Repertoire would like to welcome the following people to the magazine’s editorial advisory board for 2018/2019.
Richard Bigham
Vice President, Primary Care Market
IMCO
With more than 30 years experience in medical distribution, Richard Bigham has held leadership roles in sales, sales management, vendor relations, marketing, and private brand portfolio development. He has developed a thorough understanding of the dynamics of medical distribution, having gained perspective working with both an independent, regional distributor and a large national distributor. Prior to joining IMCO in 2014, he spent the previous 20 years with PSS World Medical. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business with a concentration in health care management from Appalachian State University.
Eddie Dienes
President, Primary Care Sales
McKesson Medical-Surgical
Eddie Dienes began his healthcare career as a sales representative with Standard Crescent City Surgical in New Orleans. The company was acquired by Physician Sales & Service in 1988. He held several leadership roles with PSS, including senior vice president of sales and marketing and, immediately prior to PSS’s integration with McKesson in 2013, president of PSS’s physician business. He and his wife, Beth, live in New Orleans and have three children Patrick (and his wife, Katie), Betsy and Caroline; and a new granddaughter, Hunter Grace.
Joan Eliasek
President, Extended Care Sales
McKesson Medical-Surgical
Joan Eliasek began her career in healthcare manufacturing and distribution at Baxter Healthcare Corporation, where she held management positions in field operations. In 1995, she joined McKesson Medical-Surgical as the director of market services, where she established a department designed to drive implementation of new business. Prior to the merger with PSS World Medical, she was senior vice president of marketing and supplier management. Immediately prior to her current role, she was the senior vice president of product strategy and supplier partnerships.
Eliasek serves as executive sponsor of the Richmond Women’s Employee Resource Group, OWN IT. She has previously served as diversity champion for the Med-Surg business as well as a board member of the McKesson Political Action Committee. She is an advisory board member of Professional Women in Healthcare, and served on the board of the HIDA Educational Foundation from 2010-2015, and on the HIDA board of directors from 2015-2016. She lives in Richmond, Virginia, with her husband and their three children.
Ty Ford
Vice President, Sales, Western U.S.
Henry Schein
Ty Ford joined Henry Schein in 2002 as a field sales consultant. In 2005, he assumed the role of regional sales manager, and in 2009, became a health care services strategic account manager, focusing on strategic account management inclusive of IDNs. In 2012, he was promoted to healthcare services general manager where he led Henry Schein’s Western strategic account sales force. He helped advance a number of the Medical Group’s upmarket programs. In his current role, he is responsible for the strategic and operational direction of U.S. Medical’s Western Area, which includes Henry Schein’s field sales force and strategic account management teams.
Doug Harper
President
NDC Homecare
Doug Harper has been in the medical distribution/medical device industry for over 30 years. He founded MedCo Systems, a New England-based physician supply distributor, which was later purchased by Physician Sales & Services. He was retained by PSS and served as senior vice president of sales and marketing, and president. He also served as president of Brewer Medical and group vice president of North America for the Invacare Corp. He is currently the president of NDC Homecare, serves on four medical industry boards, and is an advisor to healthcare private equity firms and investment bankers. He resides on Cape Cod with his wife, Cathy.
Mark Kline
Chief Sales Officer, Medical
NDC Inc.
Mark Kline joined NDC in 2016 with over 17 years experience as a sales leader for Invacare Corp., a worldwide leader in the manufacturing and distribution of home medical and long-term-care equipment. As vice president of sales, he was responsible for strategic sales planning and execution, new business development, account management, lead generation, sales forecasting/reporting/compensation, and CRM. He and his wife, Jill, are the parents of two sons, Brandon and Bryan.
Bob Ortiz
Senior Vice President, Physician Office Division
Medline
Bob Ortiz has worked in healthcare distribution sales since August 1991, when he was hired by General Medical Corp. (now McKesson Medical-Surgical). In 2005, he moved to Chicago with McKesson as a regional sales manager. covering Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana. He has served in his current role with Medline since December 2010, when he was hired to launch the company’s physician office venture.
In the late 1980s he was an Active Duty Army Officer for five years, assigned to the 25th Infantry Division in Hawaii. He was an Army Captain when he separated from the military. His first sales job was with Procter & Gamble, selling food and beverage products, including Jif Peanut Butter, Pringles Potato Chips, Duncan Hines Cake Mixes, and Folger’s Coffee. (He proudly displays in his office a plaque with the Jif nameplate for selling “The World’s Largest Display of Peanut Butter – 4000 Cases” in 1989.)
He and his wife, Debbie, live just north of Chicago in Lake Bluff, Illinois, with their two sons Nick (18) and Alex (17).
Pam Wedow
Vice President & General Manager
IMCO Home Care
Pam Wedow became IMCO Home Care’s vice president and general manager in January 2014, with responsibility for overseeing vendor contracting, member recruitment and member services, and helping members expand their product offering and improve their profitability while improving their customers’ quality of life at home. At the end of 2016 she was elevated to managing partner and given shares in IHC for her work.
Prior to IMCO Home Care, she worked for The Palm Tree Group for 14 years. There, she developed and managed the Master Distribution Program, which included managing distributor and vendor relationships as well as day-to-day operations for their 4-PL services. Prior to that, Wedow held positions with PSS World Medical, including vice president of operations for Gulf South Medical Supply, regional operations manager for PSS, Minneapolis branch manager, and director of contracts and rebate compliance.
