• Discover trends in federal quality and safety programs in hospitals and health systems.
• Examine current and future innovations in population health.
• Recognize compliance and safety risks and develop strategies to improve and protect your practice.
• Identify the characteristics and impact of Geriatric Emergency Departments (GEDs) on hospitals.
• Analyze value-based initiatives such as team-based care, clinical decision support, and patient centered care and their impact on quality and return on investment.
• Develop a strategy to optimize workforce engagement to amplify performance.
• Describe Web3 and Metaverse technology to overcome SDoH barriers and meet the needs of underserved patients.

This course is intended for Physicians of all specialties, Nurses, and Other Health Care Professionals with appropriate CME / CE credit offered for each profession.

All participants must achieve a final assessment score of at least seventy percent (70%) for recertification and continuing education credits. You have 60 days to complete the course after ordering.

This activity is valid from January 3, 2024, through October 19, 2026. Original release date: October 20, 2023.

About the Authors:

Akinluwa (Akin) Demehin, MPH
Senior Director, Quality & Patient Safety Policy - American Hospital Association
Akin Demehin is senior director, quality and patient safety policy, at the American Hospital Association (AHA) in Washington, D.C. He leads public policy analysis, development and advocacy efforts related to quality and patient safety on behalf of the AHA’s nearly 5,000 member hospitals and health systems. Akin oversees the AHA’s response to policies related to national quality measurement and pay-for-performance programs for hospitals, physicians, and post-acute care providers. He also leads AHA’s regulatory policy development efforts related to the health care workforce and health equity.

Akin has held a variety of positions in health care policy and management. Before joining the AHA in 2012, Akin was administrative director of performance measures at the National Quality Forum (NQF) in Washington, D.C., a non-profit that endorses quality measures and advises the federal government on measure selection. Prior to NQF, he worked at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in Boston, MA, first as an MGH administrative fellow, and then as the first administrative director of the Edward P. Lawrence Center for Quality and Safety.
Akin holds a Master of Public Health in health policy and administration from Yale University and a Bachelor of Arts cum laude in history and science from Harvard College.

Amy Berk, MSN, RN
Director, Population Health – Microsoft
Amy Berk is Director, Population Health, US Health & Life Sciences at Microsoft. Amy’s healthcare leadership expertise lies in population health; bridging data for optimal clinical outcomes and the broader framework of optimizing care delivery and clinical transformation. Amy also has experience as a Registered Nurse (CVICU / Cardiology) for 10 years and as a Master’s prepared Advanced Practice Nurse has extensive Management Healthcare Consulting experience. Her areas of expertise include population health, care management, and provider and payer operations. Amy is a member of HIMSS, AHIP, CMSA, ACHE, eHI, ANA, and Sigma Theta Tau.

Alok Arora, MD, MBA, FACP, FRCP (UK), CHCQM-PHYADV, CPE
Hospitalist – Advocate Aurora Medical Center – Bay Area
Dr. Alok Arora is a Hospitalist at Advocate Aurora Health in Wisconsin and serves as the Chair of the Patient Safety and Peer Evaluation Committees at Aurora Medical Center Bay Area. Fortunate to have worked as a physician over the last 25 years in India, the UK, and the US (including 10 years in the National Health Service in the UK before coming to the US), Dr. Arora believes that serving communities across the globe gave him an opportunity to reflect, learn, develop camaraderie with colleagues worldwide, and most importantly experience in various healthcare models and variations of medicine based on population needs.

He received a Healthcare MBA from the University of Massachusetts that motivated him to use the skillset in his organization to foster improvement and self‐awareness believing that with the sound medical knowledge, wisdom, and experience, he has earned an ability to simplify healthcare delivery for better implementation. He is currently enrolled in the Master of Jurisprudence (MJ) in Health Law program from Loyola University, as understanding legal and healthcare compliance‐related issues is an essential aspect of our healthcare structure and managing appropriate patient expectations.

Kevin Biese, MD
Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine (EM) and Internal Medicine - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine
Dr. Biese serves as an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine (EM) and Internal Medicine, Vice-Chair of Academic Affairs, and Director of the Division of Geriatrics Emergency Medicine at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill School of Medicine as well as a Vice-Chair of the Board of the UNC Health Alliance and UNC Senior Alliance. He also serves as a consultant with West Health, a San Diego-based philanthropic organization dedicated to improving care for older adults (https://www.westhealth.org).

With the support of the John A. Hartford (https://www.johnahartford.org) and West Health Foundations, he is the co-leader, alongside Dr. Ula Hwang, of the national Geriatric Emergency Department Collaborative (https://gedcollaborative.com), serving as PI of the implementation arm. He is grateful to chair the first Board of Governors for the ACEP Geriatric Emergency Department Accreditation Program (https://www.acep.org/geda/) which has now improved the quality of care in over 420 emergency departments in 40 states and four countries.

