Glenn D. Steele Jr. MD, PhD, is President and Chief Executive Officer of Geisinger Health System. Dr. Steele previously served as the dean of the Biological Sciences Division and the Pritzker School of Medicine and as vice president for medical affairs at the University of Chicago, as well as the Richard T. Crane Professor in the Department of Surgery. Prior to that, he was the William V. McDermott Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School, president and chief executive officer of Deaconess Professional Practice Group, Boston, MA, and chairman of the department of surgery at New England Deaconess Hospital (Boston, MA).  Widely recognized for his investigations into the treatment of primary and metastatic liver cancer and colorectal cancer surgery, Dr. Steele is past Chairman of the American Board of Surgery. He serves on the editorial board of numerous prominent medical journals. His investigations have focused on the cell biology of gastrointestinal cancer and pre-cancer and most recently on innovations in healthcare delivery and financing. A prolific writer, he is the author or co-author of more than 460 scientific and professional articles.

Dr. Steele received his bachelor’s degree in history and literature from Harvard University and his medical degree from New York University School of Medicine.  He completed his internship and residency in surgery at the University of Colorado, where he was also a fellow of the American Cancer Society. He earned his PhD in microbiology at Lund University in Sweden. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and serves on their Committee on Reviewing Evidence to Identify Highly Effective Clinical Services (HECS), the New England Surgical Society, a fellow of the American College of Surgeons, the American Surgical Association, the American Society of Clinical Oncology, and past president of the Society of Surgical Oncology. He was a member of the National Advisory Committee for Rural Health, the Pennsylvania Cancer Control Consortium and is presently a member of the Healthcare Executives Network, the Alliance for Advancing Non-profit Health Care, the Commonwealth Fund’s Commission on a High Performance Health System, and he serves as a member of the National Committee for Quality Assurance’s (NCQA) Committee on Performance Measurement.

In addition, Dr. Steele was Chair for the American Hospital Association Systems Governing Council and now serves on the AHA Long-Range Policy Committee. He is currently Honorary Chair of the Pennsylvania March of Dimes Prematurity Campaign. Dr. Steele serves on several boards including Bucknell University’s Board of Trustees, Temple University School of Medicine’s Board of Visitors, the American Hospital Association’s Board of Trustees and Executive Committee, and Premier, Inc.  Additionally, he serves on the Healthcare Financial Management Association’s Healthcare Leadership Council, the HFMA Healthcare Leadership Council, the Northeast Regional Cancer Institute, the Global Conference Institute, and previously served on the Simon School of Business Advisory Board (University of Rochester) 2002 - 2007.

In 2006 Dr. Steele received the CEO IT Achievement Award, given by Modern Healthcare and the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) for promoting health information technology.  In 2007, Dr. Steele received AHA’s Grassroots Champion Award and was named to Modern Healthcare’s 50 Most Powerful Physician Executives in Healthcare.

Anthony D. Aquilina DO, MBA, currently serves as the Chief Medical Officer of the Geisinger-Community Medical Center and Scranton market. In that role he partners with the platform administrative executive to lead all clinical care strategies and operations in the five-county region that uses Scranton as its hub.

Dr. Aquilina is a board certified Family Physician and Geriatrician who joined the Geisinger Health System in1993 as a full time practicing primary care physician. In1998 he accepted a position as Regional Medical Director for Geisinger Health Plan for GHP’s Northeast Region which includes the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre market.  There he served as the lead for Health Services delivered to approximately 100,000 GHP members and developed GHP’s current pay-for–performance program called Physician Quality Summary which includes a web-based transparency component that allows members to view quality measures at the primary care site level.

In 2006 Dr. Aquilina accepted the role of Medical Director for Quality and Performance for GHP. In that role he led GHP to top 5 national ranking for NCQA health plan rankings for both our commercial and Medicare advantage products.
Dr Aquilina also served a dual leadership role for the Geisinger Health System. From 2008 to 2011, he led the effort to provide high quality and efficient medical care at the Geisinger Wyoming Valley hospital as Associate Chief Medical Officer for Medical and Ambulatory Services, Geisinger Northeast. Additionally in that role, he worked closely with the Geisinger and non-Geisinger physician network of that market, leveraging the background and relationships developed in his years as Regional Medical Director for GHP.

Dr. Aquilina is a native to the Northeast Pennsylvania area and obtained his bachelor of science from the Pennsylvania State University. He then attained his medical degree from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, did an internship and completed his family medicine residency through the Osteopathic Medical Center of Philadelphia and the Metropolitan Health System in Philadelphia. Dr. Aquilina also did a faculty
fellowship in Gerontology at the Geriatric Education Center of Pennsylvania at Temple
University. Dr. Aquilina completed his M.B.A. at Auburn University in 2007.

Chris Bliersbach, MHA, is Associate Vice President for the Division of Quality & Safety at Geisinger Health System.  He has oversight responsibility for Quality Metrics & Analytics, Geisinger Quality Institute, Regulatory Performance Improvement, Clinical Content Management, and Medical and Health Physics.

