SUMMIT HOST

James Merlino, MD
Chief Transformation Officer
Press Ganey

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Dr. James Merlino joined Press Ganey as president and chief medical officer of the strategic consulting division in 2015. As an accomplished surgeon and industry leader in improving the patient experience, Jim draws from more than two decades of health care experience to oversee Press Ganey’s consultancy division. Under his leadership, the consulting team helps providers improve the delivery of safe, high quality care in a patient-centered environment.

Prior to joining Press Ganey, Jim served as chief experience officer and associate chief of staff at the Cleveland Clinic health system, as well as a practicing staff colorectal surgeon at the organization’s Digestive Disease Institute. At Cleveland Clinic, Jim was responsible for leading strategic programs to improve the patient experience across the system. He spearheaded numerous groundbreaking initiatives to ensure the highest standards for patient care, and improve patient access and referring physician relations. He championed organizational cultural alignment around the patient as a key component of patient centered care.

SUMMIT KEYNOTE

Steven Strongwater, MD
President & Chief Executive Officer
Atrius Health

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Dr. Steven Strongwater is the President and CEO of Atrius Health, a non-profit accountable care organization with 6,800 employees serving 720,000 patients across eastern Massachusetts and a national leader in delivering high-quality coordinated medical, home health and hospice care.

Dr. Strongwater previously served as Geisinger Health System’s Chief Transformation Officer and Chief Medical Executive for Acquisition Integration. While at Geisinger, he provided transformational leadership developing new models of care, as well as strategies and tactics to improve value, leveraging analytics and simulation tools.

Dr. Strongwater has served also in a variety of leadership positions including Assistant Chancellor, Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs, Chief of Staff and Chief Executive Officer, at UMass Medical Center, the University of Connecticut Health Center and Stony Brook University Medical Center, respectively. Currently, he serves on the Mass Digital Health Council, IBM Watson Advisory Board, Janssen Healthcare Innovators Council, Healthcare Executives Network, and on the Zetema Project. He has a long standing interest in population health, physician resilience, quality and patient safety.

Dr. Strongwater completed his undergraduate medical education at Upstate Medical Center and a research fellowship in rheumatology at the University of Michigan. He is a member of AOA and Phi Beta Kappa honor societies.

David Zaas, MD, MBA
President
Duke Raleigh Hospital


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Dr. David Zaas is Associate Professor of Medicine and the President of Duke Raleigh Hospital since July 2014. Duke Raleigh Hospital has been an important part of Duke Medicine since 1998 and a vital part of the Raleigh community since its inception as Mary Elizabeth Hospital in 1914.

Dr. Zaas previously served as the Chief Medical Officer for the Duke Faculty Practice, the Private Diagnostic Clinic (PDC). He also served as the Vice-Chair for Clinical Practice in the Department of Medicine at Duke University. He has played a major role in advancing multiple key strategic initiatives for Duke Medicine, including care redesign, clinical integration and improving access for patients. A pulmonary and critical care medicine physician by training, Zaas also formerly served as medical director for Lung Transplantation at Duke. Dr. Zaas’s academic interest have involved both translational and clinical research focused on improving outcomes from lung transplantation including the role of infectious complications after transplant.

Dr. Zaas is graduate of Yale University in 1994. He completed his medical degree at Northwestern University in 1998 and subsequently did his internship and residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He was selected as Assistant Chief of Service of the Osler Medical Service in 2002-2003. He completed his fellowship training at Duke in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine and then joined the Duke faculty in 2005. Dr. Zaas also completed his Master’s of Business Administration at Duke in 2008.

Patricia Rosello
Chief Executive Officer
Baptist Hospital of Miami


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Ms. Rosello is Chief Executive Officer for Baptist Hospital of Miami, part of Baptist Health South Florida, the largest not-for-profit multi-hospital healthcare system in the region, headquartered in Coral Gables, Florida.

Baptist Health South Florida includes Baptist Hospital, Baptist Children’s Hospital, Bethesda Hospital East, Bethesda Hospital West, Doctors Hospital, Fishermen’s Community Hospital, Homestead Hospital, Mariners Hospital, South Miami Hospital and West Kendall Baptist Hospital, Baptist Outpatient Services and Baptist Health Enterprises.

In her role as Chief Executive Officer for Baptist Hospital, Ms. Rosello’s priorities include strategic and business planning, operations and fiscal management, legal, compliance and regulatory regulations and accreditations. In addition, Ms. Rosello oversees all aspects of Consumer Access, in order to ensure the same level of compassionate care and service received at all of Baptist Health’s facilities extends across all points of access and experience.

