LifeBridge Health/ Sinai

Session: Why and How to Create a Perioperative Surgical Home

Sakinah Abdullah is Patient Services Manager at Lifebridge Health’s Sinai Hospital in Baltimore Maryland. Sakinah leads a perioperative services and PACU team that completes over 100 surgeries per day. The environment she fosters is one of collaboration, respect, and accountability which results in a high performance team. While Sakinah’s fundamental training is as a care provider, she has a strong understanding of business management and principles. She is not afraid to challenge paradigms and status quo and has the ingenuity to bring measurable, repeatable and sustainable solutions to improve financial performance while furthering the ultimate charter of better patient care.

University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

Session: Create Innovation Ramps, Not Roadblocks, to Speed Review of New Devices and Procedures

Dr. Aloia is an Associate Professor in the Department of Surgical Oncology at University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center who focuses on liver surgery. He leads the Institute for Cancer Center Innovation and is the Division of Surgery Quality Officer.

VA San Diego Medical Center

Session: Building Blocks: How to Calculate Your Optimal Schedule

William Ardill is Associate Chief Surgical Services, Section Chief General Surgery at VA San Diego Medical Center and Assistant Clinical Professor at UCSD School of Medicine. Prior to joining VA San Diego in 2009, Dr. Ardill served as Chief of Surgery, General Surgeon, and Surgical Instructor at VA Medical Centers in the US and hospitals in Nigeria. From 1986 to 1990, Dr. Ardill was Chief Medical Officer, Hospital Administrator, and Chief of Surgery at ELWA Hospital, Monrovia, Liberia and coordinated relief activities for 20,000 refugees caught in the Liberian civil war. He earned his MD at George Washington University.

OR Manager

Mercy Hospital

Session: Pre-conference Workshop: Slice and Dice Data to Improve Performance and Patient Outcomes

Cleveland Clinic

Session: Developing a Robust Staffing Model for Postanesthesia Care Units

Jackie Bates is the nursing director for the post-anesthesia care (PACU) and same day surgery units at the main campus of the Cleveland Clinic. She began her career with Clinic in 2004 and joined the perioperative team in 2013. In 2016, Jackie was challenged to create a staffing model that would accurately predict and model staffing needs for the 59 PACU beds amongst three buildings at the main campus. Jackie, along with her department's Finance Manager and Nurse Manager, implemented their first staffing model in October 2017.

Competency and Credentialing Institute

Session: Pre-conference Workshop: CSSM® Exam Prep

Brandon Bennett, DNP, RN, CNS, CNOR, CNS-CP, CSSM, CEN, NE-BC, is a professional practice–focused expert specializing in strategic change and management. Dr. Bennett specializes in strategic change management and use of evidence-based practice to improve operations and outcomes. He has led hospital departments through process redesign, physical plant reconstruction, and IT installation projects. His focus is working with clients and individuals to identify the most efficient, effective, and innovative methods to operate and staff their departments while meeting—or exceeding—standards and expectations. He has created and served as faculty for numerous perioperative education workshops and is the principal instructor for Competency & Credentialing Institute’s CSSM Prep Webinar series.

Cleveland Clinic

Session: Teamwork Makes the Dream Work

Natalie Bright, RN, MSN, MBA, CNOR is the Department Administrator for Surgical Operations at the Cleveland Clinic. Natalie's area of expertise includes block optimization, aligning enterprise and local OR allocation governance, assisting with strategic movement of surgical programs, and standardization of scheduling practices. She is also the developer of a scheduling app and website, called ORAnywhere.


Natalie's background includes experience as an operating room nurse, assistant Nurse Manager, Manager for Surgical Scheduling, and Director of Surgical Scheduling. She also has experience in Human Resource Development. Natalie holds a Masters in Nursing and a Masters of Business Administration.

Massachusetts General Hospital

Session: Procedure-Based Budgeting

Stephanie Casanova is the Senior Manager of Perioperative Business Services at Massachusetts General Hospital. She is the primary facilitator for the New Product Introduction Process and actively participates in initiatives directed at achieving cost savings. In concert with her role at MGH, Mrs. Casanova also serves on multiple Partners Healthcare system-wide steering committees charged with increasing patient affordability through non-labor savings initiatives. Mrs. Casanova holds a BS and MBA from Bentley University.

Executive Medical Director of Perioperative Services, Breast Surgical Oncology

University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

Session: Create Innovation Ramps, Not Roadblocks, to Speed Review of New Devices and Procedures

Abigail S. Caudle, MD, MS, is associate professor in the department of breast surgical oncology and executive medical director of perioperative services at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Cleveland Clinic Foundation

Session: Teamwork Makes the Dream Work

Alyssa Ciccozzi is the Department Manager for Surgical Operations at the Cleveland Clinic. Alyssa’s primary responsibilities include block optimization, assisting with strategic movements of surgical programs, and ensuring consistency within the scheduling practice across the enterprise. She also participates as an administrative lead for various strategic initiatives within Surgical Operations.