Mr. Bliersbach holds Master’s degrees in Counseling from Antioch University and in Hospital Administration from the University of Minnesota.  He is a Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality and a Certified Six Sigma Black Belt.  Prior to joining Geisinger, Mr. Bliersbach spent nearly 30 years in a variety of leadership positions in healthcare quality.   He has also served in leadership positions with State and Regional chapters of the American Society for Quality and National Association for Healthcare Quality.  He is the former author/editor of the National Association for Healthcare Quality’s Guide to Healthcare Quality Management.

Frederick J. Bloom, Jr., MD, MMM is the Chief, Care Continuum of the Geisinger Health System and Medical Director, Quality and Performance for Geisinger Health Plan. He is responsible for designing reliable, value based systems of care for chronic disease and prevention in the Geisinger Clinic which serve as the foundation for the Geisinger Patient Centered Medical Home, ProvenHealth Navigator.  Dr. Bloom is co-author of numerous peer reviewed articles that show the improved quality, reduced cost and positive return on investment of these systems of care and ProvenHealth Navigator.  Dr. Bloom has taken 37 Geisinger sites to Level 3 NCQA PCC-PCMH recognition and currently serves on the NCQA PCMH Recognition Review Oversight Committee.  As Chief, Care Continuum he is responsible for strategic alignment and operational success of the elements of Geisinger's care continuum - including nursing homes, home health agency, and Careworks retail walk-in clinics.  In his role as Medical Director, Quality and Performance of the Geisinger Health Plan, he develops pay for performance partnership relationships for all providers, including thousands of non-Geisinger primary care and specialty providers.  Dr. Bloom most recently has helped lead the CMS demonstrations for Geisinger involving accountable care and is the Chief Medical Officer for the Keystone Accountable Care Organization.

Albert Bothe Jr., MD, is Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer for the Geisinger Health System. In this role, he is responsible for guiding the activities of the 1,400 member provider group practice in 65 locations serving 43 counties and the five Geisinger hospitals.  These activities include quality and performance improvement, credentialing, compensation, and new program development.  As one of the executive leaders for the system, he is involved directly in clinical operations, capital planning and other issues for the clinic and the health system.  Dr. Bothe previously served as Geisinger’s Chief Quality Officer with oversight responsibility for a variety of quality initiatives that derive from Geisinger’s strategic focus on improving the quality of care provided throughout the organization.  He also served as Chief Medical Officer for the Geisinger Medical Center, a 475-bed tertiary/quaternary medical center.  The Geisinger Medical Center provides a full range of specialty and subspecialty services for patients throughout central Pennsylvania.

Dr. Bothe received his bachelor’s degree from Johns Hopkins University and his medical degree from Harvard Medical School. After completing general surgery training, he was a member of the surgical faculty at Harvard Medical School for 19 years, followed by the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine where he was also Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs.  He subsequently received a master’s degree in medical management from the Tulane School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine.  He is past chair of the Association of American Medical College’s Group on Faculty Practice and its subcommittee on Legislative and Regulatory Affairs, and serves on the Board of Governors of the National Patient Safety Foundation.  He is a member of the American Medical Association’s CPT Editorial Panel and the American College of Surgeon’s General Surgery Coding and Reimbursement Committee.  He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Pennsylvania Health Care Quality Alliance and is a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Advisory.

John Buckley is Chief Administrative Officer, Geisinger Northeast. As such, he is responsible for Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center, which is comprised of two campuses in Wilkes-Barre, Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center and Geisinger South Wilkes-Barre, our regional ambulatory care center in the Northeast.  He is involved in strategic planning, budgetary/capital planning, business/facility development, financial performance, clinical quality improvement, and compensation.  Most recently, Mr. Buckley was Chief Executive Officer of Temple East, a 187-bed community hospital owned by Temple University Health System in Philadelphia.  Previously, Mr. Buckley led Temple’s Strategic Resource Group, a team of professional staff members responsible for service line expansions and product line integration throughout the health system. Before joining Temple, John served as President & CEO of Pottstown Healthcare Corporation (Pottstown, PA); Chief Executive Officer for several hospitals managed by the Hospital Corporation of America/Quorum Health Resources; and as Associate Hospital Director at Hahnemann University Hospital (Philadelphia). 

A Fellow of the American College of Health Care Executives, Mr. Buckley earned an MBA in Health Administration from Temple University, and a BS in Economics from Widener University.

John B. Bulger, DO, is the Chief Quality Officer for the Geisinger Health System.  In this role he leads Geisinger’s Division of Quality and Safety and is responsible for leading and disseminating Geisinger Quality. 

Dr. Bulger also served until the spring of 2012 as Director of Geisinger’s Hospital Medicine Service Line. He founded Geisinger Medical Center’s hospitalist model in 1999 and lead the program’s development.  This included innovations in resident and student education, participation in nationally recognized research and performance improvement projects and growth of the Geisinger hospitalist model.  The Geisinger Health System’s hospitalist program grew to employ over 60 physicians and a large number of advanced practitioners in six Pennsylvania hospitals (including both Geisinger owned and non-Geisinger owned facilities).

