Annual Meeting

2023 HASD&IC Annual Meeting

San Diego Mission Bay Resort
November 16, 2023 | 7:30AM - 3:00PM PT

Thank you to our members, community partners, special guests, speakers, and sponsors for your engagement in the 2023 HASD&IC Annual Meeting.

The information and conversations exchanged truly made this a day of connecting, networking, and learning.

Thank you also for your positive contributions every day to our region’s health. We are proud to be part of such a vibrant community of caring.

Dimitrios Alexiou, FACHE
HASD&IC President & CEO


Video Recordings

Video will be available soon.

Photo Gallery

Dimitrios Alexiou, FACHE, President & CEO, Hospital Association of San Diego & Imperial Counties

(Moderator) Aaron Neinstein, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Notable; Christopher Longhurst, MD, MS, Chief Medical Officer & Chief Digital Officer, UC San Diego Health; Jon McManus, Vice President/Chief Data & Software Development Officer, Sharp HealthCare; Albert Oriol, Vice President/Chief Information Officer, Rady Children’s Hospital – San Diego; and Shane Thielman, FACHE, CHCIO, Corporate Senior Vice, President/Chief Information Officer, Scripps Health;

As artificial intelligence (AI) is integrated into our digital health care environment, it is important to have a shared definition on what AI is, and is not. This panel will cover shared language around AI and discuss regulatory challenges and concerns associated with it. Panelists will share experiences from their facilities and discuss implementation strategies and applications to support provider and patient experience as well as provide new insights. Issues such as privacy and security will be explored as we consider what the future of AI looks like from a health care standpoint.

(Special Exhibit)
Jordan Verdin, Founder, Humanity Showers
www.humanityshowers.org

In 2014, Jordan Verdin took to the streets to assist the unhoused and document their stories through portraiture and journalism. Through his experience, Humanity Showers, a 100% volunteer mobile shower project was established and now provides 2,000 showers per month in San Diego, Orange, and Los Angeles Counties. A selection of Jordan’s portraits and collected oral histories of individuals experiencing homelessness will be displayed.

Bob Dalton, Founder and CEO, Sackcloth & Ashes
https://sackclothandashes.com

In 2013, Bob Dalton’s mother experienced homelessness, inspiring him to take action and the result was establishment of Sackcloth & Ashes, a mission-driven company that donates a blanket to a local homeless shelter for every blanket purchased. Bob will tell his own personal story about his mom becoming homeless and how it changed the way he viewed people experiencing homelessness.

(Moderator) Mike Phillips, Esq., Senior Director of Patient Advocacy and Housing Services, Jewish Family Service of San Diego; Stephanie Welch, MSW, Deputy Secretary of Behavioral Health, California Health & Human Services Agency; Luke Bergmann, PhD, Director, Behavioral Health Services, County of San Diego Health & Human Services Agency; and Marisa Varond, Executive Director, McAlister Institute

Behavioral health continues to be a top priority for all healthcare systems throughout the region. We have seen an increasing need for behavioral health services at all levels and for all ages since the onset of the pandemic, and often the emergency department serves as people’s first setting to try to access care. This panel will discuss upcoming policy changes at the state level and provide insight from two local government entities on how we can implement these changes locally to increase people’s access to care and future areas for advocacy to continue to build out the continuum of care. 

Carmela Coyle, President & CEO, California Hospital Association

(Moderator) Felicia Y Sze, Managing Partner, Athene Law, LLP; Larry Lewis, Chief Executive Officer, Community Health Plan of Imperial Valley; Nate Oubre, Vice President Medi-Cal Performance, Blue Shield of California Promise Health Plan; Abbie Totten, Plan President, Molina Healthcare of California; and Ann Warren, Associate Chief Executive Officer, Community Health Group

As the number of people enrolled in Medi-Cal continues to increase across the region, and with new state initiatives like the reductions of plans in 2024 and CalAIM, it is more important than ever to work in partnership with our Medi-Cal Managed Care plans to optimize patient care and connections to services to support whole person care. This panel will feature the CEOs from the Medi-Cal Managed Care Plans in the region to discuss the Medi-Cal landscape, future changes on the horizon in 2024, and how to prepare patients and staff to ensure continuity of care. 

