Jim Arnold founded finHealth in 2014, with a mission to “Simplify & Control Healthcare Costs” for innovative, self-funded employers. By offering exceptional transparency to their medical and PBM data, finHealth’s proprietary “Analytics-as-a-Service” business model and cost containment methodologies enable employers to systematically take back control of their healthcare expenditures. Our powerful AI-enabled platform empowers employers to independently verify that claims are being paid accurately, only for eligible employees, spouses, and their dependents, and at competitive market prices. Industry leading insights aid employers in crafting a health plan strategy that simultaneously drives down costs while improving the quality of care by successfully integrating Plan Design, Payment Integrity, Contract Compliance, Utilization Management, Site of Care Optimization, Network Management, Population Health, Employee Education, Member Advocacy and more.
In his prior life, Jim founded a company called APEX Analytix that fulfilled a similar mission, for non-healthcare expenditures via Procurement and Accounts Payable. Founded in 1988, Jim and team were able to grow a one-man operation into what is today a $100 million+ revenue global company that currently serves over 250 Fortune 500 clients with audit services and technology. By applying these same proven supply chain methodologies to healthcare, finHealth is “fixing healthcare” one self-funded employer at a time. Much like APEX, finHealth’s approach achieves success for our clients through a combination of education, benchmarking, cost transparency, powerful data analytics and proprietary algorithms. CLICK HERE to learn more about finHealth.
Gina DeBruin recently joined Talkspace heading up Consultant & Broker Partnerships. With over 20 years of experience in healthcare, population health, fitness & wellbeing solutions she is responsible for Talkspace’s market presence, brand recognition, and growth. Prior to joining Talkspace, Gina served as Head of Sales at Onduo and Vice President of Strategic Partnerships at HealthFitness Corp, and built her career with strategic leadership roles at Fitbit, higi, StayWell and Humana.
Gina is a Midwestern native, and has called Madison, Milwaukee and Chicago home. She graduated with her Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Wisconsin – Madison, and went on to earn her MBA at DePaul University in Chicago. Gina has 3 young boys and currently resides in Milwaukee, WI. She and her husband Ben enjoy staying active outdoors and cheering on the Wisconsin Badgers! CLICK HERE to discover more about Talkspace.
Dr. Ghada Elnashar is the Associate Director of Medical Affairs at OneOme. There, she educates and informs key opinion leaders, providers, and other healthcare professionals on pharmacogenomics. She leads in bringing the benefits of precision medicine so as to help improve healthcare outcomes and reduce healthcare costs. Dr. Elnashar completed her residency training in Managed Care at HealthPartners clinics and health plan. She earned her M.S. in Biotechnology from The Johns Hopkins University and her Pharm.D. from the University of Minnesota. Throughout her proliferative career, she helped patients on both the individual and population level.
CLICK HERE to learn more about OneOme.
Peter Hayes is currently the President & CEO of the Healthcare Purchaser Alliance of Maine and formerly a principal of Healthcare Solutions and Director of Associate Health and Wellness at Hannaford Supermarkets. He has been recognized as a thought leader in innovative, strategic benefit design for the past 25+ years. He has received numerous national awards in recognition of his commitment to working collaboratively with healthcare providers and vendors in delivering health benefits that are focused on value (high quality efficient care). He has been successful in this arena by focusing on innovative solutions for patient advocacy, chronic disease management, and health promotion programs.
Peter has also been involved in health care reform leadership roles on both the national and regional levels with
organizations like Center for Health Innovation, Care Focused Purchasing, The Leapfrog Group, co-founder of the Maine Health Management Coalition, and been appointed by two different Maine Governors to serve on Health Care Reform
Commissions to recommend public policies to improve the access and affordability of health care for Maine citizens. CLICK HERE to learn more about the Healthcare Purchaser Alliance of Maine.
Karen S. Johnson, Ph.D., Vice President, Practice Advancement with American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), is an accomplished leader with experience that spans traditional health care boundaries having worked with employers, plans, providers, and health systems over her 30+ year career. Understanding each of these unique perspectives fuels her work as a translator, bridge-builder and change agent. Her long-standing personal mission is to make healthcare work better for more people at a cost they can afford. Ensuring that primary care is adequately funded, appropriately evaluated, and connected to the broader healthcare ecosystem in a patient centered manner has been the central focus of these efforts for many years.
In her role at the American Academy of Family Physicians, Karen’s teams include the Center for Payment Innovation focused on moving primary care payment toward appropriately funded, prospective models and the Center for Career and Practice with the mission of equipping family physicians to enjoy successful careers in a variety of practice settings and roles. CLICK HERE to learn more about AAFP.
Ford Koles is one of Advisory Board’s preeminent thought leaders in the area of health system economics and strategy, and is the keynote speaker at the annual meetings for Advisory Board’s strategy membership. Ford is a health care economist by training and has participated in every major Advisory Board research initiative since 1992. He is well-versed in health care history and the many reform initiatives we have lived through in the past three decades: coverage expansion; vertical integration and physician partnership models; managed care and payer contracting; horizontal integration and system economies of scale; and quality-based payment.
Prior to joining Advisory Board, he was a management consultant for the Hay Group and Ernst & Young. Ford received his BA from Kenyon College, and his MA in Economics from John Hopkins University. CLICK HERE to learn more about the Advisory Board.