Dr. Bulger serves on the Society of Hospital Medicine’s (SHM) Healthcare Quality and Patient Safety.  Over the last several months he has helped lead SHM’s participation in the American Board of Internal Medicine Foundation’s Choosing Wisely Campaign.

Dr. Bulger is a 2003 graduate of the Osteopathic Heritage Health Policy Fellowship.  He currently serves on the Board of Trustees of Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (PCOM) and the American College of Osteopathic Internists (ACOI) and a past-president of the Association of Osteopathic Program Directors and Medical Educators (AODME).  He is a past member of the Pennsylvania Medical Society’s Board of Trustees.

Dr. Bulger is a recognized leader in osteopathic graduate medical education.  He serves as the chair of the ACOI’s Council of Education and Evaluation and the American Osteopathic Association’s (AOA) Program and Trainee Review Council - the national accrediting body for osteopathic graduate medical education.  He is a Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine and Regional Assistant Dean at PCOM and an Associate Professor of Medicine at Temple University School of Medicine. 

Dr. Bulger is a fellow of the ACOI, American College of Physicians, AODME and a senior fellow of the Society of Hospital Medicine. He is a recipient of the 2003 American Osteopathic Foundation Emerging Leader Award and the 2001 American Medical Association Emerging Leader Award.  He also received the ACOI’s Teacher of the Year award in 2005.  He received Juniata College’s 2009 Health Professions Alumni Appreciation Award.

His wife, Michele is a pediatrician and member of Geisinger’s faculty.  They reside in Danville with their children Ethan, Ben, and Ava.

Alfred Casale, MD,  is Chairman of Surgery for the Geisinger Heart Institute, Co-Director of its Cardiovascular Service Line, Associate Chief Medical Officer for Geisinger Health System and a member of the Board of Directors of Geisinger’s Insurance Operations.

Dr. Casale graduated from an accelerated program at the Johns Hopkins University with a BA in human biology and his MD from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He did postdoctoral training at Johns Hopkins University in general, thoracic and cardiac surgery, at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in thoracic surgical oncology and at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government in Health Care Policy. He has held faculty positions at Johns Hopkins, UMDNJ, Misericordia University, King’s College and Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine.

While on the faculty at Johns Hopkins, Dr Casale attended on the Heart and Lung transplant service, establishing its lung transplant program, directed the Cardiothoracic Intensive Care Unit and participated in many basic and clinical research projects while maintaining a busy clinical practice.

He joined Atlantic Health System in New Jersey in 1990 and grew its Cardiac Surgery practice into the busiest in the state.  As a consultant to the NJ DOH and President of the NJ Society of Thoracic Surgeons, he was instrumental in creating New Jersey’s Cardiac Surgery Outcomes Reports. 

While on the faculty of New Jersey’s University of Medicine and Dentistry, as Chairman of Cardiothoracic Surgery at University Hospital, he continued his work on outcomes research and system optimization.

Casale joined the Geisinger Health System in 2001 to establish the Cardiothoracic Surgery program at the new Richard and Marion Pearsall Heart Hospital at Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center.  The Heart Hospital and its services have grown remarkably and its surgery program was named one of the nation’s 50 best by Consumer Reports.

In 2004 Casale was named Co-Director of the Geisinger Heart Institute (Geisinger’s cardiac service line) and gathered its cardio-thoracic practitioners from throughout the system into a cohesive, quality focused, efficient team.  Casale’s seminal work in establishing Geisinger’s ProvenCare®  program as a model for effective redesign of complex acute surgical care, using comparative effectiveness principles to generate value and reduced unwarranted variation, has been widely acclaimed in professional and popular media.  The innovative bundled payment scheme, created in ProvenCare,®  presaged national events.

He was named Associate Chief Medical Officer in 2009 and has been responsible for the hospital based and interventional practices in Geisinger’s rapidly growing Northeast.  He continues to evolve and create innovative care and reimbursement models as part of Geisinger’s Innovation team and disseminate them as part of its Consulting Group.

In 2012 he was named to the Board of Directors of Geisinger’s Health Plans.

Casale is active in local, regional and national surgical societies within which he has held leadership posts and serves on many committees, focused on effectiveness research, quality, safety and bundled payments.  He speaks often on clinical and policy topics. 

He maintains an active clinical practice in complex adult cardiac surgery in addition to his administrative activities.  Casale and his wife Mary live in Shavertown, Pennsylvania and are active in many community organizations and boards.

Revonda Cornell, RN, Ed.D., FACHE is a Senior Clinical Consultant, Geisinger Consulting Group, Geisinger Health System. In her role, she serves as project manager for readiness assessments, ProvenCare and Patient Centered Medical Home implementation initiatives. Revonda has more than 15 years of executive experience in the roles of COO/CNE. In the past ten years, she has served as an independent consultant facilitating change and enhancing organizational financial and clinical indicators of performance. These consulting engagements included the facilitation of the ‘processes of change’ required for health care organizations to experience transformational change, inclusive of the implementation of the electronic health record.

