quality and HEDIS product manager for McKesson Care and Analytics (now Change Healthcare).

Keith’s direct care and research experiences at Boston Medical Center and Latin American Health Institute have further enriched his expertise. He is known for developing innovative programs to address health care equity, including a recognized initiative that improved mammography rates for Black and African American women. Keith’s consulting work with Health Data Decisions allowed him to create impactful programs nationwide, focused on enhancing health care quality, patient satisfaction, and equity.

He holds a Master’s in Public Health degree with a specialization in Social and Behavioral Sciences from Boston University School of Public Health.

Liz Carr VP of Product Delivery & Customer Experience

Ingenia

Evelyn Chojnacki Sr Director Health Plan Strategy

Sword Health

Evelyn Chojnacki brings an extensive health plan background to Sword Health with over 19 years’ experience serving clients and members. This includes client management, health care program development, vendor assessment and integrations, market deployment and strategy.

Evelyn joined Sword in early 2021 and remains focused on advocating for the needs of health plan partners while supporting the advancement of virtual care across the industry. This means promoting solutions positioned to deliver impactful clinical results and equitable member access to convenient care - all while tackling escalating healthcare costs.

Outside of work, Evelyn is an active outdoor and travel enthusiast.

Kailey Collier Director of Quality

Kern Health Systems

Phil Collins Director of Customer Success

Hyperlift

Phil Collins is a seasoned professional with extensive experience in the managed care industry. As the Senior Director of Quality at FarmboxRx, he plays a pivotal role in overseeing performance analytics and collaborating with health plans to develop and implement quality improvement strategies in programmatic design.

With a career spanning over 12 years, Phil has honed his expertise within MCO’s, including prominent names like Molina Healthcare and Atrio Health plan. During his tenure, he specialized in HEDIS measures, bringing in-depth knowledge and understanding of these essential quality metrics. He has actively participated in the chart review and data collection processes for Hybrid measures, ensuring accurate and comprehensive data analysis to support decision-making and performance evaluation.

A skilled analyst, Phil excels in producing reports that highlight current and projected HEDIS and CMS rates. These reports provide invaluable insights into the performance of health plans, enabling strategic decision-making to achieve higher HEDIS scores and Star Ratings.

Carmela Costiniuk B.Sc. OT, MHA, D. EdD(C), VP Population Health and Clinical Transformation

Catholic Medical Partners

Carmela Costiniuk is Vice President of Population Health and Clinical Transformation at Catholic Medical Partners, the largest network of independent practice physicians in Buffalo, NY, with nearly 900 physician members. She develops and implements population health and operational strategies and oversees the operations team, which provides direct support to physician practices to improve quality performance and care coordination across the health continuum.

A native of Canada, Carmela earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Occupational Therapy from the University of Toronto and her Masters in Health Services Administration from D’Youville University where she is currently completing her Doctoral Degree in Health Administration.

Carmela has held various administrative positions in home and community based care, acute care, long-term care, and the Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) Ontario Ministry of Health. 

Shannon Decker M.Ed., MBA, PhD, Principal

VBC One

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

Tina Dueringer Vice President Clinical and Quality

Rebellis Group

Tina is the Vice President of Clinical and Quality at Rebellis Group, a consulting firm that specializes in health plan operations, pharmacy benefit management, government consulting and technology. Tina has extensive experience in Medicare, Medicaid, SNP, Marketplace and commercial business. Her expertise includes case management, medical management, utilization management, clinical quality, Stars, HEDIS and accreditation including NCQA and URAC. She has health plan experience in strategic planning, joint ventures, partnerships, delegated relationships, value-based care including development and implementation.

Tina previously served as the Head of Health Plan Operations for Cityblock Health, a value-based care, risk-based startup serving underprivileged populations. She was also the Director of Clinical Quality, Accreditation, Appeals and Grievances at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona. Previously she held leadership positions with both the payer and provider. She holds a bachelor’s degree in nursing and a post graduate certification from Duke University in Population Care Coordination and is a Board-Certified Case Manager (CCM).

Julianne Eckert Senior Director, Clinical Quality Programs

Clover Health

Julianne Eckert is the Senior Director of Clinical Quality Programs at Clover Health, a physician enablement company focused on seniors who have historically lacked access to affordable, high-quality healthcare. She is responsible for creating an innovative  data driven strategy that breaks the traditional model of healthcare to make it easier for providers and patients to deliver and receive healthcare.   

