Featured Speakers
KIM BARRUS
MSN, BSCIS, RN, PMP, Director, Clinical Outcomes Management
Chester Brown Jr, DM,MHA (CJ)
Director, Medicare Provider Performance & Network Strategy
Tim Buxton
AVP, Risk Adjustment and Coding Services
JENNIFER CALLAHAN
Chief Operating Officer
Bent Christiansen,
SVP, Payer Partnerships,
KESLIE CRICHTON
Chief Sales Officer
ARCHIE DEY
VP Consumer Experience and Insights
LAUREN EASTON
Senior Vice President, Clinical Innovation
Greg Hanley, MBA, FACHE, CPHQ,
VP, HS Quality & Operations
ALLISON HESS
Vice President Health Innovations
ABBY KARABARO
Managing Director of Medicare Product
CHRISTINE LEO
Vice President, Medicare Advantage Products
Henry Mahncke
CEO
Eddie Maria
Head of Sales
Messina Martinez, MSW
Director of Strategy & Operations
Henry W. Osowski
Managing Partner
ANDREW SCHWAB
Founder
MELISSA SMITH
Founder & Senior Advisor
MICHAEL SPICER
Vice President Product
BARRY STREIT
Senior Vice President Growth
Benjamin Vicidomina
VP, Analytics & Quality Improvement
Speaker Details
Kim Barrus
MSN, BSCIS, RN, PMP, Director, Clinical Outcomes Management
SelectHealth
Kim is a registered nurse who received her Bachelor of Science in
Computer Information
Systems from Columbia College of Missouri, and her Bachelor of
Science in Nursing and
Master of Science in Nursing from Western Governors University. She
also maintains a
Project Management Professional (PMP) certification from the Project
Management
Institute (PMI).
Kim Barrus began her career with SelectHealth 26 years ago and has
worked in a variety
of capacities in that time. She developed the SelectHealth Advanced
Primary Care
(a.k.a., patient centered medical home) program and supporting
department. Kim
facilitated the initial pilots of the program in 2010. Today the
program has 1,240
participating providers at 222 participating clinics. Kim is
currently the Director of
Clinical Outcomes Management and has oversight for quality, medical
home, NCQA
accreditation, HEDIS and CMS Stars.
Chester Brown Jr, DM, MHA (CJ)
Director, Medicare Provider Performance & Network Strategy
Blue Shield of California
Chester Brown, Jr (CJ) is highly experienced healthcare executive who has lead teams of professionals in P&L, product, finance, analytics, and business operations in highly regulated, matrix, and fast-paced environments. He is currently Director, Provider Performance and Network Strategy at Blue Shield of CA. Prior to Blue Shield, CJ worked at Anthem (Elevance Health), Arcadian Health Plan (Humana), and LA Care Health Plan in various leadership roles, including Regional Vice President Medicare Market Performance and West Region Product Director. With over 20 years of Medicare experience, CJ has managed as many as 200 different Medicare Advantage plans across 7 states, fostering innovations in product design and supplemental benefit ideation. His worked has also included assisting startups like Clever Care Health Plan in establishing products aimed at targeted market segments.
Tim Buxton
AVP, Risk Adjustment and Coding Services
Annova Solutions
Tim Buxton (MBA, CPC, CPC-I, CIC, COC, CRC, CCS, CHP) has been a certified medical coder since 2001 and a consultant and educator in the areas of Risk Adjustment, HEDIS/Quality programs, and SDOH for 15 years. He is currently the AVP for Risk Adjustment and Coding Services at Annova Solutions, a healthcare services organization focusing on medical record retrieval, review, and data extraction. Tim is a long-time RISE veteran, having spoken at over 20 conferences on a variety of subjects. He is an avid student of history and of lifelong learning
Jennifer Callahan
Chief Operating Officer
ATRIO Health Plans
Jen Callahan is the Chief Operating Officer of ATRIO Health Plans.
For the past
19 years, Jen has established herself as a trusted thought leader
and helped
shape the managed care industry with her innovative ideas and
expertise. Jen has
dedicated her career almost exclusively to managed care and is an
industry
leading expert in all areas of Medicare Advantage and Medicare
Supplement
programs.
Prior to joining ATRIO, she co-founded a field management
organization, Keen
Insurance Services, Inc. to create a provider-centric Medicare
focused sales and
distribution organization from the ground up. Prior to that, she
held the
position of Vice President, Medicare Product at Aetna, a CVS Health
company
where she oversaw the product development and implementation Aetna’s
entire
Medicare portfolio, contributing over $24 billion to Aetna’s
revenue. Throughout
her career, Jen has also held various leadership positions at
Healthfirst, Inc.
and Anthem, Inc. focused exclusively on Government sponsored
business.