Revonda’s twenty-five years of experience as a healthcare executive and consultant are enhanced by her doctoral education. In 2009, she completed her Ed.D. in Educational Leadership at the University of South Florida. Her doctoral studies provide her with adult learning and organizational change theoretical frameworks to which to draw upon.  Her dissertation, Transformational Change Within Three Schools of Nursing Implementing the Electronic Health Record provides her with qualitative research experience.

Jonathan Darer, MD, MPH is Chief Innovation Officer for the Division of Clinical Innovation for Geisinger Health System.  His major areas of expertise include leveraging analytics, clinical decision support and reengineering solutions to improve care for patients chronic disease, reduce preventable harm and decrease unjustified variation in care provision.

Jon currently serves as:

• Clinical Director for the Clinical Decision Intelligence System (CDIS), the   Geisinger data warehouse.
• Co-Investigator for “OpenNotes,” a Robert Wood Johnson funded initiative to evaluate the impact of allowing patients to view primary care provider progress notes through MyGeisinger.
• Co-Investigator on the newly obtained Medicare Imaging Demonstration Project.

Dr. Darer came to Geisinger from Kaiser Permanente where he led decision support development.  Dr. Darer’s practice areas include Urgent and Primary Care.

Dr. Darer received his bachelor’s degree cum laude in engineering from Harvard University and his medical degree from University of Connecticut Medical School. He completed his internship and residency at Oregon Health Sciences University, his fellowship in General Internal Medicine at John Hopkins University, School of Medicine, in addition to receiving his Masters of Public Health from John Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health. Dr. Darer has also authored and co-authored several peer and non-peer reviewed articles.

 Duane E. Davis, MD, FACP, FACR, became President and Chief Executive Officer of Geisinger Health Plan, Geisinger Indemnity Insurance Company (GIIC) and Geisinger Quality Options, Inc. (GQO) on May 21, 2012.

Geisinger Health Plan is one of Geisinger Health System’s core businesses and has been a contributor to its success. A not-for-profit health maintenance organization, GHP has approximately 290,000 members in 43 counties of northeastern and central Pennsylvania and is one of the nation’s largest rural HMOs. GHP has more than $1.3 billion in annual revenue and more than 1,000 employees. Third party administration services are provided through GHP’s affiliate, GIIC. PPO plans are offered through GQO.

Davis joined Geisinger Health System 1978 and has more than 30 years of experience in health care and managed care management. Most recently, he served as vice president, chief medical officer for Geisinger Health Plan, a position he held since 2000. His career-long interest in clinical quality improvement, clinical and financial health care redesign and value creation has included participation at the local, state and national levels. He continues to practice medicine in Geisinger Health System’s Department of Rheumatology.

Davis graduated from The Pennsylvania State University and completed his residency at Hahnemann University School of Medicine in Philadelphia. He is board certified in internal medicine and rheumatology.

A Fellow of the American College of Physicians and the American College of Rheumatology, Davis is a clinical professor of medicine at Thomas Jefferson University–Jefferson Medical College. Davis chairs the Review Oversight Committee (ROC) for the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), and is a member of the American College of Physician Executives and the National Association of Managed Care Physicians. He is also a member and former chair of the Chief Medical Officer’s Leadership Council Committee for the America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) on Quality Health Care.

Thomas Graf, MD, is the Chief Medical Officer for Population Health for Geisinger Health System. Dr. Graf is responsible for the Value Re-Engineering of the Care Continuum and other Population Health initiatives for Geisinger including the ACO portfolio and with CMS, the Physician Group Practice Transitions Demonstration and Bundled Payments for Care Improvement leading 16 hospitals from across the country in driving performance. He leads the Community Practice, Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, Psychiatry and Care Continuum Service Lines in managing the care delivery across 22 counties in central and northeast Pennsylvania. He is recognized nationally as a leader in medical home and post-acute care redesign, including the implementation nearly 40 NCQA Level III accredited Medical Home sites in the Geisinger ProvenHealth Navigator® model. He has extended this to include comprehensive nursing home care with dedicated providers tied to ProvenHealth Navigator clinics. Dr Graf has established innovative care models for optimizing chronic disease with established systems of care enhanced by MyCare modules of care for individual disease parameters lead by mid-levels through the use of the Delta Innovation Incubator program he established. Dr Graf serves as a content expert for the AHRQ’s Patient Centered Medical Homes Project, AHRQ’s I LIVEPC, international primary care improvement project, AHRQ’s Innovation Spread project, and AMGA’s Caring for Patients with Multiple Chronic Diseases Collaborative. The Value Re-engineering efforts of Geisinger were recently recognized as the AMGA 2011 Acclaim award winner.

After graduating from University of Michigan Medical School and completing Family Medicine residency training at Henry Ford Health System in Detroit, he served on the faculty of the Henry Ford Family Practice Residency and was Director of the Southwest Georgia Family Practice Residency prior to joining Geisinger.