Dimitrios Alexiou, FACHE, President & CEO, Hospital Association of San Diego & Imperial Counties

Additional speakers may be added.

Dimitrios Alexiou, FACHE
President and CEO
Hospital Association of San Diego and Imperial Counties

Dimitrios Alexiou, FACHE, is the President and CEO of Hospital Association of San Diego and Imperial Counties (HASD&IC), a non-profit trade association representing hospitals and health systems. Mr. Alexiou joined the Hospital Association in December 2014. As President/CEO of HASD&IC, Dimitrios provides leadership, representation, advocacy, and acts as an advisory on behalf of over 38 hospitals and health systems in the 2-county region. He also serves as a Board Advisor to the California Hospital Association Board of Trustees.

Luke Bergmann, PhD 
Director, Behavioral Health Services 
County of San Diego Health & Human Services Agency
 
Luke Bergmann, PhD, is the Director of Behavioral Health Services for the County of San Diego, Health and Human Services Agency. Dr. Bergmann previously worked 9 years in New York City. He most recently served as Assistant Vice President over Behavioral Health at NYC Health + Hospitals, the nation’s largest public hospital system. He completed post-doctoral fellowships at UC San Francisco’s Institute for Health Policy and UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health.

Carmela Coyle 
President & CEO 
California Hospital Association 
Carmela Coyle began her tenure as president and CEO of the California Hospital Association, the statewide leader representing the interests of more than 400 hospitals and health systems in California, in October 2017. Previously, Ms. Coyle led the Maryland Hospital Association for nine years, where she played a leading role in reframing the hospital payment system in Maryland and moving to a value-based methodology.

Bob Dalton
Founder and CEO
Sackcloth & Ashes

In 2013, Bob Dalton’s mother experienced homelessness, inspiring him to take action. He contacted local homeless shelters to inquire about their needs and consistently found that blankets were in high demand. This led to the establishment of Sackcloth & Ashes, a mission-driven company that donates a blanket to a homeless shelter for each purchase. Bob Dalton’s dream is to see Localism become a staple of modern ethics, education, politics, business, humanitarian work, journalism, and communal life.

Larry Lewis 
Chief Executive Officer 
Community Health Plan of Imperial Valley
 
Larry Lewis was the Chief Executive Officer at Pioneers Memorial Healthcare District for ten years prior to joining the Health Plan. Larry has worked in various executive management positions in health care. He started as a Commissioner for the Local Health Authority in 2014, and has been a part of the LHA ever since. He was a board member and Past-Chairman of the Hospital Association of San Diego and Imperial Counties.

Christopher Longhurst, MD, MS
Chief Medical Officer & Chief Digital Officer
UC San Diego Health

Christopher Longhurst provides leadership to medical staff, ensuring that standards and protocols are in place to provide the highest quality patient care. Dr. Longhurst is responsible for maintaining excellence in clinical care, including regulatory, patient and clinician satisfaction, quality and safety, and medical affairs. He also serves as an associate dean at the School of Medicine, overseeing education and research missions within the clinical environment.

Jon McManus
Vice President and Chief Data and Software Development Officer
Sharp Healthcare, San Diego
Jon McManus is a veteran health care leader and technologist who has worked with some of the largest health care systems in the country. Mr. McManus is a recognized technology expert with a history of developing innovative and transformational strategies for organizations of all sizes. His experience spans multiple health care settings including academic medicine, county and government systems, public sector health care, consulting, vendor product development, non-profit systems, and technology start-ups.

Aaron Neinstein, MD
Chief Medical Officer
Notable

Dr. Aaron Neinstein is the Chief Medical Officer at Notable, the leading intelligent automation company for healthcare. He employs his care delivery expertise to strengthen Notable’s product strategy and roadmap and ensure high value customer outcomes. Before joining Notable, Dr. Neinstein spent over a decade as a physician executive in digital health and informatics, most recently as Vice President of Digital Health at UCSF.  At UCSF,  he played an integral role in leading their Epic EHR implementation. He is a Fellow of the American Medical Informatics Association and a federal appointee to the US Health Information Technology Advisory Committee (HITAC).