Alyssa joined the Cleveland Clinic as a Health Scholar in 2015. She has experience in process improvement including Lean Six Sigma methodologies from her previous role as a Continuous Improvement Administrator. She also has an extensive background in clinical research. Alyssa holds a MS/MBA from Case Western Reserve University.

USPI-Tenet HealthCare

Session: The New Grad RN Millennial—Staffing the OR for the Future!

Jerry Criswell, RN, MSN, BSN, CNOR is a tenacious leader serving as Associate Chief Nursing Officer (ACNO) where his expertise in the OR is paramount to a new graduate program, and his focus on the role of the RN as the center of patient care in the surgical suite. His passion lies in the ability to create a team that fosters new ideas, and where staff can learn and commit to excellence. He fosters a team that embraces the role of the nurse at the bedside and how critical the RN is in the OR for each patient every time.

Executive Director, Perioperative Services and Healthcare Systems Engineering

Massachusetts General Hospital

Session: How Perioperative and Procedural Services Can Collaborate to Improve Patient Care

Bethany Daily is the Executive Director, Perioperative Services and Healthcare Systems Engineering at Massachusetts General Hospital. Her responsibilities include the strategic direction of information systems, statistical & financial reporting, process improvement, human resources management, and facilities planning. Bethany is the MGH Program Director for the MGH/MIT Collaboration, which uses operations research methods to optimize patient flow in many areas throughout the hospital.

Ms. Daily received her Bachelor of Arts at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor and her Master of Healthcare Administration at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

OpenMarkets

Session: Seven Winning Strategies for Equipment Negotiation

Tom Derrick is a Co-Founder at OpenMarkets and Senior Vice President. He leads a range of core functions for OpenMarkets, including strategic partnerships and marketing. OpenMarkets is a marketplace for healthcare equipment used by over 800 hospitals and 4,000 facilities. A frequent speaker at healthcare and technology conferences, lecturing on topics including organization design, supply chain and eCommerce.


Prior to OpenMarkets, Tom served as a senior communications director for a rapidly growing medical device manufacturer, and as a D.C.-based public relations director conducting advocacy for the orthotic and prosthetic community. He has degrees from Wake Forest and DePaul Universities.

UPMC Presbyterian Hospital

Ben is the Business Manager for surgical and anesthesia services at the 50 OR flagship UPMC-Presbyterian hospital in Pittsburgh. With both a business and clinical background, he helps bridge the gap between the fiscal and clinical responsibilities of the OR. With a black belt in lean six sigma, he focuses on improving the operational processes within the OR and surrounding departments.

Massachusetts General Hospital

Session: Super-Sized Inventory? Take Control of Your Instruments

Jacob Flaherty CRCST is the current Customer Service Manager of the Sterile Processing Department (SPD) at Massachusetts General Hospital. This is a unique role to MGH with a focus on customer satisfaction in regards to instrumentation in the Operating Room. Jake brings 7 years of SPD leadership experience to the OR environment. An overarching goal for this role is to ensure a culture of collaboration and partnership between SPD and the OR is not only established but also maintained. His team uses a data driven approach to proactively resolve issues before they can impact patient care.

Altru Health System

Session: What Is That Central Sterile Department Doing?

Jenni Gibbs has managed the Central Sterile department for Altru Health System in Grand Forks, ND since July 2015. She began her work in healthcare in 1989 in inpatient nursing. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of North Dakota. Gibbs has a background in project management and Lean. As Central Sterile department manager, Gibbs developed a career-growth track for her employees to include technician levels, paid certification education, and a dedicated scope team. Gibbs created a highly-reliable, long-term, professional workforce, which has eliminated turnover issues and locum use. The department is an industry leader in key benchmarks such as IUSS rates, employee engagement, employee injury, and use of quality metrics. In May 2017, Altru’s Central Sterile department moved to centralized, organization-wide endoscope reprocessing. At the same time, they initiated a standard for verification of manual endoscope cleaning with 100% ATP testing and borescope inspection of every scope. In June 2018, Altru was the first US facility to sterilize duodenoscopes using hydrogen peroxide and ozone technology.