Susan M. Hallick, RN, BSN, MHA, NEA-BC is Executive Vice President, System Chief Nursing Officer.  Sue began her professional career at Geisinger in 1983 as a staff nurse in Psychiatric and Medical/Surgical Nursing.  From 1986-1995, Sue held various Middle Management positions in the Medical/Surgical Units and Psychiatric Units at GMC.  From there, Sue moved on in July 1996 to become a Nursing Resource Engineering Facilitator for the “Geisinger 2000” Project, focusing on the development and implementation of a patient focused care inpatient care delivery model.  During this time, Nursing implemented systems that would position Nursing for real-time productivity and Nursing Care Hours training.  In March 1998, Sue assumed the role of Assistant Vice President, Nursing Services, where she assisted the CNO in the successful implementation of care delivery and productivity systems.  In August 2000, she was promoted to Vice President, Nursing at GMC where she became responsible for Nursing Professional Standards and Patient Care in the North Central Region of the health system and in July 2001, Sue’s role was expanded to Chief Administrative Officer, GMC and System Chief Nursing Officer.  In 2008, her duties increased resulting in her current title of Executive Vice President, System Chief Nursing Officer.  She collaborates with the Executive Vice President Chief Medical Officer and Chief Operating Officer of the Clinical Enterprise to lead the Clinical Enterprise at GMC and integrate best practice nursing standards across the system. 

Sue is an adjunct faculty member of Thomas Jefferson University and strongly supports our ongoing educational partnership with them.  Furthermore, Sue actively participates in networking and events through the Pennsylvania Organization of Nurse Leaders, the Hospital and Healthcare Association of PA and the Nightingales of PA.  All of these support and encourage the growth of Nursing across the entire Geisinger Health System. 

Sue holds a Diploma in Nursing from the Pottsville Hospital School of Nursing as well as a BSN from Penn State University.  She also earned a Master’s degree in Health Administration from Wilkes University.

Bruce H. Hamory, MD, FACP, is Executive Vice President, Managing Partner, Geisinger Consulting Services for Geisinger Health System.  He leads Geisinger’s efforts to extend its innovations in healthcare delivery and payment to other groups and health systems.  He is a nationally known speaker on care redesign for value and improved quality.

As Geisinger’s System Chief Medical Officer from 1997 to 2008, he led the growth of a 535-physician multi-specialty group practice to 750 physicians in 40 locations serving 41 counties and the three Geisinger hospitals. He oversaw the installation of an advanced EHR, led the development of a physician compensation model incorporating pay for performance, and a reorganization from discipline-based departments to a service line operating structure.  Other responsibilities included compensation, quality and performance improvement, credentialing, clinical operations, capital planning, as well as education and research for the health system. 

Before joining Geisinger, Dr. Hamory was Professor of Medicine and Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs at Penn State.  He was Executive Director of Penn State’s University Hospitals and Chief Operating Officer for Penn State’s Milton S. Hershey Medical Center.
    
Dr. Hamory has served on the Board of Directors for AMGA and currently serves on several national committees and panels concerned with improving the quality of medical care and use of information technology in healthcare.

Kenneth A. Holdren is Chief Administrative Officer for the Geisinger Clinic. Mr. Holdren is responsible for operational management of the activities for the 850 physician multi-specialty group practicing at more than 61 sites. Previously, Mr. Holdren served as the Vice President for Finance for Geisinger Health System.  He was responsible for financial operations, strategy, reporting and policy, directing key financial functions. Mr. Holdren joined the System in June 1985 as Controller of Geisinger Clinic and served as Chief Financial Officer of the Clinic before his System Finance role.

Prior to joining the Geisinger Health System, Mr. Holdren was a Manager with the public accounting firm, Price Waterhouse. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Lycoming College in Williamsport, PA. He has been a certified public accountant since 1981 and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Maryland Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Healthcare Financial Management Association and Medical Group Management Association. He has served on the HFMA National Task Force for Patient Friendly Billing.

Meg Horgan is Vice President, Consulting Group for Geisinger Health Systems.  She has led projects for the enterprise-wide transformation program (GAPP – Geisinger Accelerated Performance Program) focused on achieving excellence in clinical quality, cost savings, and growth.  Meg has more than 30 years experience in the healthcare quality and informatics arena, with national experience partnering with executive, physician, nursing and quality leaders in developing and executing reliable clinical processes, facilitating change management and enhancing organizational focus on efficiency.  Meg's clinical background was as a staff nurse in the ER and medical/surgical settings, and her career has included roles with the University of Pennsylvania Health System, Allegheny University Health System and the Philadelphia PSRO.  Most recently, Meg was Vice President for Premier/CareScience overseeing clinical improvement, client education and consulting, and clinical quality and efficiency analysis and support for more than 700 hospitals nationwide. While at Premier, she launched QUEST, a large scale collaborative in partnership with the Institute of Healthcare Improvement, to assist in driving healthcare to new levels of performance excellence in quality, efficiency and safety with a focus on transparency.

Maria Kobylinski, MD is Department Director of Geisinger Health System’s Community Practice Service Line (CPSL) for Snyder, Union, Northumberland and Lycoming counties and serves on the CPSL Performance Improvement Committee.   She co-chairs the operations and further development of the 37 NCQA Level III Accredited Medical Home Models in Geisinger’s ProvenHealth Navigator.  She also chairs Sunbury Community Hospital’s utilization review committee and holds the chief of medicine position.