Baptist Hospital is the flagship facility and one of America’s most preferred medical centers in the country. Three centers of excellence are housed on Baptist Hospital’s campus, including Miami Cancer Institute, Miami Cardiac & Vascular Institute and Baptist Health Neuroscience Center. The campus is also home to Baptist Children’s Hospital which provides a wide array of specialized healthcare services, including a pediatric emergency department for children from birth to age 18.

Previously, Ms. Rosello served as Chief Executive Officer for Baptist Outpatient Services, where Ms. Rosello led the division including fourteen freestanding diagnostic imaging centers, sixteen urgent care centers, one express care, an executive health program, four sleep centers, two endoscopy and four ambulatory surgery joint ventures centers.  In addition, she helped grow several functions that support the clinical business lines such as credentialing, infection control, performance and quality management, and patient and guest services.

Ms. Rosello joined Baptist Health South Florida in 1997 as the Vice President for Ambulatory Services with responsibilities over diagnostic imaging and urgent care centers. Prior to that she worked at Pan American Hospital as Vice President of Operations.  She received both her Bachelor of Science in Nursing and Masters of Nursing in Administration from Barry University in 1982 and 1989 respectively.

Ms. Rosello is active in various professional and civic associations and is a graduate of the 25^th class of Leadership Florida and a current member of the Board of Directors of United Way of Miami-Dade.  She lives in Brickell where she resides with her husband, Michael Finuccio, they have two daughters, Andrea and Amanda.

Nancy Batista-Rodriguez
Chief Executive Officer
Baptist Outpatient Services


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In her role as chief executive officer of Baptist Outpatient Services, Nancy Batista-Rodriguez leads the fastest-growing division of Baptist Health South Florida, the largest not-for-profit healthcare organization in the region.

Ms. Batista-Rodriguez and her team focus on providing convenient, compassionate ambulatory care to patients across the entire four-county area. Ambulatory care is an essential component of Baptist Health’s continuum of accessible, high-quality, and cost-effective health care.

From Dade County to Palm Beach, Baptist Outpatient Services encompasses more than 50 care sites that offer cutting-edge diagnostic imaging, endoscopy and surgery centers and sleep services, as well as an array of same-day care options including Urgent Care and Urgent Care Express locations. The division also includes Care & Counseling services for behavioral health challenges and Executive Health for comprehensive, personalized medical evaluations.

Additionally, Ms. Batista-Rodriguez directs Baptist Health Emergency Care, a network of neighborhood-based, free-standing, state-of-the-art emergency centers providing quick care for more serious injuries or illnesses.

She also oversees Baptist Health Care On Demand, a platform that provides patients with immediate virtual access to a Board-certified doctor for live, on-demand video visits using any smart phone, tablet or computer.

Ms. Batista-Rodriguez has served Baptist Health in various roles since 2002, when she joined Baptist Outpatient Services as an urgent care manager. Over the past 17 years, she has managed all of Baptist’s outpatient service lines. Most recently, she served as vice president of Ambulatory Surgery Centers.

She began her career at Miami Eye Center and also served as a unit manager at Pan American Hospital before joining Baptist Health. She holds a Bachelor of Business Administration and a Master of Health Services Administration, both from Florida International University.

A Miami resident, Ms. Batista-Rodriguez enjoys spending time with her family and exploring other cultures through food and travel.

Shannon Phillips, MD, MPH, FAAP, SFHM, CPPS
Chief Patient Experience Officer
Intermountain Healthcare

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Shannon leads the Office of Patient Experience at Intermountain Healthcare in Utah and Southern Idaho. The team supports empowered and fulfilled caregivers in co-creating an extraordinary experience that is personalized and caring, supports health, delivers exceptional value and is free from harm. Prior to joining Intermountain, she served as Cleveland Clinic’s first patient safety officer and as associate chief quality officer. She is a pediatric hospitalist with interests in the inpatient care of medically complex children and the overall family-centered approach to patient care. She is a Senior Fellow in Hospital Medicine and recognized as a “Top Doc” since 2006. In 2018, Modern Healthcare recognized Shannon as one of the 30 top Patient Experience leaders in healthcare. Currently, she sits on the National Quality Forum’s National Quality Partnership Leadership Council, the Expert Panel on Common Formats and the Measures Application Partnership Hospital Workgroup. Additionally, she serves on the Executive Committee of the Council on Quality and Patient Safety of the American Academy of Pediatrics. She has been a visiting professor and invited consultant to organizations in the US and across the globe. Her hope is that healthcare is an empathic and effective human experience.