Jen received her Bachelor of Science degree from Fordham University
and MBA from
North Carolina State University. Jen currently resides in Waxhaw, a
suburb of
Charlotte, North Carolina with her husband, their three kids and fur
baby, Vivi.
Jen loves spending time with her family and friends and hosting them
at their
home.
Bent Christiansen
SVP, Payer Partnerships
Better Health
Bent Christiansen is the SVP of Payer Partnerships at Better Health,focused on bringing cost-
savings to and quality improvements to payers for their chronic condition populations through
peer-to-peer support and medical supplies. Bent has over a decade of experience in value-
based healthcare and digital enterprise solutions, with expertise in AI-enabled healthcare, data
analytics, and population health management.
Keslie Crichton
Chief Sales Officer
Benelynk
Keslie is the Chief Sales Officer for Benelynk. In her role, she is
not only responsible for new business development but also works on
innovative partnerships to improve outreach strategies and health
outcomes for our client’s members. At the core of BeneLynk’s
services, Keslie and her team work to identify, document and solve
member’s social determinant of health (SDoH) challenges by “leading
with help”. This increases BeneLynk’s engagement rates across our
integrated services while also providing our clients with crucial
information they need to deliver care and improve their quality
metrics.
Keslie has worked in managed care for over 25 years with a focus on
SDoH solutions that improve members lives but also provide a return
on investment for our clients. Keslie's passion lies in working on
strategies that put members at the center while ensuring we deliver
accurate risk-adjusted revenue, quality performance, and member
retention.
Keslie holds a B.S. in Business Administration from Regis University
and worked toward her MBA and Masters in Healthcare Administration
at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, CT.
Archie Dey
VP Consumer Experience and Insights
SCAN Health Plan
Archie Dey leads the Consumer Experience and Insights efforts at SCAN. He is accountable for the following
• Strategy to execution of consumer experience initiatives
• Consumer Insights with focus on qualitative and advanced analytic approaches to understand consumer needs.
• Direct to Consumer Sales strategy to execution enabled by Digital Marketing and digital assets e.g. website.
Prior to SCAN, Archie has been a management consultant specializing in Strategy and Operations in Healthcare with background in Experience Design and Analytics.
Lauren Easton
Senior Vice President, Clinical Innovation
Commonwealth Care Alliance
Greg Hanley, MBA, FACHE, CPHQ,
VP, HS Quality & Operations
UCare
Greg has nearly 20 years of health plan experience in quality, population health and clinical
improvement. In his current role, he provides strategic direction and leadership for Quality and
Population Health including Star Ratings, NCQA Accreditation, Health Equity, Utilization
Management, Appeals & Grievances, Provider Credentialing, Disease Management, Clinical
Informatics, and Health Services Analytics.
Prior to joining UCare, he was the Midwest Regional Director of Quality Improvement at
Coventry Health Care in Kansas City, MO. As such, he oversaw Coventry’s credentialing, NCQA
Accreditation, CAHPS and quality of care program, quality Committees and all quality
improvement projects.
Greg retired from the Army in 2005 after a 21-year career as a Medical Service Corps Officer
and in Psychological Operations.
Greg serves on the board for Minnesota Community Measurement (MNCM). Greg is board
certified by the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) as a Fellow (FACHE) in health
care management and previously served as the President for the Minnesota Chapter of ACHE.
He is a Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality (CPHQ) and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree
from St. Cloud State University, and Master of Business Administration from Portland State
University.
Allison Hess
Vice President Health Innovations
Geisinger
Allison Hess is the Vice President of Health Services for Geisinger.
She has over 20
years of experience in healthcare and is responsible for the
oversight and
implementation of health services programming that includes
Geisinger patients, GHP
insured members and community members. She started her career in
community
health education serving underserved and uninsured populations while
expanding her
scope to include innovative employer wellness and population health
initiatives driven
by data analysis and clinical outcome measurements. Most recently
her work has been
focused on addressing disparities by focusing on social needs
screenings, resources
and innovative programs targeting food insecurity, transportation,
health equity and
quality/prevention initiatives.
Ms. Hess has earned a Bachelor of science in Health Education and
her MBA from
Bloomsburg University. She has been the recipient of several awards
focused in
various areas of health including social needs, health equity,
worksite wellness and
innovative supply chain. She has also been recognized nationally for
her work with
the Fresh Food Farmacy program.
