2009 INSIGHT ELECTIONS SLATE

Please view each candidates' professional biography below before making your decisions. Then proceed to the voting page.

Note: You must be a member of InSight and logged in to insight-net.org in order to submit your vote.

President Elect
Ellen Swoger
George Vallillee

Vice President Finance
Diane Watkins

Director Education
Helen Williston

Director Enhancements
Laurie Hallmark
David Richards

Director Membership
Mark Watts

Nominating Committee (must elect 4 candidates)
      Jennifer Ball
      Mark Cook
      Laura Galvan
      Mary Money

PRESIDENT ELECT
(Three-year commitment – one year as President Elect, one year as President and one year as Past President)

Ellen Swoger - Methodist Medical Center of Illinois- Chief Information Officer

Candidate’s Biography
My information technology career started in 1984 at HBO & Company (McKesson) installing patient care information systems. I moved into a consulting role in 1990 (First Consulting Group) managing implementation projects, conducting systems evaluation/selection project and developing information technology plans. From consulting I moved into the VP of Information Technology position in 1997 at Excela Health, a 3-hospital IDN in Southwestern Pennsylvania. I am currently the CIO for Methodist Medical Center, a 350-bed hospital in Peoria, Illinois. In my VP and CIO roles at both organizations, I have worked on a considerable number of organizational and IT strategic plans. At Excela I worked on the information technology plans that supported two hospital mergers. At Methodist Medical Center I am currently working on developing the technology plan for a new facility to be opened in 2012.

I have been an active member of HIMSS (Western Pennsylvania and Greater Chicago) at the chapter level since 1990 and the national level since 1997. I’ve also been an active member of CHIME since 1997. I held the position as past president of the Western Pennsylvania Chapter of HIMSS in 1997 and chairperson on the Benchmarking committee of CHIME in 2004. I have spoken at the CHIME Fall forums and for local business organizations in Peoria, Illinois.

In addition to board positions in my profession, I am also a board member for the Peoria Symphony Orchestra. On that board I sit on the development and marketing committees.

Why are you interested in running for this position and how will your experience benefit the InSight organization?
InSight is a very valuable organization to McKesson customers and being a long standing McKesson customer, I would be honored to serve and assist my colleagues in a planning and leadership capacity. My previous experience as an HBOC (now McKesson) employee allows me to have a deeper level of experience and exposure to McKesson. In addition, the number of years I have been in a healthcare executive role dealing with planning and leadership issues related to IT should be of great benefit in an InSight leadership role. Many of my employees and colleagues have served or are currently serving as SIG Chairs or board members and have given and received a considerable amount of professional value from their participation.

George Vallillee - Spectrum Health - Manager, Radiology Medical Informatics

Candidate’s Biography
George Vallillee is currently Director at Large on the InSight Board and has contributed to the strategic planning initiatives for fiscal 2008/09. George is Manager of Radiology Medical Informatics at Spectrum Health of Grand Rapids, Michigan, a 2000 bed, 7 hospital integrated delivery network (IDN) including a Level 1 trauma center where he is responsible for maintaining high availability, performance, functionality, and strategic planning of information systems for PACS, RIS and Dictation supporting annual volumes in excess of 600K in the Department of Radiology.

George formerly served as Chairman of SUMMIT, the Society for Users of McKesson Medical Imaging Technology, a 540 member user group and lead many education and product enhancement initiatives designed to improve end users ability to exploit the best of McKesson’s Horizon Medical Imaging PACS application. As Chairman, George oversaw all expenditures and collaborated with SIIM (Society for Imaging Informatics in Medicine) on the administration of SUMMIT finances. George was also instrumental in the transition of SUMMIT to InSight.

George holds a Master of Business Administration and, in addition to his clinical informatics background, has 26 years experience in business and engineering including 10 years working with Venture Capitalist on the funding of high tech ventures and spearheading technology alliances of several fortune 500 companies.

Candidate’s description of the vision and mission of InSight and explanation of how his/her experience and involvement in InSight will enable him/her to contribute to achieving the goals and objectives of the organization.
The U.S. Healthcare industry is in crisis. Demand for services will increase an order of magnitude in the decades to come while at the same time there is an outcry for improved patient safety and quality at a cost families can afford. The Institute of Medicine cites that by 2030 there will be 78 million baby boomers in need of care for illnesses. No single solution will resolve the crisis, but there are great opportunities to improve productivities through the increased clinical and functional capabilities of core applications while enhancing their availability and performance at the same time. No better conduit exists to convey these requirements than a highly organized, well developed user organization such as InSight. My experience in healthcare and managing another large user organization will allow me to quickly engage the strategic and financial requirements of InSight as we jointly contribute to improve MPT offerings and knowledge.

