Creating a Community of Healthcare Transformationalists

Jenni Gudapati is the Director for Boise State University’s Value-Based Healthcare Program. She received her PhD in Public Policy and Administration, and her MBA at Boise State University, her bachelor’s degree from the University of Idaho, and is also a Registered Nurse. Jenni  has dedicated her career to patient advocacy, combining clinical nursing and passion for business development, to drive patient-outcome based healthcare delivery. She has served on both state and national boards and has been very active in collaborating with both state and federal healthcare and legislative leaders, presented at State and National Association Conferences on Telehealth, Innovative Healthcare Delivery and Payment Models. In her two years in this role, she has co-chaired the Healthcare Transformation Council of Idaho’s Telehealth Task Force, serves on Medigold’s Board of Directors, and represents the university on Boise Chamber’s Healthcare Advisory Board.

Prior to coming to Boise State University, she served as Idaho’s Association for Home Care President, and on the National Association for Homecare and Hospice Government Affairs Committee which enabled her travel to Washington D.C. to meet with federal legislators on healthcare transformation. Her desire is to continue to use this knowledge and make a difference to better patient care and advance policy and regulation. Her years of experience as a ED, CCU, Home Health, nurse and industry leader, has fostered the belief that technology and common sense healthcare can not only reduce costs but improve patient lives.

As Director, Partner Relationships and Chief Partnership Executive at HFMA, Todd is responsible for developing and overseeing HFMA’s partnership strategy with academic institutions, associations, and industry partners. Todd develops collaborative relationships across all sectors of the industry, for both HFMA members and non-members.

Prior to joining HFMA, Todd was the Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of a rural Midwest hospital for over 15 years, focused on finance and operational areas. He also served in a volunteer role on the HFMA Senior Financial Executive National Advisory Committee, as well as Chapter President, and Regional Executive.

Todd received his undergraduate degree in Business Administration, as well as his MBA from the University of Iowa. Todd makes his home in a window seat on United Airlines.

Dr. McEachern currently is the Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer for PacificSource’s markets in Oregon, Idaho, Washington, and Montana. Dr. McEachern earned an undergraduate degree in biology at Emory University. As a Robert T. (Bobby) Jones Scholar at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland he earned a co-terminal master’s degree in biological systems theory and statistics. He went to Case Western Reserve University for Medical School, a Pathology residency at the University of California in San Francisco, a second residency in General Internal Medicine and Fellowship in Health Services Research at the Cleveland Clinic. His academic career includes faculty positions at Vanderbilt’s center for Health Services, Emory University
School of Medicine (Epidemiology and Biostatistics), Case Western Reserve University,
University of Utah where he is an associate professor of Orthopaedics in the School of medicine, and the Director of the Department’s Health Services Research program, and an Assistant Professor on faculty at the David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah.

His past experiences are broad and varied and have led to a uniquely rounded physician / administrator entrepreneur: Prior to his work at PacificSource, he was the physician Executive Director and later the CMO/CMIO of the Saint Alphonsus Health Alliance. As the Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice President of the Northeast Ohio Community Health Plan in Cleveland, Ohio the 1.6 million covered life managed care plan for Blue Shield and Blue Cross of Ohio, he developed innovative approaches to working with providers, payers, and patient / members to improve health, lower costs and demonstrate better health outcomes. Dr. McEachern built and ran a 2,800 practice, 8,500 physician MSO in 30 states with gross revenues of $80 million for the SunHealth alliance (now Premier) in Charlotte, NC. Dr. McEachern was Vice President for Medical Affairs at Hospital Corporation of America (HCA)s West Paces Ferry Hospital in Atlanta, and quality improvement consultant for direct patient care to HCA;s Corporate Office in Nashville, Tenn

He is the author of four books and numerous articles on quality improvement, and is on the editorial review board for Medical Care, The Health System Leader, and the ASQC Press. He has developed and taught courses for HCA, the Joint Commission, the Veterans Administration, the National Institutes of Health, and, the University of Utah, Emory University as well as the Nordic School of Public Health. Dr. McEachern’s consulting and research relate directly to issues in today’s healthcare environment. Sites included HCA-owned hospitals as well as Henry Ford Medical Center in Detroit, George Washington University Hospitals in Washington, D. C., and Lovelace Medical Center in Albuquerque. He set up and staffed a Corporate Health Services unit at West Paces Ferry Hospital, directly contracting with more than 20 corporate clients for health delivery (Including Delta Airlines, Lockheed, and NationsBank). Internationally, Dr. McEachern developed a universal model of direct patient care quality improvement for use in over 120 lesser-developed countries for the U. S. Agency for International Development. He designed and helped implement the Peace Corps world-wide medical corps quality improvement plan, and provided consultation for the governments of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Zimbabwe in the design and redesign of their health care delivery systems.

Chad Boult, MD, MPH, MBA, is a healthcare consultant, a teacher, a researcher and a physician board-certified in Family Medicine and Geriatrics. Dr. Boult has extensive experience in developing, testing, evaluating, and diffusing new models of comprehensive health care for persons with chronic conditions. He has consulted internationally and published two books, 20 book chapters and more than 90 articles in biomedical scientific journals. 