Abby Katabaro
Managing Director Medicare Product,
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan
Abby Katabaro is a seasoned product leader who oversees Medicare
Advantage and Medicare
Supplement product development and management as the Managing
Director of Medicare Product at
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. In her role, she provides
strategic direction over product portfolio
planning, benefit design, communications, and filing for the health
plan, as well as leading vendor
engagement and management of supplemental benefits. Prior to joining
BCBSM in February 2024, Abby
served as the National Director of Medicare Products at Kaiser
Permanente where she was accountable
for the development and implementation of competitive,
growth-driving ancillary and supplemental
benefits as well as Medicare product strategy across the company’s
market landscape. She previously
led Medicare product development for Centene and served in various
roles at Wellcare Health Plans,
where she developed Medicare products and materials, designed plan
portfolios, and filed CMS bids.
Abby previously held legal and corporate communications roles in the
professional sports, education,
and legal industries, of which she holds degrees in. Based out of
Alpharetta, Georgia, you can find her
volunteering for service dog and rescue organizations, playing
tennis, traveling abroad, and going on
local foodie adventures around Atlanta with her husband, two
daughters and two retrievers.
Christine Leo
Vice President, Medicare Advantage Products
Cigna
Christine joined Cigna Medicare in 2015 and is responsible
for the oversight of Cigna's Medicare Advantage group and
individual products. She is responsible for innovation, new
product development, and the implementation and performance
of Cigna's Medicare Advantage plans.
Christine has been integral in advancing innovation within
the Medicare line of business throughout her career and is
an expert within the industry. Her experiences both as
caregiver, as well as dealing with her own health issues,
serve to drive her passion to improve healthcare.
She has more than 25 years of Medicare and Medicaid
experience. Christine previously worked at Aetna where she
was National Head of Product Strategy for Medicare Advantage
at Aetna. She also held leadership roles in national
contracting, network contracting, operations and dental.
Christine began her managed care career with HealthPASS, one
of the first managed Medicaid programs in Pennsylvania.
A graduate of the University of New Mexico with a degree in
Dental Hygiene, Christine also holds a Master’s in Business
Administration from St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia.
Christine lives in Philadelphia with her husband and
daughter.
Henry Mahncke
CEO
Posit Science
Eddie Maria
Head of Sales
Birdsong Hearing Benefits
Eddie Maria is the Head of Sales for Birdsong Hearing. In his role, Eddie provides leadership of Birdsong
Hearing Benefits, LLC Sales while partnering with clients to make their plans more impactful, personal,
and meaningful for members. He is passionate about improving peoples’ lives by bringing a whole health
focus to hearing benefits that also helps health plans bring additional value to their members.
Eddie is a client-focused leader with extensive experience bringing solutions to Commercial, Medicare
Advantage, and Managed Medicaid plans. He is passionate about the customer experience, focuses on
nurturing relationships, and appreciates the importance of understanding the customer’s needs.
Eddie has 27 years of experience building client partnerships and leading sales teams in the healthcare
industry, including the pharmaceutical, women’s healthcare, and hearing benefits sectors. He has a
Bachelor of Arts in Communications Studies from California State University – Sacramento. Outside of
work, Eddie volunteers with Blessings in a Backpack – an organization that provides children on a free-
lunch program with food every Friday during the school year so that they have food for the weekend.
Messina Martinez, MSW
Director of Strategy & Operations
Wellcare - Centene Corporation
Messina Martinez holds a Masters of Social Work and has overseen Medicare strategy and operations for Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico health plans.
In her current role, she works product bid development, growth strategy, state regulatory operations, and duals integration. She supports corporate
shared service models and oversees the local health plan operational functions in the Medicare line of business.
In the beginning of her career as a Social Worker, she worked in child and adult protective service roles for the State of New Mexico,
advocating and serving individuals from birth to grave. She began her career in Managed Care in 2012 and has worked with the aged and disabled
populations for over a decade in population health, care management, quality, and compliance roles. She was the director of Long Term Services & Supports (LTSS)
for Molina Healthcare and Western Sky Community Care (Centene Corporation) in New Mexico where she oversaw the Care Coordination and Utilization Management teams.
Messina has since worked extensively on new business implementation and operations, standing up the Medicare and Marketplace lines of business in the health plan.
She has held leadership roles in various departments including enrollment, IT, provider data management, and grievances & appeals.
