Senior Director, Social
Determinants of Health
Strategy & Execution,
CVS | Aetna
R.J. Briscione leads the Social Determinants of Health (SDoH) team for CVS Health, scaling SDoH Strategy across the CVS Health Enterprise for all lines of CVS and Aetna Businesses in support of the company’s “Destination: Health” platform to focus on community health and address social determinant gaps. Prior to this role, R.J. led Medicaid Business Development for Aetna’s East Region, leading teams in all stages of proposal response for multi-year, Medicaid managed care contracts. Recent successes included winning proposals in West Virginia, Kentucky and Florida for multiple lines of business. He joined Aetna in 2016, bringing more than 10 years of experience in healthcare services for government programs as well as large-scale management of political campaigns. Prior to joining Aetna, R.J. served as director of Medicaid and Duals Operations in multiple states for Anthem Inc. Prior to working in healthcare, R.J. worked for the Georgia House of Representatives, and spent 10 years with Delta Air Lines in various operational roles. He holds a BS in Aeronautics from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
VP, Engagement & Design,
Icario
An accomplished insights architect, Lora Alexander is the VP, Engagement & Design at Icario. In this role, she leads the Engagement teams, including UX and UI design, product strategy, research, content and creative to influence all aspects of the healthcare member journey and drive engagement for clients. Lora holds a master’s degree in research from the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana and an BA from the University of Minnesota. Before joining Icario she was the Director of Donor Experience at Be The Match.
Director, Quality Improvement, Johns Hopkins HealthCare
An experienced healthcare strategist and analytics expert with experience across Payers, Providers, Integrated Delivery System and PBM, Tehaswita has previously held roles at several Fortune 500 companies, including Accenture and CVS Health, as well as with Presbyterian Healthcare Services and most recently at UPMC Health Plan in Pittsburgh. She is a Certified ARIS Business Process Professional with experience in business process modeling, solution architecture documentation and creating customized business dashboards. Tejaswita holds a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Cellular & Molecular Biology from Georgetown University.
Medical Director for Health
Equity and Public Programs,
Arkansas BCBS
In this role, Dr. Nash provides leadership for developing, implementing, and evaluating health equity initiatives to help create a more inclusive and non-discriminatory healthcare system throughout Arkansas.
She provides oversight and guidance on public programs and products to improve health equity for all Arkansans. This role includes a position on the leadership committee for the Vaccinate the Natural State initiative, a combined effort from a diverse set of organizations working to increase the adoption of COVID-19 vaccines across Arkansas and ensure equitable access and distribution. Dr. Nash is passionate about addressing health disparities in Arkansas’ most vulnerable communities and takes action as a leader throughout the state.
In addition to her role at Arkansas Blue Cross, Dr. Nash is adjunct faculty in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) College of Public Health, where she is also the co-director of the Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities Service Learning Course.
Prior to her work with Arkansas Blue Cross, Dr. Nash served as the medical director for the Arkansas Minority Health Commission, where she developed and implemented community outreach and advocacy programs and partnerships. She also practiced primary care internal medicine for 15 years in the Department of General Internal Medicine at UAMS, mentored students and faculty and engaged in health disparity research and advocacy efforts.
Dr. Nash completed medical school at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, MD, and served her residency in the Primary Care Internal Medicine Residency Training Program at George Washington University Hospital in Washington, DC. She received a Master of Public Health degree from Harvard University School of Public Health and completed a fellowship in Minority Health Policy from Harvard University School of Public Health, also in Boston, MA.
As new solutions emerge to help overcome common SDOH barriers, considering how health plans fit into the larger picture comes into focus. This roundtable of healthcare leaders will discuss new ideas and approaches to health equity in government programs, including broadband access, food access programs, and more.
Excellent programming. This was my first time attending, and I will be a regular listener. Topics are relevant and timely.
— Margot Ozyp, Vice President, Contract Operations and Performance, Equality Health
I learn something practical every time I tune in!
— Heather Peterman, Director of Healthcare Research and Quality, Minnesota Department of Health Services
These webinars are very helpful and relevant. They are easy to listen to and have a great variety of topics, speakers and information. The pace is really engaging.
— Michelle Nelson, Senior Director, Health Improvement, United Regional Health Care
Great conversation about real-life problems caring for real-life patients!!!
— Kim Tjanden, Medical Director, Community Health, CentraCare
Enjoy your programming. Always much needed and relevant information.
— Mary Freeman, Director, Baptist Memorial Health Care
The topics were directly aligned with our company’s missions!
— Tracy Fennessy, Senior Relationship Manager, Business Development & Community Health, Point32Health
Who knew there would be a podcast about my actual job? I appreciate hearing how others are navigating the health plan world.
— Hayley Peebles, Lead Care Manager, Network Health
The Bright Spots series is always very well organized. Provides insight and recapping of key points. Happy to never be lectured or read to, but rather a great productive conversation style.
— Marie Wendt, Director of Clinical Quality & Care Management, Great Lakes Physicians Organization, P.C.
Your programming is spot-on for presenting new and innovative ways to improve health outcomes and care to our members.
— Shelley Krawchuk, RN, CPHQ, Clinical Program Manager, Health Net, Inc
I appreciate the well-balanced nature of the presentation. It gave me great ideas that can be easily implemented.
— Eileen Esposito, Vice President, Ambulatory Clinical Practice, Catholic Health
This is a great opportunity to bring together experts and have an open conversation. There are so many questions. One whole session could be on questions about how engaging it is! Thank you!
— Tracey Greene, Vice President, Personalized Health, Aetna National Medicaid
I picked up quite a bit that I had not considered with SDoH digital divide. It was especially interesting to hear from the panelists their thoughts and the programs they have put into place to improve the member experience, as well as barriers with language and culture. Thank You!
— Jesse Stakes, Associate Director, Clinical Quality, United Healthcare
Great information! Very timely and relevant to what is happening in healthcare.
— Laurie Evans, Director, Business Analytics, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee
The session inspired ideas and initiatives to share across my team at Humana on how we can strengthen our service delivery and implement these strategies in the buildout of new lines of business.
— Nicole Bell, Senior Market Development Professional, Humana
My first time connecting with Bright Spots and I am hooked! We are all managing through uncertainty and this group has amazing thinkers in their field, living in this real healthcare world and providing clarity for the future.
— Robert Santilli, CEO, Gunnison Valley Health
Your programming provided a real-world perspective. This approach created relatability; moreover, it will be easy to apply some of the work to enhance the patient experience.
— Leslie Marsh, CEO, Lexington Regional Health Center
Excellent overview of value and importance of video marketing; as a medical director myself, it opened my eyes to various opportunities for our health system to improve.
— Gerard Isenberg, MD, Chief Medical Quality Officer, University Hospital Cleveland Medical Center
A pirate’s bounty of meaty information!
— Julianne Eckert, Director, Quality Improvement, Clover Health
The Medicare Advantage Leadership Council (MALC) is an invitation-only peer community for senior Medicare Advantage leaders to exchange proven strategies and real-world “bright spots” across STARS, CAHPS, HEDIS, benefit design, risk adjustment, operations, and provider partnerships.
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