She has spent her life using her personal and clinical career experiences to help drive her mission as a patient advocate by leading health plan quality improvement strategies to prevent vulnerable populations from falling through the cracks with data stories and forward thinking programs which enable patients to easily navigate the complex matrices of healthcare and insurance. She has sweeping subject matter experience in CMS Innovation models, Stars QI programming, NCQA HEDIS/CAHPS/HOS, health equity, as well as, national and international leadership in driving laser focused strategies to improve health plan performance and member outcomes/experience.

She has held multiple Board Advisory roles and currently serves on the Board of Advisors for curriculum development for Pace University’s Design Thinking Executive Program which meets high academic standards, with a challenging interdisciplinary curriculum designed to prepare top executives to solve real-world challenges in designing innovative practices. She holds multiple certifications in Organizational Change Management, Case Management and also Managed Care.  She is an avid mentor and career coach believing it is her mission to develop our next generation of leaders.

Rhonda Farrar Clinical HEDIS Supervisor

Healthy People, Inc.

Rhonda is the Clinical HEDIS Supervisor for Healthy People, Inc.  Her clinical nursing experience includes critical care nursing in the ICU and ED, home health nursing, and Chronic Care Management.  Recognizing the increasing frequency of ED and Home Health Care utilization by the same patients, Rhonda shifted to a healthcare quality focus.  Rhonda has spent the last 9 years supporting patients, providers and health plans with significant experience in HEDIS and Quality Improvement.  Rhonda’s health plan experience as the manager of HEDIS and Risk Adjustment departments on the payer side helps bring the clinical perspective to the technical needs of Quality.  She has now transitioned from the vendor side to work with the Healthy People Team to continue those efforts!  She is currently based in Marion County, FL and spends her free time with her husband, family, and their precious dogs Creek and River.

Tim Fischetti Clinical Quality and HEDIS Programs

Clover Health

Mark Fulton MBA, PMP, Director, Population Health Performance Improvement & Innovations

Sentara Health Plans

Katie Gries MHA, Manager, Quality Management

Blue Cross of Idaho

Katie Gries is the Manager, Quality Management at Blue Cross of Idaho.  Katie has been with BCI for over 4 years where her team is responsible for HEDIS for all lines of business.  Katie led the efforts at BCI which moved the organization from a 3.5 Star Rating in Star Year 2023 to 4.5 Stars in SY2024. Prior to her work at BCI, she spent 7 years at a Clinically Integrated Network where she was tasked with developing a program for quality and risk adjustment improvement.  This work is where she discovered a passion for quality, risk adjustment and working collaboratively with Primary Care Providers (PCP).  Katie holds a bachelor’s degree in Management and Organizational Leadership and a master’s degree in Healthcare Administration.  She is also Certified Medical Practice Executive through the Medical Group Management Association. 

Bryan Hall HEDIS Consultant

MCDA

Bryan Hall has been involved with HEDIS as part of a major benefits consulting firm, a health plan underwriting and data manager, a HEDIS programmer, an auditor, a troubleshooter for a HEDIS vendor, a project manager, and as a consultant.

As a HEDIS programmer, he twice helped a small, non-profit health plan make the U.S. News & World Report list of America's Best Health Plans.

MY 2023 is his 29th season of HEDIS reporting.