Nate Oubre, MBA
Vice President Medi-Cal Performance
Blue Shield of California Promise Health Plan

Nate Oubre is the vice president Medi-Cal performance at Blue Shield of California Promise Health Plan (Blue Shield Promise). Nate is a proven leader in health care with deep knowledge of the Medi-Cal health plan space and strength in strategic planning, day to day operational performance, and leading through change. Nate came to Blue Shield Promise from Kaiser Permanente, where he retired after a successful 31-year career. During his tenure, Nate held a number of executive-level roles at Kaiser in finance and operations.

Albert Oriol
Vice President, Information Management and CIO
Rady Children’s Hospital

Albert Oriol serves as Vice President, Information Management and CIO at Rady Children’s Hospital – San Diego. Prior to joining Rady Children’s Albert held various IT leadership roles at The Children’s Hospital in Denver, Colorado and at Sarasota Memorial Health Care System in Sarasota, Florida. Mr. Oriol’s expertise centers around IT strategy, organizational change management, project and portfolio management, IT quality assurance, technology infrastructure, and emerging technologies.

Mike Phillips, Esq. (moderator)
Senior Director of Patient Advocacy and Housing Services
Jewish Family Service of San Diego

Mike Phillips is the Senior Director of Patient Advocacy and Housing Services at Jewish Family Service. In his role at JFS, he provides instruction and training for the behavioral health community, including information on due process rights for psychiatric patients throughout the County of San Diego. He is currently working at the State level on LPS Reform and provides law enforcement training on mental health issues. 

Felicia Y Sze (moderator)
Managing Partner
Athene Law, LLP

Felicia Y Sze is a recognized expert in Medicaid and Medicare reimbursement matters, focusing on both the managed care and fee-for-service programs. She advises health care providers on a wide array of compliance and reimbursement matters and in disputes with managed care entities and government payors. She founded Athene Law, LLP, a minority-owned health care law firm, in 2018.

Shane Thielman, FACHE, CHCIO 
Corporate Senior Vice President & Chief Information Officer 
Scripps Health 

Shane Thielman is responsible for the vision and implementation of Scripps information and digital technology. He provides leadership for the development, implementation, integration and execution of technology and biomedical engineering initiatives, focusing on solutions that enable system strategy and deliver effective clinical and business operations. Mr. Thielman joined Scripps Health in 2006 and has since held progressive leadership positions in strategic planning, project management, medical management and information services.

Abbie Totten
Plan President
Molina Healthcare of California

Abbie Totten is a healthcare executive with almost 20 years of experience in Medicaid and California managed care environment. Abbie has extensive experience in the Medicaid public policy and managed care operations. She is responsible for the performance of Molina Healthcare of California including leading MHC’s winning bid for the California Medi-Cal business – doubling the plan footprint for 1/1/24. Before joining Molina, Abbie was the Medical Program Officer at Health Net.

Marisa Varond
Executive Director
McAlister Institute

Marisa Varond serves as the Executive Director of McAlister Institute, one of San Diego’s leading behavioral health nonprofits that provides a full continuum of services for more than 19,000 individuals and families impacted by substance use. In her 12 years with McAlister, she has helped grow the agency from 120 employees and annual revenues of $7M to more than 400 employees and an annual budget of $58M. Marisa also serves as the Chair of the Alcohol and Drug Services Provider Association (ADSPA) and holds other leadership positions representing substance use disorder providers in key initiatives related to the Drug Medi-Cal Organized Delivery System, CalAIM, and the behavioral health workforce crisis. She is a native San Diegan and graduate of the University of Southern California with dual degrees in Business Administration and Political Science.

(Special Exhibit)
Jordan Verdin
Founder
Humanity Showers

In 2014, Jordan Verdin took to the streets of San Diego to assist the unhoused and document their stories through portraiture and journalism. From these interactions, Jordan identified two critical needs among the homeless population: the need to be seen and the need to be clean. Jordan began sharing the stories of those he met to combat invisibility and provided hand washing stations and wet wipes to combat the lack of hygiene. Through this work, Jordan aims to build bridges between communities and promote a more just and equitable society by challenging the stigma and stereotypes that often accompany homelessness.