From 2001-2012, he directed a research center and served as a Professor of Health Policy and Management in the Bloomberg School of Public Health at the Johns Hopkins University. From 2012-2013, he directed the “Improving Healthcare Systems” program of the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI). From 2015-2019, he directed geriatrics and palliative care in an urban health care system. He now teaches and serves on the Board of the International Foundation for Integrated Care.

Chuck is the Co-Founder and COO of Parity Healthcare Analytics, a perinatal nurse workforce management and data analytics platform. Prior to that he served in CFO and COO roles for several SaaS startups, as a Director of Professional Practice and Executive Relationships at HFMA, as VP of Finance for Maine Medical Center and financial management roles OhioHealth, Cardinal Health, and U.S. Steel. 

Prior to his faculty role at Boise State University, Chuck taught at Carnegie Mellon University, the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), Webster University and the University of Southern Maine.

He earned his B.S. in Finance and M.S. in Accountancy from St. Vincent College (PA), his MBA in Entrepreneurship from Clemson University and is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA). 

Chuck resides in Savannah, Georgia with his wife Abby.

Mark Florian is responsible for the oversight of all actuarial and underwriting activities. Arriving at PacificSource in 2007 as an actuarial analyst, Mark has served in progressively responsible roles, joining the executive management team in 2015.

Mark is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries and a member of the American Academy of Actuaries. Mark earned his B.S. in chemistry from Gonzaga University. Outside work, Mark enjoys basketball, music, and spending time with his wife and four daughters.

Dr. Heyborne moved to Boise in 2008 to join the Emergency Medicine group at Saint Alphonsus.  Prior to that, he obtained his undergraduate education at the University of Wyoming, attended medical school at the University of Utah, and completed an emergency medicine residency at Indiana University.  He was awarded an MBA through Northwest Nazarene University in 2015.  

Dr. Heyborne has served in various clinical and healthcare administrative roles in Idaho and nationally.  These include Senior Medical Director at Blue Cross of Idaho, Medical Director of the Saint Alphonsus Health Alliance Clinically Integrated Network, Chief Medical Officer for Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center, and Chief Medical Officer for Proskriptive, a health data analytics company.  He currently serves as National Medical Director, Stars and Risk Adjustment for Humana.  Dr. Heyborne continues to practice medicine, providing in-person and telemedicine patient care.  He has always had a passion for education, and improving healthcare delivery, and is thrilled to be part of this innovative program.

Chris Peterson is a Principal Health Domain Specialist at MITRE, where he leads a team consulting for the federal government with states in their strategic planning for Medicaid Enterprise Systems. Prior to that, Chris served as Acting Executive Director and Principal Deputy Director of Maryland’s Health Services Cost Review Commission (HSCRC). He joined the Commission in 2016, working on the state’s agreements with the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and developing the state’s latest value-based payment innovations. He headed the Commission’s Center for Payment Reform and Provider Alignment (PRPA).  

Chris has also worked in nonpartisan, technical roles for the U.S. Congress — first at the Library of Congress’ Congressional Research Service (CRS) and then at the new Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission (MACPAC). In those roles, he touched many pieces of major federal health care legislation and testified before congressional committees. Before that, he worked for the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and the National Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare.  Chris has a master of public policy from Georgetown University (Washington, DC) and a bachelor of science in mathematics from Missouri Western State University (St. Joseph, Missouri). In 2019, he became a Certified Healthcare Financial Professional (CHFP) through the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA).

Brian Sims is the Director of Quality & Health Improvement, for the Maryland Hospital Association (MHA), whose mission is to provide hospitals and health systems leadership, advocacy, and education to help them better serve their communities. Brian has more than 15 years of experience working in Maryland’s health care industry. At MHA he leads the Association’s efforts to advance health equity throughout the field and leads the hospital quality policy advocacy efforts. He works in partnership with legislators, regulatory agencies, hospital leadership, and various stakeholders to understand key issues and develop appropriate strategies to advance the field’s priorities. His primary focus is helping hospitals improve quality performance and identifying opportunities to reduce health disparities and improve health equity in the communities they serve. Prior to his current role, he worked with health system finance leaders on finance and reimbursement advocacy and strategy. Before joining MHA, Brian worked in strategic planning and decision support for large and medium-sized hospital systems, analyzing the financial impact of care delivery innovation and identifying opportunities to provide accessible and high-quality care to target populations.

In addition to his professional experience, he is the President of the Greater Baltimore Health Improvement Initiative (GBHII), a registered 501(c)(3) that he helped to co-found, whose mission is to empower individuals in Baltimore to take control of their health through education, advocacy, and action. He is also the President-Elect of the Maryland Chapter of the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA), where he has been a member for 13 years and served on the Board of Directors for 10 years. Brian was recently appointed to the Maryland Commission on Health Equity: Health Equity Policy Commission, where he will help to create health equity policy recommendations for the state.

As HFMA’s Director of Perspectives & Analysis, Shawn is responsible for developing policies and positions on topics important to the Association’s mission into recommendations for content strategy and product services for HFMA membership. He serves as a subject matter expert and consultant to the membership on healthcare policy, finance, and revenue cycle operations.

Shawn previously worked as a consultant with HMA/Burns and Associates, where he served as Senior Consultant. Prior to that, Shawn was Director of Healthcare Policy and Economics for The Ohio Hospital Association and Director and Assistant Director of Access and Revenue Cycle at a major academic medical center and designated cancer hospital.

Shawn is a graduate from Kent State University and holds an EPIC Resolute Certification.