Director, Sterile Processing

Massachusetts General Hospital

Session: Mind the Gap: Find the Internal Capacity to Grow and Add New Service Lines

Meaghan Gray is director of sterile processing at Massachusetts General Hospital, where she is responsible for all sterilization and high-level disinfection practices performed at inpatient and outpatient locations. She previously served as the director of central processing at Boston Medical Center and as an account executive at a global leader in infection control solutions, Belimed. She has a BS from Merrimack College and is completing her MS in healthcare administration at Southern New Hampshire University.

Nurse Manager, Neurosurgical ORs

Cleveland Clinic

Session: A Continuous Improvement Approach to Turn Around Time (TAT)

My name is Kelly Greer. I started as a Surgical Technologist in 1998 at Cleveland Clinic on the Spine team and continued in this role for 3 years. After graduating from Cuyahoga Community College in 2001 with an Associate’s Degree in Nursing, I worked as a staff nurse in the OR from 2001-2011. I was honored to be promoted to Assistant Nurse Manger of Neurosurgery in 2011 and have enjoyed being in the management sector of nursing since that time. After graduating from Cleveland State University in 2014 with a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Nursing, I was promoted to Nurse Manager of Neurosurgery, which is the current position I hold. I truly enjoy leading, managing, and engaging my team on a daily basis as well as helping them develop professionally in their roles in the OR.

Continuous Improvement Specialist

Cleveland Clinic

Session: A Continuous Improvement Approach to Turn Around Time (TAT)

Ryan Gusching is a Senior Continuous Improvement Specialist at the Cleveland Clinic. Ryan’s primary responsibility is working with hospital leadership on creating a culture of improvement. He has led multiple improvement efforts within Surgical Operations including turnaround time, first case on time starts, and sterile processing. Ryan is Lean Certified through SME, and has over 13 years of continuous improvement experience. Ryan earned his MSA from Central Michigan University.

Cleveland Clinic

Session: Developing a Robust Staffing Model for Postanesthesia Care Units

CPA with an undergraduate degree in finance and a master’s degree in business administration. Experience in leading improvement initiatives in staffing, service contracts, and medical equipment optimization.
Created and implemented an innovative staffing model and replacement strategy that improved operating room efficiency by 33 FTEs resulting in annual savings in excess of $2.5 million. Presented the model and strategy at the 2018 OR Business Management Conference.
Has worked on strategic initiatives such as the business plan for expansion of the Cleveland Clinic into new markets, closure of hospitals, as well as the business plan for the creation of express clinics.

Leesburg Regional Medical Center

Session: Three R's of Staff Efficiency: Right Staff, Right Time, Right Place

Laurie started her career in Labor and Obstetrics. She transitioned to the Operating Room and has worked in the operating room environment for 31 years. She has served in every role in the Operating Room and has been in a leadership position in the Operating Room for over 25 years. One of the major accomplishments that Laurie is proud of is her successfully implementation of their Open Heart Program that is celebrating their 25th anniversary and is the #2 Open Heart program n the State of Florida. They have performed over 15,000 open heart procedures. Laurie has significantly reduced labor costs by consistently managing labor to her departments business needs.

Scribner Test

Session: Test Session

Carris Health, Rice Memorial Hospital

Session: Weight Matters in OR Reimbursement

Jackie Hinderks is the director of revenue cycle for Carris Health. She has experience with all aspects of the revenue cycle including patient accounting, financial reporting, chargemaster, managed care, health information, and patient access. Jackie’s leadership, high energy, and passion for healthcare has motivated the revenue cycle team to reach organizational goals and national recognition through continuous improvements. Jackie graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Healthcare Administration, received a Master’s in Business Administration, and is currently working on a Master’s of Science in Accountancy. She is also a fellow of the Healthcare Financial Management Association (FHFMA).

Administrator

Heartland Surgery Center

Tracy Hoeft-Hoffman, MBA,MSN,RN,CASC is the Administrator at Heartland Surgery Center in Kearney, Nebraska. She has 15 years administrator experience in Ambulatory Surgery. She received her Masters in Business Administration in Health Service Management from University of Dallas, her Masters in Nursing Administration from Clarkson College and has been Certified Administrator Ambulatory Surgery since 2009.

Ms. Hoeft-Hoffman has been a presenter at Becker’s Annual Meeting: The Business And Operations of ASCs frequently over the past several years. She has presented at OR Manager Conference and OR Business Management Conference. She currently serves on OR Manager Advisory Board.

ECRI Institute

Session: A Look in the Rearview Mirror: Paving the Way for Future Cost Avoidance

Gail Horvath joined ECRI Institute as a Senior Patient Safety Analyst in 2011. Gail has a Bachelors of Science in Healthcare Administration and a Masters of Science in Nursing. Gail has over 30 years’ experience in perioperative nursing and in Quality, Risk, and Patient Safety. Gail also teaches Quality and Safety in Healthcare in the Drexel University graduate school.