Ana Handshuh Principal

CAT5 Strategies

Ana Handshuh, Principal at CAT5 Strategies, is a government programs executive with expertise in creating and implementing corporate programs for the healthcare industry. Her background includes Quality, Core Measures, Care Management, Benefit Design and Bid Submission, Accreditation, Regulatory Compliance, Revenue Management, Communications, Community-based Care Management Programs and Technology Integration. Ms. Handshuh currently serves on the Board of the Resource Initiative and Society for Education (RISE), the preeminent national professional association dedicated to managed and accountable care financing and delivery. She is a sought after speaker on the national healthcare circuit in the areas of Quality, Star Ratings, Care Management, Member and Provider Engagement, and Revenue Management. Her recent consultancy roles have included assisting organizations create programs to address the unmet care management needs in the highest risk strata of membership, document their processes and procedures, achieve accreditation status, design and submit government program bids, institute corporate-wide programs and create communications strategies and materials. She possesses sophisticated business acumen with the ability to build consensus with cross-functional groups to accomplish corporate goals. Ms. Handshuh served as the Vice President of Managed Care Services at Central Florida Inpatient Medicine (CFIM). In this role, she provided leadership and strategy on CFIM projects and collaborations with physicians, risk entities, hospital health care systems, and health plans. CFIM is the largest Hospitalist group in Central Florida, with 70 providers discharging over 50,000 patients annually from multiple hospitals across two health care delivery systems and 24 skilled nursing facilities. At CFIM Ms. Handshuh previously served as the Vice President of Operations. Prior to those assignments, she worked with Precision Healthcare Systems as their Vice President of Quality Improvement. In that capacity, she led the IPA’s Quality efforts and collaborated with payers on implementing programs to move the needle on Quality and Star Rating initiatives. Ms. Handshuh also served as the Director of Corporate Program Development at Physicians United Plan. In this role, she led the Quality Management and Corporate Communications departments and spearheaded the development of innovative integrated technology solutions to drive business excellence and Star Rating achievement initiatives. For the past fifteen years Ms. Handshuh has taken an active role in redefining and implementing changes that have led to improvements and greater efficiency within Government programs and healthcare delivery. Prior to joining Physicians United Plan Ms. Handshuh was the founder of I-Six Creative. Under Ms. Handshuh’s vision and leadership, I-Six Creative provided expertise in the areas of managed Medicare benefit design, MSO/IPA operations, provider network strategy, new market launches, technology integration, corporate communications and quality improvement. 

Nikki Hungate MHA, EdD, Product & Quality Strategy Consultant

FarmboxRx

Paul Ingram CTO

Hyperlift

Katharine Iskrant MPH, CHCA, CPHQ, Practice Leader

Healthy People, Inc.

Katharine is the President of Healthy People, an NCQA-licensed HEDIS audit firm and CMS Data Validation firm. She is a member of the NCQA Audit Methodology Panel, NCQA’s HEDIS Data Collection Advisory Panel, and NCQA’s Digital Quality Measures Panel. She is also featured on a 2020 NCQA ECDS podcast. Katharine has been a Certified HEDIS® Compliance Auditor since 1998 and has directed more than two thousand HEDIS audits.  

Previously, as CEO of the company Acumetrics, Katharine provided consultancy services to NCQA which helped their initial development and eventual launch of the NCQA Measure Certification Program. 

Katharine is a frequent speaker at HEDIS conferences, including NCQA’s most recent Healthcare Quality Congress. She received her BA from Columbia University and her MPH from UC Berkeley School of Public Health. She is a member of the National Association for Healthcare Quality and is published in the fields of healthcare and public health. 

Jenn Kerfoot Chief Strategy & Growth Officer

DUOS

Jenn brings their deep understanding of the complexities and nuances within the Medicare Advantage & Value Based Care landscape to their work at DUOS, where they lead business development, go-to-market strategy, and marketing. By leveraging data-driven insights and market intelligence, they spearhead the development of tailored products and services that cater to the unique needs of Medicare Advantage plans and deliver unparalleled value to clients and beneficiaries alike; previous leadership roles include FarmboxRx, Excelera Health and NationsBenefits. Beyond their role at DUOS, Jenn actively contributes to the industry's progress as a thought leader leveraging expertise and advocacy for innovative healthcare practices to enhance healthcare accessibility and quality.

Wendy Kim Quality and Accreditation Manager

International Community Health Services

Melissa Lawson Lead Director, Health Care Quality Management

Aetna Better Health of Kansas

Sally Leahy Director, Quality

FarmboxRx

Greg LeGrow Executive Director, Payer Product Market Strategy

athenahealth

Greg LeGrow leads payer product strategy at athenahealth. He is a seasoned professional with over 30 years of experience in the healthcare industry with demonstrated success in strategy development, program leadership, operations and technology deployment.

He is passionate about enabling innovation and supporting the collaboration and data exchange among payers and providers required for successful value-based care.

Vivian Meras Senior Manager, Clinical Quality Programs

Clover Health

Margaret Paroski CEO, CMO

Catholic Medical Partners

Dr. Paroski is the is the President & CEO and Chief Medical Officer of Catholic Medical Partners, an independent practice association with 900 physician members. A board certified neurologist, Dr. Paroski has held various administrative positions including Medical Director at Erie County Medical Center; Senior Associate Dean of Academic Affairs & Admissions and Interim Vice President of Health Affairs and Interim Dean at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University at Buffalo; and Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer at Kaleida Health.