Why are you interested in running for this position and how will your experience benefit the InSight organization?
I have a keen interest in achieving the overall strategic goals of InSight and will build upon the dedication and accomplishments of this esteemed organization’s current and former leadership. My vision for the future of InSight includes the advancement of education, product enhancements, intra-disciplinary collaboration and communication of our SIGs and McKesson Provider Technologies, and especially bridging the outreach of InSight beyond the very successful Annual Conference towards a future where InSight can serve the membership year round. Finally, I will apply my entrepreneurial skills towards the development of new member value lines and membership growth to ensure the financial health and future of InSight.

Comments from the Candidate
It has been an honor to serve the InSight board since transitioning SUMMIT to InSight in December 2007. I am excited to be considered for the esteemed position of President Elect and look forward to contributing my time and experience to the cause of InSight and the Healthcare industry at large. Thank you for your consideration.

VICE PRESIDENT FINANCE
(Two-year commitment)

Diane Watkins - Saint Luke’s Health System - Vice President of Revenue Cycle

Candidate’s Biography
Diane Watkins is the Vice President of Revenue Cycle for Saint Luke’s Health System. In her more than 27 years of healthcare industry experience, she has held leadership positions in patient financial services, patient access and revenue cycle management.

Ms. Watkins received an M.A. in Public Administration in 1987 and a B.A. in Business Administration in 1981 from the University of Missouri. She is certified by HFMA as a Fellow (FHFMA). Ms. Watkins has also served as an HFMA National Director and president of the Heart of America chapter. She currently serves on the HFMA Heart of America chapter Board of Directors and is the chair of the Membership Directory Committee. Ms. Watkins has also served as Treasurer, Secretary and President Elect of the HFMA Heart of America chapter.

Ms. Watkins extensive revenue cycle knowledge and experience allows her to contribute to regional and national publications on the impact of high deductible health plans, consumer driven health care and pricing transparency.

As Vice President of Revenue Cycle, Ms. Watkins is actively involved in strategic planning for Saint Luke’s Health System.

Candidate’s description of the vision and mission of InSight and explanation of how his/her experience and involvement in InSight will enable him/her to contribute to achieving the goals and objectives of the organization.
InSight is committed to providing a free exchange of ideas related to the use of McKesson software solutions. This allows individuals and organizations to leverage the knowledge and experience of others to further advance their own organizations. InSight members have a responsibility to provide suggestions, input and some direction to McKesson that helps McKesson improve products and better serve the health care industry.

My experience in serving on local association boards and in officer positions as well as my experience on a national association board of directors gives me the leadership experience needed to work collaboratively with others to achieve the organizations goals and objectives.

Why are you interested in running for this position and how will your experience benefit the InSight organization?
I am interested in serving the organization by offering my leadership and strategic planning skills. I believe is it important for members to be actively involved and to work to further the industry. My extensive involvement with Healthcare Financial Management Association including serving in all officer positions for the local chapter and on the National Board of Directors is evidence of that. I would welcome the opportunity to serve the InSight organization.

DIRECTOR EDUCATION
(Two-year commitment – one year as Director Education, second year as Vice President Education)

Helen Williston - Consolidated Health Information Services - IS Application Manager

Candidate’s Biography
I have several years of experience in volunteer positions with InSight such as Secretary and SIG Chair. I currently hold the position of RMG Council Chair of Education.

I have participated in Strategic Planning as well as Leadership initiatives at our organization. I have been in my current position with Consolidated Health Information Services for the past 6 years, previous to that I was employed in Finance and Health Records at the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance.

Consolidated Health Information Services provides Information Services support in a regional setting. I currently manage the implementation and coordinate the maintenance and optimization of 10 plus applications, several of which are McKesson products across 2 facilities. This has allowed me to grow in project management and planning skills.

Candidate’s description of the vision and mission of InSight and explanation of how his/her experience and involvement in InSight will enable him/her to contribute to achieving the goals and objectives of the organization.
I believe that InSight is a user group that facilitates peer to peer interaction as well as provides a forum for users to collaborate with McKesson - from sharing challenges/issues experienced, to providing guidance in future development of the product.

InSight allows users to become active participants through the Enhancement Process to guide product growth. We also have education opportunities through Webinars, conference calls on topics of interest etc. From Discussion Forums to monthly SIG calls, InSight provides users a variety of communication and education tools.