Previously, Dr. Kobylinski was the chief of staff at Sunbury Community Hospital, Sunbury, PA, and served on its board of trustees.

She is board certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine, and her skills include advanced trauma life support and cardiac life support.

After graduating with a BA from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where she majored in biology, Dr. Kobylinski received her MD from St. George’s University School of Medicine in Grenada, West Indies. She completed her internal medicine residency at Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, PA, and began working with the Geisinger Medical Group shortly thereafter.

Georgia Kornblatt RN, BSN is currently a Clinical Consultant for Performance Innovations working on the Transitions of Care Project.  She also currently works as a flex staff nurse in the GWV Emergency Department.  Before that, Ms. Kornblatt spent 5 years as the Quality Management & Special Projects Coordinator for LIFE Geisinger, overseeing quality management, interdisciplinary team facilitation, and regulatory compliance.  Ms. Kornblatt has also worked as a Human Services Specialist for the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare and as a Staff Nurse at Hershey Medical Center.

Kenric A. Maynor, MD, MPH, is Director for the Hospitalist Program at Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center in Wilkes-Barre. In this role, he has trained hospitalists on Medication Reconciliation process and has lead the Rapid Response Team initiative at Geisinger Northeast from 2007 to present.

Dr. Maynor received his bachelor’s degree in biology as a Morehead Scholar from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Master’s of Public Health from the University of North Carolina School of Public Health, and medical degree from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, North Carolina. He completed his internship and residency in internal medicine at Yale-New Haven Hospital where he also served as Chief Resident. Dr. Maynor was a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar, Internal Medicine at Johns Hopkins Medical Center.

Lynn Miller is Executive Vice President, Clinical Operations, for Geisinger Health System.  Ms. Miller is responsible for the operations of the health system’s $2.0 billion clinical enterprise which includes two hospitals; a 1,300-member multispecialty group practice including physicians, researchers and advanced practitioners; and more than 60 primary and specialty clinic sites serving 41 counties.

She has been with Geisinger since 1989.  Ms. Miller previously served as Chief Administrative Officer of Geisinger Medical Center, the system’s tertiary/quaternary care hospital in Danville, PA.  During her tenure,  she developed programs that produced a 20 percent improvement in operating margin; directed the planning and construction of a $100 million addition incorporating a new acuity adaptable mode of care; implemented a hospital inpatient electronic medical record; and achieved Magnet status, a prestigious honor earned by only 6 percent of the nation’s hospitals.

In addition to hospital operations, Ms. Miller has experience in hospital-based human resources, finance, business office management, and information technology, as well as home health and long-term care environments.

Ms. Miller serves on the Boards of the Danville Area Chapter of the American Red Cross and the Danville Child Development Center.  She is Chair of the Governance Committee for the Geisinger/HealthSouth Joint Venture.

Ms. Miller has a Master of Business Administration degree from Loyola College and a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Elizabethtown College.

Raymond Nungesser, MD, MBA is Regional Medical Director, Community Practice Service line for Geisinger Health System. Dr. Nungesser is responsible for the administrative oversight of primary care physicians and coordination of programming and specialty physician staffing with other service lines. After graduating from Jefferson Medical College and completing Family Medicine residency training at Williamsport Hospital in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, he received his MBA from the University of Massachusetts.  Dr. Nungesser has been with Geisinger Health System since 1995.

Steven B. Pierdon, MD, MMM is currently the Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice-President for Geisinger Northeast.  Since 2008, he has led the strategic transformation of a 250 bed tertiary care referral hospital operating at two campuses. 

Capitalizing on the successful recruitment of more than 60 physicians in two years, inpatient volume growth of over 10% per year has been achieved supporting a $37M bottom line improvement.  The development of a team based care process coupled with the comprehensive implementation of the inpatient EHR in 2009 enabled care process improvements resulting in lower HAI rates, improved quality metrics, and a case mix adjusted O/E mortality ratio reduction to 0.70.

In his previous leadership role, Dr. Pierdon was Chief Medical Officer for Clinical Operations and Community Practice for the Geisinger Health System.  He worked in conjunction with system leaders to assure the clinical and operating performance of its 650-physician multi-specialty group at three hospitals and multiple clinic locations.  In that role, he led a process translating a ‘quality budget concept’ to hierarchal operational leadership goals coordinated by organizational priority themes, measured by cascading metrics, and supported by increased physician performance compensation quality metric weighting. 

Dr. Pierdon also established a physician recruiting justification process validating the recruitment of >130 physicians over two years, supplemented by proforma achievement tracking.  Dr. Pierdon led Geisinger’s Community Practice network consisting of nearly 200 physicians and 45 mid-level providers practicing at 40 multi-specialty sites across central and northeastern Pennsylvania for over five years.  During his tenure, a performance based physician compensation plan was integrated with a staff incentive bonus program resulting in a 14% physician productivity increase.  Additionally, improvements in patient access led to multi-year fee-for-service revenue growth of more than 18%, a 50% increase in new patients, and contributed to an $11M improvement in the networks’ bottom line.  He also coordinated a comprehensive service and patient satisfaction improvement program resulting in a 40%tile improvement of overall network score within two years as measured by a national ranking firm.