Messina has a passion for the aged and disabled populations and strives to provide the highest quality of care, access, and member experience for the underserved.
Henry W. Osowski
Managing Partner
Strategic Health Group
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.
Andrew Schwab
Founder
Platform Government Strategies
Andrew Schwab is the Founder & CEO of Platform Government
Strategies, a strategic
government health policy, advocacy and messaging firm built to
“platform” healthcare
organizations inside our national health policy debate. His deep
experience includes having
spent the past two decades in and around national health policy and
politics, first as a staffer in
the United States Senate and New Jersey Legislature, and then as a
Washington, DC
government affairs leader at trade and member associations,
nonprofits and public companies.
Andrew began his career as Deputy Press Secretary to U.S. Senator
Jon Corzine (D-NJ) where
he worked on public affairs implementation of the Medicare Part D
drug benefit. As he
continued his public service, for seven years, Andrew was Chief of
Staff to the New Jersey
Legislature’s Chairman of the Financial Institutions & Insurance
Committee, passing 23 laws
and guiding efforts during the 2008 financial crisis, state
implementation of the Affordable Care
Act and what became first-in-the-nation leadership on surprise
billing legislation. In 2013,
Andrew was recruited to lead federal advocacy at AARP in the areas
of Medicare Advantage,
Medigap, employer insurance and the ACA. He then moved on to heading
federal government
affairs at the Alliance of Community Health Plans where he served
during 2017’s ACA repeal and
replace debate. During COVID-19, Andrew was Director of Policy,
Federal Affairs & Partnerships
at United States of Care, a nonprofit established by former Obama
and Biden Administration
official Andy Slavitt. Immediately prior to establishing his own
firm, Andrew built the first
government affairs function at Oak Street Health where he led
efforts to preserve the ACO
REACH program from termination, establish the Health Equity Index
Reward Factor in
Medicare Advantage, and led the department’s transition after the
$10.6 billion acquisition by
CVS Health.
Andrew holds dual undergraduate degrees in Policy Studies and
History from Syracuse
University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and a
Masters of Public
Administration from Rutgers University.
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.
Michael Spicer
Vice President Product
Capital District Physicians’ Health Plan
Mike leads the Product Innovation team of portfolio managers,
researchers, and analysts at CDPHP in Albany, NY. Mike’s team is
always seeking out new trends and disruptions in healthcare to
enhance CDPHP’s product portfolio, ranging the gamut from digital
health technologies to high deductible plans paired with HSAs.
Mike is most interested in studying and utilizing consumer behavior
trends in healthcare, including the choices people make, why they
make those choices, and the influences required to help them make
choices that are more appropriate.
Originally from Syracuse, New York, Mike relocated for his
post-secondary education, including a B.S from Union College (NY)
focused in Neuroscience and Quantitative Economics, as well as a
Masters of Business Administration (M.B.A.) focused in Healthcare
Management from Clarkson University. Mike now resides with his
family and dachshunds in Latham while continuing to work on his golf
game.
Barry Streit
Senior Vice President Growth
Essence Healthcare
Benjamin Vicidomina
VP, Analytics & Quality Improvement
Louisiana Blue
With 15 years of experience in healthcare informatics, Benjamin Vicidomina leads healthcare
analytics at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana. He has helped build the organization as a
leader among health insurers in predictive analytics and outcomes research that drive greater
affordability, better health outcomes, improved access to behavioral health services and
improved member experience. And he has been instrumental in driving Blue Cross to a 4.5
Medicare Advantage Star rating. He also has nearly 10 years’ experience leading risk adjustment
solutions at Blue Cross.
Among the examples of Vicidomina’s commitment to helping improve the health and lives of
Louisianans are when he and his team shared their technological capabilities and expertise
beginning in March 2020 to inform the state’s COVID-19 response. He led the Blue Cross
partnership with the Louisiana Department of Health. According to the department’s secretary,
these efforts have made Blue Cross invaluable and “informed many of the difficult decisions that
state leaders have made.” The governor numerous times spoke of the “truly unique” public-
private collaboration with Blue Cross.
Vicidomina’s work and collaborations have been shown in over 20 publications on subjects such
as improving health outcomes, reducing healthcare costs and improving patient experience in the
healthcare ecosystem. He has an extensive background in software design, consulting, computer
systems auditing, and decision support systems. Vicidomina earned his bachelor’s degree from
the University of New Orleans and later taught middle school mathematics in the aftermath of
Hurricane Katrina at a disaster-affected school.