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Contact: Joan K. Kessler, MPA
Manager, Public Relations and Communications
Ph. 231-672-6966
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 6, 2012
 Stevi Riel, Mercy Health Partners, selected for
New Innovation Advisors Program to improve care for patients
Today, Mercy Health Partners announced that Stevi Riel, Pharmaceutical Access Program Manager, has been selected the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Innovation Advisors Program.
The initiative, launched by the CMS Innovation Center in October 2011, will help health professionals deepen skills that will drive improvements to patient care and reduce costs.
Stevi is one of 73 individuals from 27 States and the District of Columbia participating in the Innovation Advisors Program. After an initial orientation phase, Innovation Advisors will work with the CMS Innovation Center to test new models of care delivery in their own organizations and communities. They will also create partnerships to find new ideas that work and share them regionally and across the United States.
Funding for this initiative was made possible by the Affordable Care Act.
“There has been an incredible groundswell of interest in becoming an Innovation Advisor. It’s clear that doctors, hospitals and health care providers are enthusiastic about implementing the Affordable Care Act and strengthening our health care system,” said CMS Acting Administrator Marilyn Tavenner.
The 73 individuals were selected from 920 applications through a competitive process, and include clinicians, allied health professionals, health administrators and others. By attending in-person meetings as well as remote sessions to expand their skills and applying what they learn, the Advisors will be able to deepen their knowledge in health care economics and finance, population health, systems analysis, and operations research.
“We’re looking to these Innovation Advisors to be our partners—we want them to discover and generate new ideas that will work and help us bring them to every corner of the United States,” said CMS Innovation Center Director Rick Gilfillan, M.D.
Among other duties, the Advisors will be expected to support the Innovation Center in testing new models of care delivery, to form partnerships with local organizations to drive delivery system reform, and to improve their own health systems so their communities will have better health and better care at a lower cost.
More information about the Innovation Advisors Program, including a fact sheet and a list of participants and their affiliated organizations, can be found at: http://innovations.cms.gov/initiatives/innovation-advisors/index.html.
About Muskegon Community Health Project and Mercy Health Partners
Muskegon Community Health Project is the community benefit office of Mercy Heath Partners. Mercy Health Partners is a teaching hospital and the second largest health system in West Michigan with more than 4,000 associates, and 20,000 inpatient discharges and 145,000 emergency/urgent care visits annually. The system has four hospitals and 375 physicians and offers a number of exclusive specialty physician care services for the region.
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