Why are you interested in running for this position and how will your experience benefit the InSight organization?
I have enjoyed the opportunity of being an active member of the InSight organization. The experiences I have gained as Secretary and SIG Chair in the past, and most recently Council Chair of Education, have given me the opportunity to see first hand the challenges that are faced by our volunteers. It has also shown me the satisfaction these same volunteers have enjoyed when successes are achieved.

As a McKesson customer for the past 10 years I understand the importance of building constructive relationships with the vendor as well as other users. InSight provides this opportunity and it needs all of us to help it to grow.

Comments from the Candidate
Thank you for considering me for this position. If successful, I would see my position as a ‘representative’ of you, the membership, to the board.

DIRECTOR ENHANCEMENT
(Two-year commitment – one year as Director Enhancement, one year as Vice President Enhancement)

Laurie Hallmark - Mercy Health System - IS Application Manager

Candidate’s Biography
I am currently in my second year as the Passport SIG chair of Enhancements, and have enjoyed working with the other users and McKesson liaisons to prioritize future enhancements. I’ve found that in order to prioritize enhancements which benefit most users, as well as other integrated applications, it’s important to understand the use case and details of each request. What is an enhancement to one may be a detriment to others. I am very detailed oriented and approach issues and challenges with an open mind.

I have been in the I/S department for almost 15 years, where I have spent the last 10 years as the I/S Application Manager, overseeing the entire clinical and financial application analyst team. As a Medical Technologist, my first position into I/S was the Star Lab System Coordinator, and soon afterward I added the responsibilities of being the RIS Coordinator. My working knowledge of the Star applications provided the framework for the new Pathways and Horizon applications that were planned for the future.

Over the last decade, I’ve been the project manager for several implementations, upgrades and even a few beta site experiences.

My Application Team and I have been responsible for numerous major enterprise projects. One of my earliest and proudest accomplishments was the implementation of PHS and PLUS. This implementation included integration between the products in over 60 physician offices, and the coordination and training of over 600 employees and 200 physicians to implement enterprise wide scheduling, registering and billing in all of our ambulatory care facilities.

From there, our vision kept growing and my team was responsible for the implementation of Passport. We were the first client to integrate three host systems at one time and then recognize our dream of a true Enterprise Master Patient Index (MPI), which further tightened the integration between our applications. Patient demographics, including new patients, edits and merges from 3 hospitals and 60 clinics, are now shared between our facilities.

To continue with our integration and vision, we then added Physician Portal, HCI/HCR, HSM,Horizon Lab, Horizon Imaging, Intellishelf, and EC2000 to name a few.

I manage one centralized application team and we continue to implement, integrate and upgrade our products in a standardized fashion to meet the needs of our 3000 employees each day. All of this was made possible due to the efforts of my diverse team of Application Analysts.

Candidate’s description of the vision and mission of InSight and explanation of how his/her experience and involvement in InSight will enable him/her to contribute to achieving the goals and objectives of the organization.
The Vision of InSight is to involve the users in decision making discussions on how to prioritize and enhance various McKesson applications. In addition to the enhancement process, the discussion forums and educational sessions enable users to share ideas, success stories (failures too) and tips and tricks of how to best use and integrate the McKesson applications.

The mission is to provide a strong community of users to work closely with McKesson liaisons to improve the future of healthcare applications.

Why are you interested in running for this position and how will your experience benefit the InSight organization?
I’ve been a member of InSight/ Times/ and going way back to 1993 when it was called SPUG. Over the years I’ve seen a tremendous growth in the user group and have seen many changes in the prioritization and voting of enhancements. Every year there are new improvements to the enhancement process and I feel that I can provide input on how to continue to improve that process. I would also like to see more user involvement in the process. It’s vitally important for McKesson to work closely with the user community to continue to provide new enhancements in a timely manner to meet our needs for the future.

Comments from the Candidate
InSight membership provides so many opportunities to the users. It’s a chance to network with other IT professionals and learn from each other, whether it’s attending the conference or participating in Webinars and other online discussion forums. Many of us share the same issues/concerns related to healthcare software applications and it’s nice to know that we’re not unique and that somewhere, someone has maybe resolved the same issue. The information sharing between the users is a huge benefit of being an InSight member. I look forward to my continued participation with InSight for many years to come.

David Richards - Spectrum Health - SR System Specialist

Candidate’s Biography
I am currently serving as SIG Chair of Enhancements for EC2000. I have overseen implementations of claim scrubber products and have assisted in education of 837 transactions. I have also worked in difference arenas of healthcare finance over the past 11 years.

Candidate’s description of the vision and mission of InSight and explanation of how his/her experience and involvement in InSight will enable him/her to contribute to achieving the goals and objectives of the organization.
The vision and mission of InSight in summary is to collaboratively work together to improve McKesson Products.

