The Most Powerful Women in Healthcare IT for 2019—Thought leaders

The Most Powerful Women in Healthcare IT for 2019—Thought leaders

In its fourth annual recognition program for 2019, Health Data Management is recognizing 50 of the Most Powerful Women in Healthcare IT. The awards are made in three categories—CIOs/HIT executives at provider organizations, thought leaders and HIT vendor executives.

The following is the list of leaders in the healthcare industry who regularly influence policy overall and provide guidance within the industry.

Yesterday, HDM published its selections as the 25 Most Powerful CIOs and HIT executives at provider organizations. That list can be found here.

Molly Coye

Title: Board Member

Organization: ConsejoSano

Years in HIT: 40+

Previous Positions: Various throughout the industry, including stints on the boards of UCLA Health, California State Department of Health, the state of New Jersey, Aetna, the American Telemedicine Association, the American Public Health Association, and many others.

Significant Achievements: Coye has a long and public career with expertise and experience in healthcare innovation and transformation for underserved and vulnerable patient populations.

Impact on HIT: In 2018, Coye co-founded Tech 4 Medicaid, a new national not-for-profit that includes CEOs from companies building innovative solutions for Medicaid populations.

Helen Figge

Title: Chief Strategy Officer

Organization: MedicaSoft

Years in HIT: 15

Previous Positions: Vice President, Global Clinical Integrations Accountable Care Solutions, Alere; Director, Clinical Integrations, Alere; Senior Director, Career Services, Professional Development, HIMSS.

Significant Achievements: In her current position, Figge is helping her company to expand use of its products by providers, payers and patients.

Impact on HIT: Figge strives to encourage critical thinking of current health IT industry trends. Figge authors, presents, mentors and voices her opinions on critical healthcare issues through various social media venues as well as extensive committee involvement, helping to shape the way healthcare is practiced.

Beth Mahan

Title: Executive Vice President

Organization: Atlas Research

Years in HIT: 25+

Previous Positions: Various positions, Booz Allen Hamilton; Senior Consultant, Systems Resource Corp.; Performance Measurement Analyst, PHP Healthcare.

Significant Achievements: At Atlas Research, Mahan works across the Veterans Administration enterprise, strategizing with its leaders and staff on transformational initiatives to improve health and benefits services and more. She drives innovations focused on using IT.

Impact on HIT: Mahan has advanced projects in a number of areas, including modernization, 3D printing, and the Diffusion of Excellence and Innovators Network Program, which is driving innovation of the veterans health system.

Sue Schade

Title: Principal

Organization: StarBridge Advisors

Years in HIT: 36

Previous Positions: Interim CIO, University Hospitals in Cleveland; CIO, University of Michigan Hospitals and Health Centers; CIO, Brigham and Women’s/Faulkner Hospital; Senior Manager, Healthcare IT Practice, Ernst & Young.

Significant Achievements: Schade has leveraged new technology in healthcare with lean principles to improve care delivery and efficiency. She also advanced the use of electronic health records in her roles as CIO of various organizations.

Impact on HIT: Schade is an active member of both CHIME and HIMSS. She writes a weekly blog and is a frequent speaker committed to developing the next generation of HIT leaders.

Katherine Schneider, MD

Title: CEO and President

Organization: Delaware Valley ACO

Years in HIT: 7

Previous Positions: Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer, Medecision; Senior Vice President of Health Engagement for AtlantiCare; various positions, Middlesex Hospital.

Significant Achievements: Schneider is the former advisory counsel to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, a board member of the National Association of ACOs and an advisor to the National Committee for Quality Assurance.

Impact on HIT: Schneider has guided the Delaware Valley ACO, serving the greater Philadelphia region, since 2014 to aid providers in transitioning from fee-for-service to a population health model of care.

Carla Smith

Title: CEO

Organization: Carla Smith Health

Years in HIT: 27

Previous Positions: Executive Vice President, North America, for the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society; CEO of the Center for Healthcare Information Management; Director of the Michigan Modernization Service.

Significant Achievements: Smith is now using her healthcare and IT acumen as a thought leader and executive strategist for several health organizations.

Impact on HIT: Smith helped make HIMSS a key industry voice. She is an influencer of health laws, including the meaningful use EHR adoption incentive rules, Affordable Care Act, Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 and cybersecurity provisions in 2016 legislation.

Sheri Stoltenberg

Title: CEO

Organization: Stoltenberg Consulting

Years in HIT: 30+

Previous Positions: Director, Ancillary Systems, Shadyside Hospital; Advisory Installation Director, Shared Medical Systems.

Significant Achievements: Stoltenberg the consultancy to focus on health IT concerns.

Impact on HIT: Stoltenberg is committed to innovation, supporting women in leadership and fostering the knowledge of HIT workers.

Seema Verma

Title: Administrator

Organization: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

Years in HIT: NA

Previous Positions: Founder, SVC. a consulting organization serving state Medicaid programs.

Significant Achievements: Through her health policy consulting company, Verma established her reputation for her work on Indiana’s redesigned Medicaid program. She also worked with Ohio and Kentucky to change those states’ programs.

Impact on HIT: Verma is now affecting HIT policy, and healthcare policy more broadly, through changes being implemented through CMS. The agency issued proposed regulations that would ease the burden on providers to report on efforts to implement EHR systems, and she’s pushing for wider interoperability.

Wylecia Wiggs Harris

Title: CEO

Organization: American Health Information Management Association

Years in HIT: 2

Previous Positions: CEO, League of Women Voters of the United States; COO and Chief of Staff, American Nurses Association; Executive Director, Center for American Nurses; Executive Director, Sister to Sister Foundation; Senior Vice President and Executive Director, American Heart Association.

Significant Achievements: Harris raised the presence of the LWV and plans to similarly strengthen AHIMA’s membership and foster internal and external partnerships.

Impact on HIT: Harris is known for her ability to bring organizational change. She maintains an increased focus on continuing education and exploration of new roles in healthcare information management.

Mariann Yeager

Title: CEO

Organization: The Sequoia Project

Years in HIT: 27

Previous Positions: Nationwide Health Information Network Initiatives, Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT; Certification Program Director, CCHIT; Vice President, Healthcare Practice, TruArx.

Significant Achievements: Yeager leads The Sequoia Project, the nonprofit home of one of the nation’s largest health data sharing networks, the eHealth Exchange, and the leading, national-level interoperability framework for trusted exchange between and among networks, Carequality.

Impact on HIT: Yeager has been a leading figure in expanding both health IT interoperability capabilities and connectivity capacity nationwide.