She began her medical career at the Buffalo VA Medical Center and held hospital appointments at the Buffalo Psychiatric Center, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Kaleida Health, and Erie County Medical Center. In addition to her clinical and leadership roles, Dr. Paroski has been a faculty member in the Neurology department at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences for the past 37 years.

As President & CEO and Chief Medical Officer of Catholic Medical Partners, Dr. Paroski leads clinical integration and standardization efforts and physician relations among the organization’s medical and specialty practices. She is also responsible for engaging physician members in population health initiatives and value based payment model adaptation. 

Lacy Rainey MS, MSN, APRN, FNP-C, Director-Population Healthcare Delivery

Sentara Health Plans

Melissa Smith Founder, Senior Advisor

Newton Smith Group

For more than a decade, Melissa Smith has been at the forefront of leading Medicare Advantage and Star Ratings teams. As the founder of Newton Smith Group and a Senior Advisor to Oliver Wyman, Melissa is a widely recognized thought leader and healthcare strategist. Her proven track record of success lies in developing comprehensive enterprise-wide solutions that enhance Star Ratings, quality performance, health outcomes, and the overall member experience.

Melissa excels in crafting strategic and tactical solutions to meet client needs, forging productive partnerships across internal teams and external vendors, and improving performance on various quality measures.  Her unique background in business, finance, regulatory compliance, and healthcare quality provides clients unparalleled access to healthcare strategy, quality performance, and revenue optimization.

As the former Chief Consulting Officer at Healthmine and Senior Vice President at Gorman Health Group, Melissa's leadership spans across prestigious organizations like Cigna-HealthSpring and Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Graduating from Purdue University, Melissa began her career at KPMG, LLP and is a Certified Public Accountant.

Barry Stelmach CFO

Catholic Medical Partners

Barry Stelmach is the Chief Financial Officer for Catholic Medical Partners, the largest network of independent practice physicians in Buffalo, NY, with nearly 900 physician members. He is responsible for the overall financial operations and leads payor negotiations for the organization. Barry also oversees the development and evaluation of risk contracts between payors and providers for all lines of business. He has played a significant role in preparing practices for the shift from fee-for-service to value-based care and risk-based contracts.   

A native of Buffalo, NY  Barry earned his undergraduate degrees in Accounting and Economics and a Master of Arts degree from the State University of New York at Buffalo.

Mick Twomey Chief Executive Officer

Hyperlift

Mick Twomey is the founding Chief Operating Officer (COO) and current Chief Executive Officer, (CEO) of Hyperlift Logic, Inc. Coming from a management consulting background, Mick set his vision on redefining how plans approach Stars optimization. Out of that was born Stars Monitor, Hyperlift's SaaS technology platform.

Crafted by Stars professionals for their peers, Stars Monitor is the industry's leading Stars analytics solution that gives Stars teams time back while redefining how plans approach Stars optimization. Mick's dedication to creating a scalable and universally applicable model has helped establish Hyperlift's innovation-driven approach into a trusted partner in the healthcare sector.

Through a combination of leading-edge technology, Stars experts, and a year-round engagement framework, Hyperlift propels healthcare plans of all magnitudes to elevate their Stars performance management. Mick's leadership catalyzes these solutions, enabling healthcare plans to embark on a transformative Stars management journey that outperforms conventional performance management. 

Kyra Valdez-Shipp RN, MSN, CCM, Founder & Principal

Peak Performance Solutions Group

Rex Wallace Founder & Principal

Rex Wallace Consulting

Rex Wallace is the founder and principal of Rex Wallace Consulting, LLC, a firm that specializes in improving Star Ratings for Medicare Advantage health plans. Rex assesses plans and guides them in the development and implementation of leading strategies to drive material Quality Improvement. Since its inception in 2017, RWC has helped multiple Medicare Advantage contracts achieve significant improvements in Star Ratings, including single-year full-Star improvements. Prior to launching RWC, Rex spent twenty-three years in strategic healthcare roles, with a strong focus on Medicare Advantage. Most recently, he led Stars for a large, multi-state plan that consistently achieved 4 and 4.5 Stars across its multiple contracts.

Staici West VP of Network Development & Contracting

Coordinated Care Health Plan