Ghazala Sharieff, MD, MBA
Corporate Vice President & Chief Experience Officer
Scripps Health

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Ghazala Q. Sharieff serves as the Corporate Vice President and Chief Experience Officer for Scripps Health. With decades of experience as an executive, clinical professor, lecturer, author and committee chair, she is a nationally and internationally recognized leader in patient experience, physician integration, pediatric emergency medicine, conflict management and team building. Dr. Sharieff completed her MD at Michigan State Medical School, an Emergency Medicine Residency at Stanford University, and a Pediatric Emergency Medicine Fellowship at Rady Children’s Hospital. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan and a master’s from University of Knoxville.

Chrissy Daniels, MS
Partner, Medical Practice Solutions
Press Ganey


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Chrissy Daniels is a national thought leader in patient experience and health care value. She joined Press Ganey in August, 2017 and brings to her role of consulting partner more than 20 years of expertise in advancing the patient experience and building an engaging and collaborative culture. She is also widely recognized for her pioneering work in the areas of consumerism and physician performance data transparency.

Prior to joining Press Ganey, Chrissy was Director of Strategic Initiatives at University of Utah Health Care, responsible for teaching and coaching physicians, leaders and staff on the importance of patient experience as a measure of quality. In this role, she was also responsible for designing the University of Utah Health Care’s online physician review process, making the system the first in the country to electronically survey its patients and post the results publicly online. In addition, Chrissy worked closely with hospital, physician and executive leadership to drive culture change around improving patient experience and value in every encounter across the system. This work resulted in system-wide initiatives targeting leadership and team development, communication, and motivation which evolved into a model for cultural transformation.

Eugene A. Scioscia Jr., MD
Chief ​Experience Officer
Allegheny Health Network


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​Eugene Scioscia, Jr., MD, is been Allegheny Health Network’s Chief Experience Officer. Dr. Scioscia has been a part of AHN and its family of hospitals for nearly 30 years, working in leadership roles at both Allegheny General Hospital, where he served as chairman and residency training program director for the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and West Penn Hospital, where he is past president of the medical staff. At the network leadership level, he continues to serve as AHN’s vice chairman, Clinical Operations, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. He also continues to maintain his gynecology practice.

Under his leadership, AHN’s Patient Experience Office is building a system-wide culture of service excellence and superior patient communication, working closely with clinicians, hospital and institute leadership, and front-line staff across the network to meet and exceed patient and employee expectations.

Dr. Scioscia received his undergraduate degree from Duke University and his medical degree from the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Medicine. His post-graduate training comprises four years of residency at Yale-New Haven Medical Center, including two years as the center’s chief OBGYN resident. Today, he is an adjunct clinical associate professor in obstetrics and gynecology at Temple University School of Medicine’s Pittsburgh Clinical Campus at AHN, and an assistant professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology Drexel University College of Medicine.

His professional affiliations include membership in the Pittsburgh Obstetrics/Gynecology Society (past president), and service as a fellow of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology. He also has served as an examiner for the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

​Kerri Scanlon, MSN, RN, FAAN
Deputy Chief Nursing Executive, Northwell Health
Chief Nursing Officer, North Shore University Hospital


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​Kerri Anne Scanlon is the Deputy Chief Nurse Executive for Northwell Health as well as the Chief Nursing Officer for North Shore University Hospital.  As the Deputy Chief Nurse Executive, Ms. Scanlon works closely with the Northwell Health Chief Nurse Executive and the nurse executive team to establish the strategic vision for nursing and patient care services across the 23 hospital health system.  She is an integral leader of the Northwell Health Nurse Executive Council where best practice standards are established for nursing at a system-wide level.

Ms. Scanlon’s role as Chief Nursing Officer of North Shore University Hospital encompasses the creation and facilitation of strategic planning for nursing and clinical services, and fiscal responsibility. Her strong quality background has led to significant improvements in nurse-sensitive indicators, which are tracked on a facility-wide “Patient Care Services Dashboard,” created by Scanlon.  Her involvement as a site leader for the Robert Wood Johnson and IHI Transforming Care at the Bedside (TCAB) project shaped her passion for creating optimal physical practice environments for nurses that increase time at the bedside and promote the delivery of patient centered care.  With over 15 years of progressive senior leadership experience, Ms. Scanlon continues to spearhead innovations that transform the patient care environment.  Staff empowerment, decentralized unit redesign, and medications at the bedside have been the guiding principles for the innovations under Scanlon’s transformational leadership.  She was a participant in the Robert Wood Johnson “Time and Motion” study, which resulted in dramatic increases in patient satisfaction and team member engagement,

In 2018 Ms. Scanlon, was inducted as a Fellow into the American Academy of Nursing. She is a graduate from the Academy GE Fellows Program for Nurse Executives, has published and presented locally, regionally, nationally and internationally on quality and the nursing profession. Ms. Scanlon received both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in nursing from Columbia University. She has also been the recipient of several prestigious awards in recognition of her business acumen and her ability to advance the nursing profession.