Why are you interested in running for this position and how will your experience benefit the InSight organization?
I am always very interested in product improvement to make everyone's job a little easier.

DIRECTOR MEMBERSHIP
(Two-year commitment)

Mark Watts - Provena Health - System Imaging Administrator

Candidate’s Biography
I have invested the last four years of my twenty-five year imaging career Hardwiring Excellence at Provena Healthcare. I am responsible for overseeing the operations of multiple Imaging centers (six hospitals and twenty-eight clinics, 600,000 exams per year) including administrative and technical operations and ensuring Provena Health's growth and quality objectives

Select professional accomplishments:

Summit Chairperson, guiding the educational offerings for the more than 1,000 PACS instillations
Certified Radiology Administrator (CRA, AHRA), 2002
Named Top 25 Innovator, in Health Imaging and IT, for work in patient safety
Vice Chair on the Board of Directors American Healthcare Radiology Administrators Education Foundation
Chairperson AHRA Education Curriculum Committee, guiding the educational offerings for the 4,000 Radiology Administrators
Co-Authored, “Communication & Information Management in Radiology” textbook

Candidate’s description of the vision and mission of InSight and explanation of how his/her experience and involvement in InSight will enable him/her to contribute to achieving the goals and objectives of the organization.
Success is not an accident. When opportunity meets preparation we can look forward to a successful outcome. The purpose of InSight is to enter into a partnership with McKesson. We must help them shape the tools we will need to meet our opportunities.

The HMI PACS we use today was shaped by our feedback, it is a journey with a willing and attentive partner. My success is McKesson’s success. The Cardiology PACS purchase would not have happened if the relationships during the HMI PACS had not been a positive motivating factor.

I have a story to tell of the positive effects that McKesson IT has had on Provena Health.

Why are you interested in running for this position and how will your experience benefit the InSight organization?
I have witnessed the positive effect of working with the McKesson team to develop the best possible products. In Membership at InSight we can advance the art of medicine by sharing of best practices and guiding industry leaders to provide the tools we need to fulfill our missions of providing the best possible outcomes for our patients.

Comments from the Candidate
Some people see the glass half full. I see it full and spilling over the side. Not just what is but what can be.

Thank you for your time.

NOMINATING COMMITTEE CANDIDATES
(Must elect 4 candidates)

Jennifer M. Ball - Saint Luke's Health System of Kansas City - Director of Nursing Informatics and eICU Operations Director for SLHS

Candidate’s Biography
I have been in Healthcare for over 25 years. I have worked my way up from a bedside nurse to administration. My leadership experience ranges from Chairing shared governance councils for a 300+ bed hospital to being Patient Care Director over a large surgical product line with responsibility of multi-million dollar budgets and over 100 FTE. I have always been interested in new ideas and products and this has led to me getting the opportunity to lead many system wide projects. This leadership experience has allowed me to mentor new managers and leaders, as well as drive new applications and technology. A good example of this is our eICU Center. I was involved with that project from hearing about it at a conference, to developing and opening our center, and now having success and being published about our outcome improvements after being open for only three years.

In my new role as Nursing Informatics Director for our health system, I have had the opportunity to work with a diverse group of staff that is developing the technology needs for our multi-facility system. We are standardizing our processes and workflows as we roll out the many McKesson solutions. My current role is to organize and manage this process and the people involved. I feel I have sufficient leadership experience to become more involved in InSight and to handle a committee or board position.

Candidate’s description of the vision and mission of InSight and explanation of how his/her experience and involvement in InSight will enable him/her to contribute to achieving the goals and objectives of the organization.
I feel the purpose of InSight is to bring the users together so we can share experiences, learn from each other, support each other and make the McKesson products the best they can be. We are in the business of healthcare and that involves the safety and caring for human life. In order to provide the best care to those who have entrusted us with their lives, we must take the responsibility to work together to enhance the products we use. I see it as a duty and feel by being involved I can help drive the work that needs to be done. I can do my part to further the enhancement of McKesson’s products and provide my skills to InSight to be used where most needed.

Why are you interested in running for this position and how will your experience benefit the InSight organization?
I am interested in this opportunity to become more involved in the InSight organization and feel I have many years of proven leadership experience that will bring a strong work ethic to the role. Since our system is a McKesson shop, we are very invested in what their products have to offer. As a consumer of these products, I feel it is my job to be involved and help drive the consumer voice and what is needed in the products they offer.