At ECRI Institute, roles include being an onsite expert where she works collaboratively with health-system leaders and clinical staff participating in proactive risk assessments, targeted risk assessments, and root cause analysis, in order to define and improve quality and safety initiatives.

College of Public Health, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center

Session: Relationship Mastery for the Healthcare Professional

Edwin "Gerry" Ibay is Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Administration and Policy, College of Public Health at The University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. He teaches executive skills, organizational theory and behavior, strategic management, and health information systems. He has over 10 years of healthcare experience in multiple roles, organization types, and geographies. Gerry received his B.A. from the University of Richmond, earning a double major in Leadership Studies and Speech Communication. He also completed a dual graduate degree, receiving an M.H.A. from Virginia Commonwealth University and a J.D. from the University of Richmond School of Law.

Influence Your Audience

Session: Opening Keynote: Thinking Outside the Box: Seeing What’s Possible

Michael Karl is a Corporate Speaker and Mentalist for Fortune 500 companies. These companies include MARS, Indeed, AT&T, Hilton, Priceline, Cablevision NBA and many more. He appeared on several media channels for demonstrations such as predicting headlines, duplicating drawings, and reading the minds of his audiences. The American Marketing Association (AMA) referred to Michael as “a modern day Sherlock Holmes.” Indeed.com has stated that, “having the opportunity to work with Michael Karl has been an eye opening and amazing experience.” Michael started out doing magic when he was just 6 years old and began performing professionally at age 14. He was soon more interested in the psychology behind the magic. Michael was intrigued by human behavior and wanted to know why people do what they do and how to influence others. This led him to develop skills to become a psychological illusionist or Mentalist.

Perioperative Services Director

Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Session: Phase X: Creating a Nimble Staffing Pattern to Case Volume

Cindy Kildgore, MSHA, BSN, RN, CNOR, is perioperative services director for the operating rooms, holding rooms, and postanesthesia care unit at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. She was previously a circulator, team leader, manager, and assistant director in perioperative services at Vanderbilt. One of her passions is process management and assessing failure points to ensure safety and efficiency.

UPMC Altoona

Session: Navigating the Transition: What It's Like To Be Acquired

Dana Kopera MBA, BSN, RN, CNOR, is the Clinical Director of Surgical Services at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Altoona and Bedford. She provides oversight to the following areas: Perianesthesia, Anesthesia, Operating Room, Endoscopy, Cardiothoracic Support, Sterile Processing, Surgical Pretesting, Outpatient Surgery, and an Ambulatory Surgery Center. In perioperative services for nearly 20 years, she has held various positions ranging from a surgical technician, staff nurse, as well as various managerial roles. Dana has her Associates Degree in nursing, Bachelor of Science in nursing, and Master's degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Health and Human Services Administration.

UF Health Shands

Session: Successful Guide to Requesting Perioperative Capital

Tatiana Rodrigues Da Costa, B.A.S., has 5 years of experience in the healthcare setting, all at UF Heath Shands. Currently, she is the Assistant Business Manager for the Florida Surgical Center, Children’s Surgical Center and Ayers Pain Management Clinic. She holds her B.A.S. in Health Services Administration from Santa Fe College in Gainesville, FL.

Carris Health, Rice Memorial Hospital

Session: Weight Matters in OR Reimbursement

Kris Lingle is currently the Director of Perioperative Services and Imaging Nursing at Carris Health, Rice Memorial Hospital in Willmar, MN. Kris has over thirty-five years of nursing experience, receiving an Associate Degree in Nursing from Anoka-Ramsey Community College, a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Briar Cliff University, Sioux City, IA and Masters of Science in Nursing with an Administration focus from St. Joseph's College of Maine. For the past twelve years she has served in OR leadership roles and has a keen interest in using analytics and creative thinking to improve OR operational efficiency and effectiveness.

UF Health Shands

Session: Successful Guide to Requesting Perioperative Capital

Robin Main, MHA has over 11 years of experience as an OR Business Manager and over 18 years of healthcare experience. Her initial training began as an Industrial Engineer at UF Health Shands where she assessed and improved the effectiveness and efficiency of processes, services and labor resources to support achievements of the goals and objectives of hospital’s management. She currently manages the business operations of 68 operating rooms at 5 locations. She holds her BS in Industrial and Systems Engineering and her Masters in Health Administration, both from the University of Florida.