Ann Warren 
Associate Chief Executive Officer 
Community Health Group
 
Ann Warren has spent the past 29 years at Community Health Group, where she currently serves as the Associate CEO. With expertise in Regulatory Affairs, Ms. Warren navigates the complex and shifting health care landscape to ensure Community Health Group’s compliance with all relevant laws and regulations. Before being promoted to Associated CEO, Ms. Warren served as Compliance and Regulatory Affairs Officer.

Stephanie Welch, MSW 
Deputy Secretary of Behavioral Health 
California Health & Human Services Agency
 
Stephanie Welch is the Deputy Secretary of Behavioral Health for the California Health and Human Services Agency (CalHHS). Stephanie has over two decades of experience in behavioral health policy, program administration, evaluation and advocacy at both the state and county level, working at organizations such as the California Mental Health Services Authority (CalMHSA), the County Behavioral Health Directors Association (CBHDA) and the California Council of Community Behavioral Health Agencies (CBHA).

Thank you for your support of the 2023 HASD&IC Annual Meeting!

American Medical Response, Inc.

Anthem Blue Cross – California Commercial Business

Athene Law, LLP

Blue Shield of California Promise Health Plan

BMG Money, Inc.

HKS Architects, Inc.

Hooper, Lundy & Bookman, P.C.

Molina Healthcare of California

Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves & Savitch, LLP

SpeedTrack

The full offer of continuing education for healthcare executives, physicians, and nursing is as follows. Full attendance at the educational sessions is a prerequisite for receiving continuing education. Attendees must sign in at each session at the conference and include professional license number, if required.

Please direct all continuing education questions to Silka Benic, sbenic@hasdic.org.

This program has been developed and is presented locally by The Hospital Association of San Diego and Imperial Counties (HASD&IC) in association with San Diego Chapter of Healthcare Leaders (SOHL). The American College of Healthcare Executives has awarded 1.0 ACHE Face-to-Face Education Credits to this program for each of the following panel discussions:

Panel | Artificial Intelligence in Health Care – 1.0 ACHE Face-to-Face Credit Hour

Panel | The Shifting Policy Landscape of Behavioral Health – 1.0 ACHE Face-to-Face Credit Hour

Panel | Medi-Cal Managed Care Plans – What’s Next? – 1.0 ACHE Face-to-Face Credit Hour

Participants in this program who wish to receive ACHE Face-to-Face credit must sign in at the time of the meeting to receive and complete an electronic post-event evaluation form.

AMA – Accreditation, Disclosure, and Disclaimer

The Doctors Company is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical educational activities for physicians.

The Doctors Company designates this activity for a maximum of 3.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of The Doctors Company and The Hospital Association of San Diego and Imperial Counties (HASD&IC). The Doctors Company is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

No individual in a position to control or influence the content of this activity has reported relevant financial relationships with commercial interests. No commercial support was provided for this activity. This program is being offered for informational and educational purposes only from a Patient Safety Risk Management perspective and does not constitute legal advice. Laws vary from state to state, actual clinical situations often involve subtle differences and nuances from program scenarios or recommendations, and the recommendations provided in this activity may not apply to all practice situations. In complex circumstances, which present significant potential for an adverse event or litigation, TDC and the faculty recommend you consult directly with your corporate or personal counsel for professional legal guidance.

ANCC – Accreditation, Disclosure, and Disclaimer

The Doctors Company is accredited as a provider of nursing continuing professional development by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.

The Doctors Company designates this activity for a maximum of 3.0 nursing contact hours. Learners should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

In accordance with accreditation requirements and policies of the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission through the joint providership of The Doctors Company and The Hospital Association of San Diego and Imperial Counties (HASD&IC).

No individual in a position to control or influence the content of this activity has reported relevant financial relationships with commercial interests. No commercial support was provided for this activity. This program is being offered for informational and educational purposes only from a Patient Safety Risk Management perspective and does not constitute legal advice. Laws vary from state to state, actual clinical situations often involve subtle differences and nuances from program scenarios or recommendations, and the recommendations provided in this activity may not apply to all practice situations. In complex circumstances, which present significant potential for an adverse event or litigation, TDC and the faculty recommend you consult directly with your corporate or personal counsel  for professional legal guidance.



For more information contact:

Lisa Sontag

Job title:
Director, Operations and Member Relations
Phone number:
(858) 614-1556