Dr. Pierdon was the managing partner in a pediatric group practice for 12 years prior to selling the practice to the Geisinger Health System in 1995.  He has presented nationally and published articles on Group Practice Change Management, Physician and Performance Compensation systems and Advanced Medical Home implementation.  Dr. Pierdon serves on multiple system committees and work groups.  A graduate of Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, Dr. Pierdon attended Children’s Hospital of Michigan for his pediatric residency training and chief residency.  Dr. Pierdon received his Master’s of Medical Management degree from Tulane University in 1999.  He is certified by the American Board of Pediatrics and the Certifying Commission in Medical Management. 

Nancy L. Rizzo, serves as Sr. Vice President, Strategic Clinical Market Development and Managing Partner, Geisinger Consulting Services for Geisinger Health System.  Nancy leads Geisinger’s efforts to extend its innovations in healthcare delivery and payment to other groups and health systems. 

Nancy represents the Office of the President in operationally managing, promoting, fostering and developing the administrative and clinical infrastructure to ensure clinical programs, community provider and business relations and (“Partnerships”) that represent Geisinger Health System’s mission, values, and clinical excellence.  Nancy provides the system administrative management/ leadership for the present portfolio of partnerships including hospital relations, private practice physicians, and joint ventures, including consulting for hospital organizations.

Nancy was recruited to the Health System in July 1997 from the Lahey-Hitchcock Clinic in Boston, Mass., where she served as Chief Administrative Officer over the ambulatory group practice.  She received a Bachelor of Science from Tufts University, a Master of Science in Management at Lesley College.  She served as a Fellow on the Labor and Human Resources Committee of the United States Senate from January – July 1984.  She has published articles in the field of Rehabilitation and Laser Surgery and has lectured nationally in the fields of rehabilitation, research, and health administration.

Nancy’s professional memberships include: Member and past Chair, Steering Committee, Group Practice Improvement Network(GPIN); Member, Board of Governors, American Medical Group Association (AMGA); Member, American Medical Group Association Education Committee; Member, American Hospital Association (AHA) Task Force Committee; Founding member, National Clinic Research Consortium; Member, GHS Foundation Development Committee; Member, Geisinger HealthSouth Governance Committee; Member, Geisinger Fox Chase Strategic Alliance Advisory Committee; Co-Chair, GHS Advisory Council.

Ray Roth, DO, MBA, is Vice President, Chief Medical Officer for Geisinger Health Plan based in central Pennsylvania.  GHP is a regional plan within a fully integrated health system. GHP is an active member of the Alliance of Community Health Plans (ACHP) and the Clinic Club. 

Ray facilitates the expansion and evolution of the Patient Centered Medical Home and assists in the transition to Accountable Care Organization designation for key strategic partners.  He is responsible for quality initiatives, therapy class management, adherence for chronic conditions, biologic drug management and population health.    

Ray has been with the Geisinger Health System for 24 years serving in various administrative capacities with the group practice, as well as insurance operations.   He has responsibilities for network development and management, HEDIS performance, patient satisfaction, provider satisfaction, and provider pay-for-performance.  He has led collaborations with the Mayo Clinic, Duke University, Disney and Ritz-Carlton on Disease Management, Wellness Initiatives, and Service Excellence programs.  Ray also has credentialing, P&T, NCQA, and strategic planning responsibilities at the plan.

His memberships include the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP) and America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP).  He has national committee responsibility for both organizations.  He is also a member of the American College of Physician Executives (ACPE) and the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP).  

Andy Schmid RN, MHA  is Geisinger Health System's Regional Director of IT Optimization. He is accountable to plan and direct the IT initiatives that enhance Patient Safety, Process Improvement, and Decision Support.  He coordinates and leads the day to day development of the Electronic Health Record's decision support team. He previously was Program Director on the Inpatient Electronic Health record team, assisting the successful implementation of Nursing Documentation and CPOE in the Geisinger Health System. He has 30 years of experience in both clinical operations and IT at Geisinger.  He has a Bachelor's Degree at Boston College and a Masters Degree in Health Administration at the University of Scranton.            

Thomas P. Sokola, FHFMA is the Chief Administrative Officer for Geisinger Medical Center. The Geisinger Health System is a not-for-profit, integrated healthcare system that serves a 31 county, largely rural area of Northeastern and North Central Pennsylvania. It includes a 900 physician multi-specialty group practice located at more than 40 sites, two inpatient facilities and a 247,000 member managed care organization. GMC is a 545 bed referral center with annual total revenue of 950 million.

Tom attended Wilkes College where he obtained his M.B.A. and B.S. degrees. He is certified as a Fellow of the Healthcare Financial Management Association (FHFMA). Tom’s journey with Geisinger began 32 years ago. 22 years were spent at Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center in Wilkes-Barre, PA, 10 years as Chief Financial Officer. He has spent 8 years at Geisinger Medical Center as Chief Financial Officer and now serves as Chief Administrative Officer. Tom is involved with many civic organizations and HFMA (Healthcare Financial Management Association) where he has served as Past President. Tom resides in Wilkes-Barre PA with his wife Patricia and their three daughters.