Berkeley Research Group

Session: Three R's of Staff Efficiency: Right Staff, Right Time, Right Place

Ginger is an experienced senior healthcare consultant. She has an extensive background in streamlining processes and a proven track record of assisting organizations to significantly decrease labor expense without negatively impacting patient care or patient satisfaction. Ginger works collaboratively with all key players including administration, directors, physicians, staff, and ancillary departments to improve key performance indicator results, consolidate services, and to align staffing to meet the business needs of the organization.

University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

Session: Riding Out the Storm: Managing Operations in the Wake of Disaster

Lisa McMillian has 30 years of experience in health care supply chain management. She has served as the Associate Director of Perioperative Materials Utilization & Sterile Processing for 20 years.

Executive Director, Integrated Performance Solutions

Mercy Hospital

Session: Pre-conference Workshop: Slice and Dice Data to Improve Performance and Patient Outcomes

As the Executive Director- Integrated Performance Solutions, Matt is responsible for identifying, designing and implementing creative solutions through people, process and technology inorder to positively impact and improve upon Mercy’s Five Dimensions of Excellence. In this role, he oversees several key initiatives that seek to optimize the use of tools, technology, process improvement and metrics across the entire care continuum, driving more predictive and outcomes based decisions that help improve and enrich the Mercy experience for caregivers and patients. Matt brings more than 26 years of experience in healthcare, including 16 years in finance, supply chain and information technology.

Northwest Hospital and Medical Center, UW Medicine

Session: Decreasing OR Turnover Time: A Resource-Neutral Initiative

Carolyn Millen has been an OR nurse for 39 years, working with adult and pediatric surgical patients. I received my diploma of nursing from Ga. Baptist Hospital School of Nursing, my BSN from Emory University, MSN from Georgia State University, and DHA from the University of Phoenix. I have been in a leadership role in surgical services for approximately 35 years. My goal is to improve care and access to surgical services using the most efficient means possible.

Director of Clinical and Quality Outcomes

Providence Anesthesiology Associates

Session: Implementing Enhanced Surgical Recovery: The Future Is Yesterday

Vicki Morton is currently the Director of Clinical and Quality Outcomes at Providence Anesthesiology Associates in Charlotte, NC where she is responsible for the management and expansion of the Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) program to include 7 facilities within a hospital system and 11 service lines. She attended Queens University of Charlotte for her BSN and later attended the Medical University of South Carolina for her Masters in Nursing and Doctorate in Nursing Practice. She is a board-certified Adult Nurse Practitioner. Professional interests include: multi-modal analgesia approaches to minimize opioid consumption, patient safety, and patient engagement. Vicki worked as a critical care nurse for 15 years before leaving the bedside to pursue her advanced degrees.

Marshall Medical Centers

Megan Nebozuk is the Director of Surgery at MMC. A small, independent community hospital, recently rated 5 Stars by CMS. She oversees, The Perioperative Services at two locations, along with centralized sterilization for the entire organization. She is passionate about inspiring and motivating people to grow personally and professionally, and has spent the last five years developing a highly functioning work group. She obtained her BSN at SJSU and is currently working on her Master’s in Leadership at William Jessup University.

Outside the office she and her husband of 18 years are busy raising three boys, on a farm in Northern California.

Mayo Clinic

Session: The Mayo Clinic Approach to OR Growth and Modernization

Chris Nelson is a Facilities Project Manager at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. He has worked in the HVAC consulting industry for 15yrs as a Mechanical Engineer and Project Manager; primarily working on sustainable LEED projects. Over the past 3yrs, he has worked at Mayo Clinic overseeing funding, designing, and construction of a wide variety of hospital based projects.


Chris has a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from North Dakota State University and is licensed Professional Engineer and LEED Accredited Professional.


Chris enjoys living in the country on a few acres with his wife and five kids.

UPMC Supply Chain Management

Session: Navigating the Transition: What It's Like To Be Acquired

Barbara Nosek is currently a Process Consultant for the corporate Mergers and Acquisitions team of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC). Her role includes project management duties for the newly acquired hospitals and their integration into the UPMC Supply Chain systems and processes. Previously, Barbara held the OR Business Manager position at UPMC Altoona. During that time, she provided oversight of budgetary and productivity measures, data analytics related to surgical volume and efficiency, and charge reconciliation. Barbara also held various health care supply chain positions at UPMC Altoona and as an Officer in the United States Navy.

Senior Director, Industry Development

TECSYS Inc.

Session: Pre-conference Workshop: Slice and Dice Data to Improve Performance and Patient Outcomes

Nancy Pakieser is the Senior Director, Industry Relations for the healthcare sector at TECSYS. TECSYS is a leading provider of software solutions that provide inventory visibility across the continuum of care for health systems. In her role at TECSYS, Ms. Pakieser is the “face of TECSYS” in healthcare supply chain. She supports ongoing development projects, maintains account and industry relationships and identifies business development opportunities that all support the changing supply chain management function in the healthcare market. Ms. Pakieser started her career in a clinical capacity, and has carried the lessons of these experiences into her business roles.