Douglas Keith Fernandez, MD
Chief Clinical Officer - Privia Health
Dr. Keith Fernandez serves as Senior Physician Executive, Privia Health. Prior to joining Privia, Dr. Fernandez served as President and Physician-in-Chief of the Memorial Hermann Physician Network (MHMD), Chief Medical Officer of the Memorial Hermann Accountable Care Organization, and chairman of MHMD’s Clinical Programs Committee. In those roles, he developed a robust clinic integration program with over 2,000 physicians (90% in private practice) and over 50 physician-led committees providing quality, safety, and vendor governance for Memorial Hermann. Dr. Fernandez
spearheaded the development of MHMD’s Patient Centered Medical Homes and Care Management program that formed the bedrock of the most financially successful Medicare Shared Savings Program for three years, running with over 180 million dollars in shared savings, as well as multiple high-performance commercial ACO, Medicare Advantage, and risk-based contracts.

Dr. Fernandez is a member of the Joint Commission Stakeholder Group on Clinically Integrated Networks, AHA Blue Ribbon Panel on Physician Governance, Texas Medical Association Committee on Accountable Care, and a Fellow of the American College of Gastroenterology. He currently has a faculty appointment as Professor of Medicine at the University of Texas in Houston, Texas. He has spoken and conducted retreats across the country for physician organizations, hospital systems, business coalitions with an emphasis on new models of care, building trust, and the need for physician leadership in all areas of health care.

Born in Spokane, Washington, Dr. Fernandez began his education at Florida State University and the University of South Florida before receiving his medical doctorate from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences Ebert School of Medicine in Bethesda, Maryland. He completed his fellowship in gastroenterology at Wilford Hall USAF Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas. He is board certified in Internal Medicine, Gastroenterology, and Hepatology and has been in private practice for over 34 years.

Jeff Doucette, DNP, RN, NEA-BC, FACHE, FAAN
Senior Vice President & Chief Nursing Officer – Press Ganey
As Press Ganey’s Chief Nursing Officer, Dr. Jeff Doucette is responsible for helping clients transform the patient and caregiver experience. In this role, he works to develop nursing leaders at client organizations, improve clinical quality and efficiency, and improve employee and caregiver engagement by playing an integral role in the company’s safety, clinical, and workforce initiatives. 

Jeff is a widely recognized and accomplished nurse leader with 30 years of experience spent largely in leadership and executive nursing roles. Throughout his career, he has focused on enabling the delivery of exceptional patient and family experiences through innovation, education, and nursing excellence. Most recently, Jeff served as senior vice president and chief nursing officer at Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals in Philadelphia. In this role, he led the strategic direction and leadership of the Division of Nursing and Patient Care Services and played a critical role in cultivating and sustaining nursing excellence. Prior to joining Jefferson Health, Jeff served as the inaugural vice president of the Magnet Recognition Program® and Pathway to Excellence® Programs at the American Nurses Credentialing Center. 

Known as an engaging thought leader and dynamic presenter, Jeff speaks extensively around the world on topics of interest to nursing and health care leaders. He is a Robert Wood Johnson Executive Nurse Fellow, a Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives, and a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing. He also serves on the editorial advisory board for Nursing Management and The Journal of Nursing Administration. Jeff earned a Master of Science degree in health care administration and a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing from Marymount University, and a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree from Old Dominion University.

Ann Ingraham, PhD
CEO – Exponential HealthTech Advisors, LLC

Doctor Ingraham is an experienced emerging health information and social impact technology strategist & advisor to community-based organizations. She is an author and speaker, and CEO at Exponential HealthTech Advisors, LLC. She co-authored published HIMSS blogposts such as (1) TEFCA and Blockchain: Enabling Trusted Data Flow Between Health Networks, and (2) Blockchain in Healthcare’s Transformative Power to Support Trusted Exchange. Additionally, she co-authored two peer-reviewed journal articles in Blockchain in Healthcare Today (BHTY) titled (1) The Fourth Industrial Revolution of Healthcare Information Technology: Key Business Components to Unlock the Value of a Blockchain- Enabled Solution, and (2) Blockchain, Interoperability, and Self-Sovereign Identity: Trust Me, It’s My Data. She also co-authored a white paper titled Blockchain Ethical Design Framework for Healthcare.

Doctor Ingraham holds a Ph.D. in business administration with specialization in the management of engineering and technology. Her dissertation was a phenomenological study focused on the adoption of the electronic health record (EHR) by psychiatrists and psychiatric ARNPs in a community behavioral health organization. Her company’s blockchain-enabled case management software, Axion Galaxy 360, is currently being piloted by community-based organizations which provide services to justice-impacted individuals and individuals with significant Social Determinants of Health (SDoH) barriers. Doctor Ingraham also guest lectured at SUNY Downstate, NY in their informatics program. She spoke at the Government Blockchain Association (GBA) symposiums on several panels in Washington D.C. on Blockchain in Healthcare and its impact on reducing the interoperability gap and the importance of coordination of care to positively impact SDoH at the community level. She is also a member of the GBA’s Healthcare Working Group.

She recently completed GBA certification as a Blockchain Maturity Model (BMM) Advisor. Other recent speaking events include speaking to the Women in Data Science, Trinidad & Tobago, and at the BIDEM International Caribbean Entrepreneur Conference about blockchain and innovation in healthcare. Her professional goal is to continue her work to advance the adoption of innovative health information technology to better enable the delivery of quality healthcare with definite and targeted value to patients and providers.

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