Medication & Treatment Compliance Forum          Featured Speakers

Carol Broverman, MS, PhD

Carol A. Broverman, PhD is a Senior Corporate Manager in Clinical Informatics Research and Development at Partners Healthcare System (PHS) in Boston, Massachusetts, a leader in development and use of computerized provider order entry systems (CPOE). At Partners, she directs enterprise-wide and research activities related to medication management and medication-related clinical decision support interventions across PHS sites and applications. Dr. Broverman leads enterprise projects and implementations in Medication Reconciliation, e-Prescribing, patient safety interventions related to medications, interoperability, and is responsible for developing enterprise patient databases and services-based computing infrastructure.

Previous to being at Partners, Carol was the Director of Clinical Informatics for Fast Track Systems, Inc., a developer of software for accelerating clinical trials based in San Mateo, California, and holds a patent for developing the Intelligent Clinical Protocol (iCP) model. Prior to that, Dr. Broverman was the Director of Healthcare Informatics for First Databank, Inc, the leading vendor of post-marketing clinical and financial drug information. She has also held senior informatics positions at several healthcare technology companies, specializing in the areas of clinical terminologies and clinical decision support, particularly as pertaining to medication prescribing and medication management.

Dr. Broverman has published numerous articles focused on clinical decision support, component-based EHRs, medication reconciliation, and medication terminology principles, and has served as an invited member on the CCHIT Interoperability Task Force. Dr. Broverman received a BS in Psychology in 1979 from Tufts University, and holds a MS and PhD in Computer Science from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 1991, with a special concentration in artificial intelligence and planning.

Gerard Burns, MD, MBA, FACS

Dr. Burns is a board-certified general surgeon with a specialty in trauma and surgical care. He graduated from the University of Maryland with degrees in Archaeology, Biology, and Medicine. He trained at Washington Hospital Center, Hartford Hospital, and Yale-New Haven Hospital. He served on the faculty of Yale University School of Medicine for 8 years as Director of Surgical Education, Surgical Critical Care, Surgical Nutrition, and Vice-Chair of Surgery at Bridgeport Hospital/Yale-New Haven Health.

He Received his MBA from the New York University in 2001.

In 2002, Dr. Burns went to Hackensack University Med Center (HUMC) as part of the RWJF/IHI "Pursuing Perfection" Grant. He served as the CMIO, and the Medical Director of HIM and Denials/Appeals.

Gerard came to MedStar Health in February 2008 as CMIO to maximize the flow of clinical information to affect outcomes-quality, safety, and efficiency.

Naomi Aronson, PhD

Dr. Aronson is the Executive Director of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association Technology Evaluation Center (TEC). She has overseen TEC's development as a nationally recognized technology assessment program and an Evidence-based Practice Center (EPC) of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).

Dr. Aronson has directed over 300 technology assessments and 13 evidence reports for AHRQ. She has published articles in Annals of Internal Medicine, Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Cancer, Journal of the American College of Surgeons, Academic Radiology, Journal of Family Practice, and Gastrointestinal Endoscopy. She represented the private sector on a U.S. Agency for International Development team providing technical assistance to the Hungarian government on building evidence-based medicine capacity in the national health insurance system. She was a member of the 2007 Ontario HTA evaluation review team.

Dr. Aronson is a member of the Institute of Medicine Forum on Drug Discovery Translation and Development, the Institute of Medicine Genomics Roundtable, the Steering Committee of the Chicago-Area DEcIDE Research Center, the National Business Group on Health Committee on Evidence-Based Benefit Design, and a Review Committee Co-Chair for the ISPOR 14th Annual International Meeting.

Previously, Dr. Aronson was a member of Northwestern University faculty, specializing in sociology of science and medicine. She was also a post-doctoral fellow in the Science, Technology and Society Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and received research awards from the National Science Foundation and the American Council of Learned Societies. Dr. Aronson's academic research focused on how the organization of scientific specialties in biomedical and clinical research affects the process of scientific discovery.