Associate Chief Nursing Officer, Surgical Services and Senior Director, Surgical Nursing, Main Campus

Cleveland Clinic

Session: Teamwork Makes the Dream Work

Carol Pehotsky, DNP, RN, NEA-BC, ACNS-BC, CPAN, Associate Chief Nursing Officer, Cleveland Clinic Carol Pehotsky, DNP, RN, NEA-BC, ACNS-BC, CPAN, is associate chief nursing officer of surgical services for the Cleveland Clinic health system, and senior director of surgical nursing at the Cleveland Clinic main campus. She is responsible for the strategic direction of all surgical nursing services throughout the health system, providing direct oversight and supervision for the surgical nursing areas within the Cleveland Clinic main campus. Dr. Pehotsky has received certifications as an adult health clinical nurse specialist, a certified perianesthesia nurse, and an advanced nurse executive. She is a recipient of the Cleveland Clinic Professional Development and Education Award.

Surgical Directions

Session: Keynote Luncheon: How Does the Business Management of the OR Need to Change?

As CEO of Surgical Directions, Jeff has led the operational, clinical and financial improvement of over 300 hospitals across the country. Jeff is an experienced healthcare business strategist with more than 25 years of experience collaborating with physicians and hospital executives. Leading teams of specialists, Jeff has established a consistent track record of enhancing healthcare service delivery through the optimization of workforce, strategy, performance and the supply chain.
Jeff is an expert in addressing the operational, financial and political issues within hospital systems – from rural community hospitals to quaternary academic medical centers. He has worked with hundreds of surgical and procedural departments, and he understands the complexities and importance of these services to an organization’s financial performance and reputation. Jeff is a national speaker, and he has published numerous articles on anesthesia support and negotiations, OR operations, perioperative benchmarks, block scheduling, physician & hospital relations and hospital organizational issues. He is a leader in healthcare consulting, sought out by healthcare organizations looking to transform services delivery, improve patient outcomes, control costs and ultimately achieve a sustainable competitive advantage in their markets.

Mr. Peters holds an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Drake University.

President

Pfiedler Education

Session: Keynote Luncheon/Award Presentation: Perioperative Innovation

Judy Pins, MBA, BSN, RN, is President, Pfiedler Education, a healthcare education company whose mission is to support nurses, physician, and allied health professionals with accredited education regarding ongoing advancement in healthcare technology. Pfiedler, based in Denver, is a for-profit subsidiary of AORN.
Previously, Judy was Vice President/General Manager–Consulting Division for Cardinal Health, where she was responsible for sales, marketing, HR, finance, legal, and the development of 300 consultants. She also served as Vice President of Innovation and Marketing. In this role she coached and led cross-functional teams working on new products and services to bring to market. She has a BSN from the University of Dubuque and an MBA from Lake Forest School of Management.

Vail Summit Orthopaedics

Session: What Sets Successful Partnerships Apart?

John Polikandriotis has over 15 years of healthcare experience and has held leadership roles in the areas of basic and clinical research, operations, finance, and strategy and currently serves as the President and CEO of Vail Summit Orthopaedics. John has served as a Malcolm Baldrige National Examiner, has obtained CMPE certification, and is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives. His consistent achievement of results speaks to his ability to motivate senior leaders, clinicians, and staff, implement evidence-based tools and tactics, drive accountability, and create a culture of challenging the status quo.

ECRI Institute

Session: A Look in the Rearview Mirror: Paving the Way for Future Cost Avoidance

Catherine Pusey is the manager for the Safety and Quality Consulting arm of ECRI Institute’s Patient Safety Organization and Insight Assessment Services. Catherine has over 30 years’ experience in Acute and Long Term Acute Care Administration, Nursing, Quality, Risk and Patient Safety.

Cathy has an MBA with courses in both quality and business, a BS in Business and her RN. Cathy’s experience includes responsibility for opening new units, state licensure, Joint Commission survey preparation, root cause analysis, FMEA, development of fall prevention programs, and development of a patient advocacy program to increase patient satisfaction.

Managing Director, Healthcare

St. Onge Company

Session: Look Before You Leap: Assess Current State vs Future Need for Inventory Management System

Thomas Redding, BS, is managing director, healthcare, at St. Onge Company, which focuses primarily on supply chain strategy, distribution, and inventory systems. His experience includes a variety of engineering and system projects within healthcare, manufacturing, and distribution environments. He has supported and managed healthcare supply chain projects for domestic and international clients.
He has a BS in engineering from Kettering University.

Consultant

AuditMed

Session: Bridging FTE & Staffing: A Rosetta Stone for Nurses and Budget Offices

Paul W. Rhodes, RN, a consultant with Auditmed, has more than 15 years of experience as a (patient bill) nurse auditor, 2 years as charge master supervisor, more than 10 years of experience as an OR business manager for a Level 1 trauma center. He has also served as interim director/manager of perioperative business for two major healthcare networks.

Mercy Hospital

Session: Pre-conference Workshop: Slice and Dice Data to Improve Performance and Patient Outcomes

Betty Jo Rocchio, MS, BSN, CRNA, CENP, has oversight and leadership accountability for 45 hospitals in nursing and procedural areas across four states within Mercy, the fifth largest Catholic healthcare system in the US. She leads the quality, service, and financial initiatives for nursing, perioperative services, cath and EP labs, and GI labs. This includes $4.2 billion in revenue and $800 million in cost. She has more than 26 years of experience in healthcare, including 20 years in perioperative services and procedural areas in various leadership positions.

Massachusetts General Hospital

Session: Super-Sized Inventory? Take Control of Your Instruments

Mark graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 2004. Following 7 successful years on Active Duty, including a deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, He joined the Central Sterile Processing & Supply (CSPS) Department of Massachusetts General Hospital as the Operations and Analytics Manager. In 2017 he was promoted to Director of Operations and is responsible for the Clinical Operations of more than 90 Sterile Processing Technicians conducting 24/7 Operations in support of MGH’s 40,000 annual surgical cases.

Massachusetts General Hospital

Session: Mind the Gap: Find the Internal Capacity to Grow and Add New Service Lines

Mark Seelen is the Program Manager, Procedural Services at Massachusetts General Hospital. His responsibilities include management of different strategic, operational, and financial programs and projects across the hospital and Partners Healthcare.

Mr. Seelen received his Bachelor of Science from the United States Military Academy at West Point, his Master of Public Health from the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth and his Master of Business Administration from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.

USPI-Tenet HealthCare

Session: The New Grad RN Millennial—Staffing the OR for the Future!

Laura F. Sittler, RN, BSN, MBA, CNOR, NEA-BC. Mrs. Sittler has worked in the acute care setting as a nurse leader for more than 28 years. She started her career in clinical expertise in the perioperative setting, both as an OR Registered nurse and as a perioperative leader. She currently has served in the role as Chief Nursing officer at hospitals ranging in size from 30-500 beds, with executive experience in both for-profit and non-profit hospitals. She is passionate about supporting nurses, especially in areas as critical as the OR. Her focus is to inspire, and teach the next generation.

Massachusetts General Hospital

Session: Procedure-Based Budgeting

Stephen Spring is the Senior Administrative Director of Finance for the both the Perioperative Services and the Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. In this role Mr. Spring is responsible for over $1.0B in Revenue and $250M in Expenses. Mr. Spring oversees all aspects of finance including: Physician/Non-Physician Compensation; Materials Management; Supply costs and Analytics and Reporting. Mr. Spring is heavily involved in cost containment efforts with-in the MGH and throughout Partners. Successfully implementing supply cost programs over the past few years saving over $6.0M annually.

Mercy / Mercy Hospital / Mercy Clinic / Mercy Health Foundation

Session: Pre-conference Workshop: Slice and Dice Data to Improve Performance and Patient Outcomes

Optimium Health, Inc.

Session: Why and How to Create a Perioperative Surgical Home

Mark Stega, has been a thought leader in the health IT industry for more than 25 years, introducing new and innovative ways of using information technology. Mark was the founder and chief executive officer of Quantitative Medicine, Inc., one of the first electronic medical record (EMR) companies in the U.S. QMI was ultimately sold to GE Medical Systems. During his tenure at GE, he served as Chief Technology Officer for Marquette Medical Systems, a division of GE Medical.

Dr. Stega earned his BS in Computer Sciences and his Doctor of Medicine Degree at the University of Maryland. He is a graduate of the Dartmouth Tuck School of Business Executive Leadership Program.

Principal and Chief Operating Officer

Credibility Healthcare, LLC

Session: Looking Through a Clouded Lens: Consignment Agreements

William Stitt is the principal and chief operating officer of Credibility Healthcare, LLC, a supply chain and operations consulting firm in Lakeland, FL. A past president of the Association for Healthcare Resources and Materials Management, he is a Fellow of that organization and a Region 5 board member.