She is a founding member and past chair of Professional Women in Healthcare. She sits on HIDA’s Extended Care Advisory Council and their newly formed Home Care Advisory Group, as well as the MAMES Retail Sales Committee.
Repertoire would like to thank the outgoing members of the magazine’s editorial advisory board.
- Bill McLaughlin Jr., IMCO.
- Bob Miller, Gericare Medical Supply
- Linda Rouse O’Neill, HIDA
- Jim Poggi, Tested Insights LLC
- Brad Thompson, NDC
- Chris Verhulst, Henry Schein
How to improve healthcare delivery
Repertoire asked its incoming editorial advisory board members to respond to this question: “In your opinion, what are the 2-3 most promising ways to improve healthcare delivery in the United States?” Some common themes: Consumerism, transparency, technology, competition. See if you agree.
Richard Bigham, Vice President, Primary Care Market, IMCO
Focus on prevention through expanded utilization and compensation of primary care providers. A large percentage of overall annual spend is for specialized treatment of conditions that may have been largely preventable if effectively managed through early intervention.
As individuals share a larger burden of cost through higher deductibles and copays, increased transparency in costs and outcomes will result. Through market forces, drive consumers to the most efficacious option. Collection and publication of pertinent data will facilitate consumer decision-making.
Minimize the administrative burden placed on providers. Regulations and reporting requirements must be tied to improved outcomes and not just a matter of collecting data to “check the box.”
Joan Eliasek, President, Extended Care Sales, McKesson Medical-Surgical
Consumerism, that is, the ability of patients to have a choice and a voice in their care. A better-educated patient and advocate, as well as a natural supply-and-demand dynamic, will force providers to share more information, improve their delivery of care and drive better outcomes.
Use and application of technology to care has the potential to streamline processes, improve patient interactions and improve the healthcare system.
DNA testing and the pipeline of new, more effective biologic drugs has the potential to change care methods and improve outcomes.
Ty Ford, Vice President, Sales, Western U.S., Henry Schein
Integrated information: Management of information is vital in order to fully transition to an evidence-based delivery system. Information must be considered a key component of the workflow process and must be used in “real time” in order to provide improvements in how care is delivered. Actionable data will result in improved decisions, which will lead to better outcomes.
Alignment of care delivery with communities: In order to achieve this, organizations must prioritize the needs of the patients from a population health perspective. This is achieved through an increase in responsibility for a “whole person” design. How does the system design a delivery of care “around” the patient instead of expecting the patients to adapt to the system.
Embrace consumerism of healthcare: In order to successfully deliver quality care to a “population,” providers must understand the needs that are required to effectively improve the patient experience. Technology and transparency are the fundamentals needed to improve behavioral and social determinants.
Prioritization of removing cost out of the delivery model. This will be achieved through the migration of care outside the four walls of the hospital, focus on prevention and wellness, and focus on operational efficiencies.
Doug Harper, President, NDC Homecare
All US. citizens should be entitled to healthcare. The U.S. economy has always thrived on capitalism and competition, but due to the lobbying power of the pharmaceutical and insurance industries and the AMA, intense competition does not exist in the U.S. healthcare system.
Increased utilization of physician assistants, nurse practitioners and telehealth are examples of how we could provide more essential “basic care” to everyone at a much lower cost, as well as allow our MDs to focus on more serious health issues.
I would suggest that if more individuals (who have the ability to) pay for some of their own prescription drugs, consumer demand for lower costs could possibly drive prices down. Regarding the significant spend on potentially controllable health issues, should individuals carry financial responsibility for their healthcare costs associated with such things as obesity, alcohol, tobacco and drug abuse?
Mark Kline, Chief Sales Officer, Medical, NDC Inc.
When thinking about improving healthcare delivery, it’s important to look at it from the patient perspective. Today, like never before, we have the ability to use technology to communicate the latest product offerings that have the best possible outcomes for healthcare providers and their patients. The utilization of communication technology such as social media and customer relationship management (CRM) is only as good as the individual providing that service. We all share in the ongoing development of technology and service to improve healthcare delivery to the most important customer – the patient.
Bob Ortiz, Senior Vice President, Physician Office Division, Medline
While I believe that we already do an excellent job of delivering high quality healthcare in the U.S., there is always room for improvement. Some ideas:
We must simplify payment and incentive models (traditional, MACRA, HEDIS, PAMA, MIPS). There is so much confusion at the private practice level today that they are somewhat paralyzed, and only the larger systems have the resources to truly understand and navigate all of the models and measures.
We must further support competition and insurance across state lines, which keeps multiple options open for patients to maintain competitive insurance coverage.
Continuity in supply sources helps with consistent care delivery throughout a network (consistent training and adherence to policy), and brings about economies of scale in purchasing.
Pam Wedow, Vice President & General Manager, IMCO Home Care
One of the most promising opportunities in healthcare today is helping all of us age in place. We’re not getting any younger! Honestly, as a cohesive group, our industry has an opportunity to get the right products and know-how into the hands of the caregivers – both professional and family members – to facilitate the baby boomers’ stay at home. We also have an opportunity to get manufacturers into this fast-growing but fractured marketplace.
It’s not easy, but it’s certainly worthwhile work; none of us would be in this business if we liked easy.