Jennifer Certo
Senior Vice President, Patient Experience
Allegheny Health Network

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Jennifer Certo is Allegheny Health Network’s Senior Vice President of Patient Experience. In that role, Ms. Certo works with the executive team to ensure that every AHN facility meets patients’ needs and exceeds patients’ expectations, sustaining a culture of service excellence and creating an exceptional customer experience across the organization.

Ms. Certo has more than 23 years of experience in the health care industry. She has worked in both payer and provider organizations, as well as in clinical roles. She joined the Highmark Health family in 2014, and since that time she has served in several roles, most recently as AHN’s Vice President, Strategy Transformation. She has also served as Vice President of AHN’s Primary Care Service Line, and has worked within Highmark Health’s Transformation Office. She joined Highmark from Excela Health.

Ms. Certo received a B.S. in Social Work (Clinical/Medical Social Work) from Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania. She also serves on the board of the North Side Christian Health Center.

David Hall
Executive Vice President
The University of Tennessee Medical Center

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William David Hall serves as Executive Vice President at University Health System, Inc. d/b/a The University of Tennessee Medical Center, Knoxville, TN.  Mr. Hall oversees the operation of the 625 bed acute care hospital.  He was formerly Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Office; Vice President of Heart Lung and Vascular Services, and was responsible for the overall management and operation of the UT Heart Lung and Vascular Institute. Mr. Hall also served as Executive Director of the University Physicians’ Association, a 318-member independent physician association from 1997-2005. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting from The University of Tennessee, and a Masters of Business Administration degree from Bristol University.

Brad Kruger, MA Ed., MBA
System Vice President, Patient Experience
Advocate Aurora Health

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Brad Kruger, MA Ed., MBA, a strategic leader with a demonstrated track record of success in identifying innovative, Blue Ocean opportunities and applying team development techniques to  enhance the patient experience, improve safety, increase quality, decrease cost, and improve outcomes across the care continuum and within communities.

With over 25 years in healthcare administration, Kruger brings a combination of intuitive, financial, and analytical abilities, with core competencies in leadership, facilitation, and interpersonal skills.

In his current role, Kruger provides the overall vision and direction of developing and executing the strategic and tactical plans for providing a consistently exceptional experience for patients, families and loved ones across all touch points and interactions in Advocate Aurora Health. In addition to patient experience, he has strategic and operational leadership of the Advocate Aurora Global & Executive Health Program, Volunteer Services, and Executive Champion for Advocate Aurora Refugee Health Services.

Kruger has successfully led multidisciplinary teams that developed and implemented cost-effective, large-scale, multimillion-dollar transformational care models across a complex integrated delivery network. He has received international recognition for implementing hybrid interventional cardiology suites, hybrid staffing models, clinical outcomes, and cost reductions across episodes of care, and has presented and published on utilizing ‘Blue Ocean Strategies’ to grow new markets, develop strong partnerships with physicians, and help improve the health of communities.

Kruger has a bachelor’s degree in economics from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee; a master’s degree in mental health counseling from Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green; an MBA from University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, and currently pursuing a Masters in International Health and a Doctorate of Healthcare Administration degree from Central Michigan University.

Jonathan Sachs, MBA
Vice President, Patient Experience
Adventist HealthCare

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Additional details coming soon!

Becky Thompson
Vice President, Marketing & Planning
The University of Tennessee Medical Center

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Becky Thompson serves as the Vice President of Marketing and Planning for the University of Tennessee Medical Center, a 625-bed, not-for-profit academic medical center located in Knoxville, TN.

Becky has been with the University of Tennessee Medical Center since 2003 and is responsible for marketing, public relations, strategic planning, and patient experience functions for the Medical Center. She serves on numerous committees, maintains close working relationships with team members, physicians, and business and community leaders.

Becky earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing from The University of Memphis. Becky is married to Joe and has two children, Madeline and Harrison.

Redge Hanna
C​orporate Director, Service Performance
Emory Healthcare


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Throughout his professional career, Redge Hanna has been dedicated to finding a better way to deliver patient and family centered care. Redge has an extensive understanding of the business of healthcare. He has over 30 years of experience working in all aspects of healthcare, his work experience ranges from the bed pan to the board room. This experience has helped him to facilitate and provide cost-effective, patient centered care.

Prior to joining Emory Healthcare, Redge Hanna had an entrepreneurial rich history in residential care ownership, business development, consulting and management. After his undergraduate studies at Georgia College, Redge gained his license as a Nursing Home Administrator, and worked to create and improve patient care options throughout the metropolitan Atlanta area. Early in his career, Redge focused primarily on creating new options for frail and elderly patients. He was a founder, co-owner, and operations manager of the first Assisted Living Facility in Dunwoody and the first free standing inpatient hospice in DeKalb County. In 1996, Redge was appointed by the Atlanta Mayor’s office to supervise a task force to design and implement a strategic plan for coordination, which ensured uninterrupted service of all home health visits for 67 healthcare agencies during the 1996 Summer Olympic Games.

Redge was selected to lead the journey for service improvement for Emory Healthcare started in April 2000 when the CEO appointed a new organizational team with the objective of improving service across all of Emory Healthcare. Emory gathered system wide operation and physician leadership to create a new decision-making service team. The challenge was to produce base line data by August 2000 and a plan to enhance the culture of this world class academic system toward excellent customer service through-out the complex University Healthcare System. Redge was responsible for the watchful oversight designed and implemented of the system wide patient satisfaction and service performance programs. Redge is dedicated to facilitating improvement in how Emory delivers patient care. He has conducted extensive work with implementation of system changes for Emory Healthcare. Currently his role encompasses the development, implementation and oversight measurement and mandated CMS public reporting of Patient Satisfaction data, Employee and Physician data related to patient safety, satisfaction and engagement. He leads and supports Emory Healthcare in the voluntary push of transparency supplying patient ratings and comments through the internet. He serves as Adjunct and a member Community Advisor Network for the Emory Rollins School of Public Health. He has also served as Emory Nell Hodgson School of Nursing Graduate Mentor Program.

Mendy Goonan, MBA, CPXP
Director, ​Patient Experience
Norton Medical Group

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As the Director of Patient Experience for Norton Medical Group, Mendy leads the physician performance transparency initiative and medical practice solutions while collaborating with stakeholders across the system to build and execute a strategic plan to create an engaging culture. She is responsible for educating and coaching providers, leaders and staff on the importance of patient experience as a quality metric, to include individual shadowing and coaching for improvement. She works with executive leaders to create an employee and patient centric culture that ensures solutions meet the needs of caregivers and patients. Her experience with Norton Healthcare includes:

● 13 years of healthcare experience
● 9 years of education and training development
● 7 years of patient experience
● 5 years of data analytics
● Certified Patient Experience Professional
● Certificate in Patient Experience Leadership

Prior to her current role as the Director of Patient Experience, she was the Patient Experience Manager, Budget System Analyst for global budget management, a Practice Manager for a Primary Care and Specialty practice, and the Accounts Payable Supervisor/System Analyst for Norton Healthcare.

​​​Deirdre Mylod, PhD
Executive Director, Institute for Innovation; Senior Vice President, Research & Analytics
Press Ganey

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Deirdre Mylod, PhD, joined Press Ganey in 1997 and currently serves as the executive director of the organization’s Institute for Innovation and senior vice president of Research & Analytics. In this joint role, she is responsible for advancing the understanding of the entire patient experience, including patient satisfaction and clinical process and outcomes. Through the Institute, Mylod partners with leading health care providers to study and implement transformative concepts for improving the patient experience.

As a prominent thought leader within Press Ganey and the industry, she regularly lectures on topics such as public policy, legislation and the future of the patient experience. She is the architect of Press Ganey’s Suffering Framework, which reframes the view of the patient experience as a means to understand unmet patient needs and reduce patient suffering. She has extensive expertise in survey development, methodology and statistics. Mylod holds a master’s degree and a PhD in psychology from the University of Notre Dame.

​​​​Nathan Cunningham, MPH
Manager, Patient Experience, Department of Patient Centered Services
Virginia Commonwealth University Health System

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Nathan is the Manager of Patient Experience and the Department of Patient Centered Services for Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Health System in Richmond, Virginia. In this role he oversees the Patient Experience program, Patient Relations, Language Services, team-member engagement, STAR Service culture, Patient & Family Advisory Councils (PFAC), and Guest Services for the VCU Medical Campus, Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU, and all VCU Health ambulatory clinics. Nathan strives create an environment of unparalleled safety and service to all that walk through VCU Health doors.

Prior to VCU Health System, Nathan worked for Houston Methodist and Wellmont Health System. Nathan completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Delaware, majoring in Human Development & Family Policy with a double minor in Public Health and Human Disability Law.  He earned a Masters of Public Health in Health Services Administration & Policy from East Tennessee State University. Nathan’s wife, Krista, works for HCA, and they have a 7 month old daughter, Emma.