Comments from the Candidate
I am very interested in becoming more involved with the InSight organization. Volunteering is a key factor in making the organization strong, and is necessary to achieve the goals and objectives. As consumers of the products, we must be involved to have a voice and assist McKesson in providing the best patient care tools we can.

Mark A. Cook - Providence St. Peter Hospital - Surgery Systems Specialist

Candidate’s Biography
Member of InSight since 2003
Vice Chair, HSM SIG, 2004
Chair, HSM SIG, 2005
Tom Utley Award Nominee, 2005
Member, HSM SIG Education Committee, 2006-2008
Member, InSight Nominations Committee, 2007-2008
Member, InSight Non-Conference Education Task Force, 2007
Member, HSM SIG Enhancements Committee, 2008

The personal leadership accomplishments that I am most proud of are due mostly to the efforts of other talented people, and they occurred during my tenure as Chair of the HSM SIG. During the year Chairing this group, participation in monthly conference calls doubled. A great part of this success was the effort of our McKesson liaisons and representatives in the field, who strongly encouraged new users of the product to join InSight and get involved with their SIGs. Also, we were able to offer two educational tracks at InSight due to increased interest, ideas, and energy. The credit belongs to those who did the work. Our volunteers are amazing.

Candidate’s description of the vision and mission of InSight and explanation of how his/her experience and involvement in InSight will enable him/her to contribute to achieving the goals and objectives of the organization.
The vision of InSight is to provide value and advocacy to its membership in the most professional and effective way possible. As stated before, my experience has provided me with the opportunity to meet and learn from many bright, talented, helpful, giving people. Several of these people have excellent leadership potential for greater service to InSight and its members. I look forward to giving them encouragement to step up and grow.

Why are you interested in running for this position and how will your experience benefit the InSight organization?
I am interested in running for this position because being involved in InSight interests and energizes me. I enjoy learning from other leaders at each meeting or teleconference. My experience with SIGs, McKesson liaisons and InSight leaders has given me a broad network of people from which to recruit qualified, energetic candidates for leadership in this organization.

Comments from the Candidate
Being involved with InSight has taught me so much about helping people learn and grow, and how much I enjoy being a part of it. It is an extremely valuable investment of time and resources. I hope to see the members of this organization flourish and prosper.

Laura Galvan - Mercy Health Partners - System Administrator

Candidate’s Biography

A member of InSight since 2004
Served on committees within SIG: Education and Enhancement
Currently on SIG Education Committee
Currently serving on Nominations Committee (term ends 2008)
Speaker at 2007 InSight Conference
Will volunteer to speak at 2008 InSight conference (as well as future conferences)
Member of peer interview team
Implemented regional PHS build/maintenance and scheduling standards for 6 facilities
Currently implementing regional wide (6 facilities) CPT4 code scheduling within PHS
Involved in PHS/HSM implementations within organization
Report Writer
Trains application super users on upgrades
QA’s system performance
QA’s user performance
Troubleshoots issues as well as fixing them
Gives application demos when requested (for administration, managers, facilities, etc.)

Candidate’s description of the vision and mission of InSight and explanation of how his/her experience and involvement in InSight will enable him/her to contribute to achieving the goals and objectives of the organization.
InSight is a strong support network of McKesson users. InSight is the “voice” of the users – one example is enhancement voting. Being a member of InSight is valuable to me and my organization. I have networking opportunities, chances to share my expertise on the application(s) I, as well as my organization, use and learning from others. I feel strongly in the mission of the Nominations Committee – to provide qualified candidates who are active within InSight to the membership of the organization. The members then have their voice heard by voting for the candidates who will best lead InSight into the future.

Why are you interested in running for this position and how will your experience benefit the InSight organization?
I feel the Nominating Committee has an important role to fill within InSight. The Committee members need to find willing and qualified nominees for the open board positions. I have been in leadership positions within my organization for 8 years. I bring confidence, ideas, ability to work independently as well as on a team and ability to meet deadlines. I understand the importance of strong leadership within InSight to provide a strong voice to McKesson.

Comments from the Candidate
I enjoy volunteering with InSight and would be honored to continue to serve on the Nominations Committee for a second term. The networking opportunities available to InSight members are exceptional. I have learned from others and I hope my experiences have impacted others as well.

Mary Money - Mount Carmel Health System - Sr. Applications Specialist

Candidate’s Biography
I have been with Mount Carmel Health System (MCHS) for 29 years and have worked with McKesson’s Star applications for over 18 years. I have been involved in system selection, implementation and day-to-day support thoughout my time with MCHS.

I have also been involved with the Star user group under both TIMES and InSight. I was also one of the founders of the Central Ohio Registrar Users Group, now called Pathlore.