Deborah Petretich Templeton, RPh, MHA, is the Vice President for Supply Chain Services at Geisinger Health System in Danville, PA.  She is responsible for all Corporate Purchasing, Logistics, Patient Transport, Linen and Supply Chain Operations and Strategic Planning for all Geisinger facilities.  She and her team was awarded the Healthcare Purchasing News Materials Management Department of the Year Award in 2008, a Premier Innovations award for the work in the area of Healthcare Supply Chain Data Standards in 2008 and in 2011 received the AHRMM award for Innovation. The Geisinger Supply Chain was also named one of the Top 25 Healthcare Supply Chains by Gartner in 2010 and 2011.  She is on the Editorial Advisory Board of Healthcare Purchasing News and serves on many local community Boards as well.  She has over 26 years of healthcare management experience including pharmacy, project management and supply chain operations.

Deb received her undergraduate degree in pharmacy from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, PA maintaining licensure in both Pennsylvania and Florida and a Masters Degree in Healthcare Administration from the University of Scranton.  Deb served as the co-chair of the Education and Enablement Subcommittee of the Healthcare Supply Chain Standards Coalition and is past president of the Large Hospital Consortium.

Janet Tomcavage, RN, MSN, is the Chief Administrative Officer for Geisinger Insurance Operations (GIO).   In this role, she co-leads the insurance company’s health services department with the Chief Medical officer.  Ms. Tomcavage has administrative responsibility for quality improvement, ProvenHealth Navigator® (Geisinger’s medical home model), disease/case management, medical management, pharmacy, wellness, clinical informatics, clinical systems development to support population management, provider network management, and GIO consulting. Ms. Tomcavage also provides clinical and executive leadership for GIO’s multi-state operations.

Ms. Tomcavage earned her bachelor of science in nursing from Bloomsburg State University and her master of science in nursing from College Misericordia. Ms. Tomcavage has held certifications as a certified diabetes educator and as an advanced practitioner for diabetes management.

For the last twelve years, Ms. Tomcavage has led Geisinger’s development of innovative models of care and population management including the nationally recognized ProvenHealth Navigator® model.  She has extensive experience in disease and case management programs that have demonstrated positive impacts on quality outcomes and health care expense.  Ms. Tomcavage has also led the development of employer based wellness programs including value-based benefit design products incorporating results-based incentive programs. 

Ms. Tomcavage has co-authored articles on patient - centered primary care, diabetes, disease management and the expanded role of nursing in health care.  Ms. Tomcavage has lectured nationally on disease and case management, medical home, chronic condition management, and many other topics.

Frank J. Trembulak is Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Geisinger Health System (“GHS”). He is executive vice president, operations of GHS Foundation and senior vice president and treasurer of the various Geisinger entities.

He has served in various staff and management positions since joining Geisinger as manager of internal audit in 1976.  Prior to joining Geisinger, he worked in both for-profit health care and public accounting.  His professional associations include: The Hospital & Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania (“HAP”), The Pennsylvania Healthcare Quality Alliance (“PHCQA”), Susquehanna University Partners (Sigmund Weis School of Business), the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry (“PCB&I”), and the Healthcare Financial Management Association.  Mr. Trembulak is a member and chairman of PHCQA; past-chairman of the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology (“CCHIT”) Board of Trustees; past-chairman of the Board of Directors, chairman of the Medical Liability Task Force, and member of the State Oversight of Integrated Delivery and Financing Systems Task Force of HAP; a Board member and chairman of various Board Committees of Susquehanna University; and, first vice chairman of the Board and the Education Foundation, and Audit Committee chairman of PCB&I.

Frank earned his BS in accounting from Susquehanna University, Selinsgrove, PA, in 1969. He is also a director and member of various Board Committees of Maria Joseph Manor, a continuing care retirement community, and is active in other community and civic organizations.

Joanne E. Wade is Executive Vice President, Strategic Program Development, overseeing the system’s major strategic program initiatives in the clinical and research enterprises. Ms. Wade is responsible for Strategy and Business Development, Geisinger Ventures and Research operations. Previously, Ms. Wade also held the (interim) position of Chief Administrative Officer for the Clinical Enterprise (Geisinger Clinic, Geisinger Medical Center, and Geisinger Northeast).  Ms. Wade received her undergraduate degree from the College of Saint Elizabeth, Convent Station, NJ, and her master’s degree from Boston University, Boston, MA.

Before joining Geisinger, Ms. Wade was Associate Dean and Chief Operating Officer, Division of Biological Sciences and the Pritzker School of Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, with primary accountability for the operational implementation of the division’s vision and for expanding clinical programs and care delivery, basic sciences and medical education programs and for managing the administrative infrastructure of this operation.  Prior to joining the University of Chicago, Ms. Wade was Chief Operating Officer of the Deaconess Professional Practice Group, Inc., and Vice President, Department of Surgery at the New England Deaconess Hospital, Boston, MA. Ms. Wade has served on a number of national professional organizations and editorial boards.