OR Hub

Session: Bridging FTE & Staffing: A Rosetta Stone for Nurses and Budget Offices

Blake was the Acting Director of Business Operations at UCSD Medical Center before taking a role at OR Hub, a healthcare technology company, where he is now the Director of Analytics. Blake is on the Advisory Committee for ORBMC conference and 2019 will be his third speaking engagement.

Altru Health System

Session: What Is That Central Sterile Department Doing?

Matt Strand is a graduate of the University of North Dakota with a B.S. in Aviation Technology Management, where he also earned his Commercial Pilot Certificate. His aviation background provided a perfect segue into healthcare, where he first worked as a biomedical technician, then in his current role as the Compliance and Application Analyst for the Central Sterile Department at Altru Health System, which includes two hospitals and nearly 20 clinic locations. Matt played a pivotal role in optimizing the flow of data within the Central Sterile Department, which allowed for more accurate record-keeping, extraction of key performance indicators, and creation of dashboards which enhance reliability and productivity. Matt is a Certified Registered Central Service Technician (CRCST) and member of AAMI and IACHSMM.

Mayo Clinic

Session: The Mayo Clinic Approach to OR Growth and Modernization

Beau Tordsen is the Surgical Services Asset Administrator at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Beau joined Mayo Clinic as a Finance Trainee in 2000. He then spent several years in Supply Chain Management followed by 10 years in Management Accounting. Beau has a Bachelor of Business Administration in accounting and finance from Concordia University in St. Paul, Minnesota and a Master of Science in health services administration from the University of St. Francis in Joliet, Illinois.

Plante Moran

Session: Busy vs Productive: How to Meet OR Labor Benchmark Goals

Sharon has more than 20 years of experience proving leadership consulting and project management expertise to healthcare executives and clinical teams in the fields of Lean Six Sigma program deployment, healthcare quality improvement and patient safety initiatives, data management and reporting, technology use in clinical settings, clinical software implementation and process improvement. As a Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt, Sharon has led Operating Room operational performance improvement initiatives in more than 35 different hospitals driving measureable efficiency, cost savings and patient experience improvements.

Assistant Director

Centennial Medical Center

Session: Phase X: Creating a Nimble Staffing Pattern to Case Volume

Sonja Walsh's career is in the peri-operative services environment. I started at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore as a staff nurse. There I focused my energies on being a great circulating and scrub nurse. My time there got me started along my path of cost savings and efficiency.

Secondly I worked at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore and there I focused on streamlining and increasing their throughput for their robotics program.

Currently at Vanderbilt Medical Center, manager of several of the Main Operating Rooms. I collaborate with my surgeons and teams to fortify the efficiencies / safety of care to our patients.

St. Claire Healthcare

Session: Crew Resource Management for Your OR Team

Riki Watts is the Administrative Director of Perioperative Services at St. Claire Health Care. She obtained her Associate Degree in Nursing from Ashland Community and Technical College in 2003 and completed the Master of Science in Nursing degree in 2013. She is a Board Certified Nurse Executive (NE-BC) and a Certified Nurse-Operating Room (CNOR). Riki is a volunteer item writer for CCI and a certified Team STEPPS trainer. She is an active member of the Kentucky Nurses Association, American Nurses Association, Association of periOperative Registered Nurses, Society of Gastroenterology Nurses and Sigma Theta Tau International Nursing Honor Society.

Associate Operating Officer, Perioperative Enterprise and Associate Nursing Officer, Surgery Patient Care Center

Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Session: Opening Keynote: Business Intelligence—The Intersection of Analytics and Operations

David Wyatt is associate operating officer for perioperative services and associate nursing officer for the surgery patient care center at Vanderbilt University Hospital and the Vanderbilt Medical Group in Nashville, TN. He is responsible for operational management and clinical leadership for the inpatient and ambulatory adult surgical division; this includes the perioperative enterprise, inpatient surgical and critical care units as well as surgical clinics. David is involved in strategic development and physician relations for the surgery service lines including community outreach through the Vanderbilt Health Affiliate Network. David served on the AORN National Board of Directors from 2008-2012

Inova Health System, Fairfax Medical Campus

Session: Look Before You Leap: Assess Current State vs Future Need for Inventory Management System

Kevin Youmans, Vice President of Perioperative Services directs the day to day operations at Inova Fairfax Medical Campus, Falls Church, VA. He has oversight of the operating rooms across the campus including, ambulatory surgery and perioperative support services. Youmans was named to this post in February, 2016. Prior to joining Inova, Youmans served as President of Genesis Medical Center, Silvis Illinois.

Youmans is a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives. He holds a Master of Health Administration and Policy from Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, and a Bachelor of Science from the University of South Carolina, Columbia.