Cynthia J. Pigg, BS Pharm, MHA, FAMCP

In July of 2005 Cynthia J. Pigg joined the Foundation for Managed Care Pharmacy (FMCP), filling the position of Executive Director and CEO. As the chief executive, Ms.Pigg is charged with leading the Foundation’s efforts to fulfill its mission of supporting research and education to help the public live healthier lives, focusing on helping patients receive needed medications via their pharmacy benefit and by helping the healthcare community understand how to help patients utilize their pharmacy benefit to obtain life changing and life saving medications.

Prior to joining FMCP, Ms. Pigg was Vice President, CIGNA Pharmacy Management for CIGNA HealthCare and served on the Senior Leadership Team of the PBM, mail order and specialty pharmacy business. During her seventeen year tenure at CIGNA she led and was involved in numerous strategic and operational functions including pharmaceutical manufacturer relationships, brand, specialty and generic drug contracting, clinical services including the P&T committee, customer service operations, sales, account management, client reporting, claims processor management and retail pharmacy network operations.

In addition to managed care pharmacy experience, Ms. Pigg has held managed care positions outside of pharmacy, including physician contracting and management of ancillary services such as lab and home health.

Ms. Pigg has served as President of the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy, the national professional society dedicated to the concept and practice of pharmaceutical care in managed health care environments and as President of the Foundation of Managed Care Pharmacy. She is also a fellow of the Academy.

She is a graduate of the Medical College of Virginia/Virginia Commonwealth University, where she received Bachelor of Science degrees in medical technology and pharmacy, and a Master’s degree in health administration.

Larry S. Boress

Larry Boress is President & CEO of the Midwest Business Group on Health, one of the nation’s leading non-profit business coalitions. Founded in 1980, the Chicago-based MBGH is composed of over 90 major, self-funded, public and private employers having headquarters or employee populations in the Chicago metropolitan area. MBGH member firms provide health benefits to over 2 million lives, spending close to $2.5 billion on health benefits annually. MBGH's primary mission is to promote leadership, collaboration and knowledge among employers to continuously improve the quality and cost-effectiveness of health care and the health status of their constituents.

Mr. Boress oversees all of MBGH’s educational, networking, group purchasing, research and advocacy activities. He assists member companies in formulating benefit designs, measuring the performance of providers and health plans, and sharing of benefit management strategies. In this role, he conducts employer roundtables on onsite clinics, consumer engagements, CDHPs, pharmacy benefits, wellness strategies and union benefits.

Presently, he leads MBGH’s activities as an HHS “Community Leader on Value-Driven Health,” acts as the Coordinator of the Leapfrog Group’s patient safety and quality initiatives in Illinois, and oversees the “Taking Control of Your Health” project, a value-based benefit design activity, combining the incentive of waived co-pays with the use of specially-trained pharmacists counselors to improve the health, while reducing the cost of diabetes patients. In addition, he directs a series of research projects focused on determining the use, understanding and reaction to “value-based” benefit designs and programs by employers and employees.

In his formal training, he received a Masters in Public Administration from Roosevelt University and a Bachelors of Arts degree from Northern Illinois University. Larry also is a Certified Association Executive. Prior to joining MBGH in 1991, he spent 17 years at the Illinois State Medical Society. During that time, he assisted physicians in their practices and represented the medical profession in its relationships with hospitals, regulatory agencies and affiliated professional organizations.

He currently serves on the NCQA Health Promotion Program Advisory Council, the Coalition for Quality and Patient Safety in Chicago and is co-chair of the Illinois Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease.

Kate Christensen, MD

Dr. Kate Christensen is an internist with The Permanente Medical Group, the Medical Director of the Kaiser Permanente Internet Services Group, and also serves as the Medical Director for the Kaiser Permanente Martinez Hospice Program. She is a member of the Northern California Institutional Review Board, and has been designated the National Physician Lead for Patient-Centered Care by the Care Management Institute. In 1990, she founded the Northern California TPMG Regional Ethics Department, and served as Ethics Director until 1998. Currently she serves on the HIMSS PHR Steering Committee. She is double-board certified in Internal Medicine and in Hospice and Palliative Medicine, and is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians.