Joe has been serving the senior population for the last four years in various leadership roles with in Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. He was specifically recruited in 2019 to help re gain the 4 star rating for BCBSM. He was instrumental in establishing the strategy, infrastructure and operational approach to help transform our CAHPS strategy and score, both in investment and execution. He continues to support that execution across CAHPS, HOS and other critical member engagement areas in one the largest Medicare Advantage plans in the country.
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.
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 developing innovative leading strategies which break the traditional model of healthcare to make it easier for providers and patients to deliver and receive healthcare across the health continuum.
A recognized Star ratings and quality improvement leader, she has spent her life using her personal and clinical career experiences to drive patient advocacy and optimized health outcomes by developing forward thinking national and international programs. She has sweeping subject matter expertise and has led multiple health plans in achieving significant rating improvements across all lines of business with emphasis in Star Ratings, NCQA/URAC accreditation, CMS Innovation Models, health equity and HEDIS/CAHPS/HOS.
Julianne recently served on the Board of Advisors for Pace University, Lubin School of Business Design Thinking Executive Program charged with curriculum development preparing top executives to solve real-world challenges in designing innovative practices. She is a RN and has a BS in Nursing from Barnes-Jewish College of Nursing. She is currently earning her MBA with a focus in Healthcare Management at the University of Texas. She holds multiple board certifications in Organizational Change Management, Case Management and also Managed Care. She is an avid mentor and career coach focused on developing our next generation of leaders.
Savannah Gonsalves, RN, BSN, MHA is the Director of Quality for Hometown Health. Savannah specializes is government regulatory quality programs and has a passion for population health. In her role at Hometown Health, she oversees the HEDIS and Stars as well as Appeals and Grievances. Previous experience includes ACO/MIPS quality reporting, clinical informatics, and provider practice management. She enjoys hiking and camping with her family in the paradise that is Lake Tahoe.
"People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it." George Bernard Shaw.
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.
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.
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.
Leveraging a multidecade background in technology and healthcare, Glenn leads AdhereHealth’s Sales and Marketing operations, with a focus on high-value technology and clinical solutions for health plan and health system customers. In this role, Glenn is focused on delivering high-impact technology-driven solutions that improve value-based care outcomes, lower overall cost of care, and enhance patient experience. In addition to a lengthy technology business development background, Wirick has worked as a consultant helping organizations improve operations and performance outcomes. Glenn sits on the Board of Washington-based charity Heart and Homes Foundation, which provides housing and assistance to victims of domestic abuse.