Cheryl Larson is President and CEO of the non-profit Midwest Business Group on Health (MBGH), a coalition of more than 140 mid, large and jumbo, self-funded, public and private companies who represent more than 4.5M lives. She oversees all coalition activities including advocacy, membership, administration, research projects and educational activities, working closely with MBGH’s employer-led Board of Directors to establish the strategic direction of the coalition. She also leads MBGH’s National Employer Initiative on Specialty Drugs, the first major purchaser-driven research project that supports employers in managing the higher costs of biologic and specialty drugs by helping them make critical and informed decisions.
Cheryl joined MBGH in 1983 as the Director of Membership Development, returning in 2006 as Vice President, after spending 10 years with a population health management company. In 2018, she became President & CEO. CLICK HERE to learn more about the Midwest Business Group on Health.
Millie Mo, PharmD, BCPS, is a Manager, Health Outcomes and Clinical Programs at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan (BCBSM). In her role, she collaborates with provider groups on quality and cost pharmacy initiatives, provides forecasting/impact modeling for pipeline therapies, supports implementation of clinical programs, and conducts health outcomes managed care research. She also serves as a preceptor for BCBSM’s PGY-1 managed care pharmacy residency program in collaboration with the University of Michigan.
CLICK HERE to learn how BCBSM can help employers with benefit plans.
Dr. Amy Pasternak earned her PharmD from the Ohio Northern University Raabe College of Pharmacy in 2014. After graduation, she completed a PGY-1 Pharmacy Practice Residency at Cleveland Clinic Hillcrest Hospital in Mayfield Heights, OH. She then pursued specialty training in clinical pharmacogenetics as the PGY-2 Clinical Pharmacogenetics Resident at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, TN, and as a Clinical Pharmacy Translational Fellow at the University of Michigan College of Pharmacy. Dr. Pasternak joined the U-M faculty as a Clinical Assistant Professor in 2018. She became a Board-Certified Pharmacotherapy Specialist in 2015.
Her current clinical practice is focused in the implementation of pharmacogenetics into routine clinical care at Michigan Medicine as part of the pharmacogenetics service. This consult-based service is available to answer patient and clinician questions regarding pharmacogenetics and integrating pharmacogenetic information into the prescribing process through clinical decision support. Dr. Pasternak precepts both APPE and PGY-1 residents on a pharmacogenetics rotation.
Dr. Pasternak’s research focuses on the discovery and validation of pharmacogenetic associations and evaluating the clinical impact of translating pharmacogenetics into patient care. Her current work is focused on increasing the understanding of tacrolimus pharmacogenetic interactions in multiple transplant populations and among routes of administration.
Jason Parrott is the Senior Vice President of Enterprise Growth and Partnerships at Vida Health. He is a seasoned benefits strategy leader with deep experience in healthcare and wellbeing strategy. He brings over two decades of experience in leadership roles in benefits and strategic planning at Boeing and AT&T.
Jason earned an M.B.A. and M.S. in Management and Organizational Behavior from Benedictine University, and Bachelor of Science degree from Illinois State University. CLICK HERE to discover more about Vida Health.
Tanika Smith is the Director, Program Development & Communication for the Greater Philadelphia Business Coalition on Health. With a passion for healthcare quality and transparency, Tanika Smith serves as Director of Program Development and Communication with the Greater Philadelphia Business Coalition on Health. Prior to joining GPBCH, Ms. Smith managed benefits plan design and member operations for the Teamsters Health & Welfare Fund of Philadelphia and Vicinity. Other previous professional experiences include employer relations manager at Cancer Treatment Centers of America and promotional review coordinator for a biotechnology company in New Jersey.
Having over 15 years of healthcare marketing and communications experience, Tanika brings a wealth of knowledge to her role in which she leads several GPBCH initiatives and member relations activities. In 2022, Ms. Smith was awarded the Bruce Bradley Fellowship with The Leapfrog Group and is using her fellowship experience to lead Leapfrog Hospital Survey and Ambulatory Surgery Center Survey outreach as the GPBCH Leapfrog Regional Leader for southeastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey and Delaware. CLICK HERE to learn more about the Greater Philadelphia Business Coalition on Health.
Michael Thompson is the president and CEO of the National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions (National Alliance), the only nonprofit, purchaser-aligned organization with a national and regional structure dedicated to driving health and healthcare value across the country.
Prior to joining the National Alliance, Mike was a Principal at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) for 20 years. He is a nationally recognized thought leader for business health strategies and health system reform. Mike has worked with major employers and other stakeholders on sustainable cost reduction, integrated health, wellness and consumerism, retiree health, private health exchanges, and health reform. Known for developing and promoting collaborative cross-sector health industry initiatives, Mike participated on the steering board of the World Economic Forum’s “Working toward Wellness” initiative and co-founded the Private Exchange Evaluation Collaborative (PEEC). Prior to PwC, Mike served as an executive with diverse roles with Prudential Healthcare for over 17 years.
Mike is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries, serving on the Health Practice Council, and chairs the Medicare Sub-Committee of the American Academy of Actuaries (AAA). He is also widely recognized as a leading national advocate for mental health and wellbeing and was past president of the New York City chapter of the National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI). Mike previously was an active member of the board of the Northeast Business Group on Health for 11 years. CLICK HERE to learn more about the National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions.
Dr. Long To is a cardiology pharmacy specialist at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, MI. He has been in this role for a little over 10 years. He rotates between covering the cardiac ICU and the ambulatory cardiology clinic managing lipid, heart failure, and pharmacogenomics. He is also the residency program director for the 24-month Pharmacotherapy Residency Program. He is a graduate of Wayne State University College of Pharmacy in 2010 and completed two years of post-graduate residency training in Pharmacotherapy.