- Michael R. Constantino, RPH, BS, FASCP
- Scott Ayres, BS, Pharm D, MBA
- Jack Fitzpatrick, MBA
- Rebecca J. Garry, MSN, RN
- Stephen B. Kinsella, BS
- Kim Nilsson, RN, BSN, MBA
- Michael Rudomin, MHA
- Girard F. Senn, RN, MS, CNAA
- Dennis G. Sumwalt, MT, CLDir
- Christian Troiano, MBA
- John R. Webb, JR., MHA, CPM
- Catherine Whitten, RN, BSN, MHA, CNOR, CAN
- Jerome L. Stracke, FACHE
 Michael R. Constantino, RPH, BS, FASCP
 constantino@thesynergyassoc.com
Areas of Expertise: Project Management, Strategic Cost Management, Pharmacy Procurement, Group Purchasing, Long-Term Care Operations, Clinical Consulting, Six Sigma.
Principal and founder of Synergy Consulting Associates (“SCA”), Michael was most recently, the Practice Team Leader for Strategic Cost Management with BD Healthcare Consulting. Michael Constantino has extensive project management experience with a full range of hospitals and integrated health systems. He has managed projects ranging from small community-based healthcare facilities to large academic medical centers. Michael works with long-term care facilities, freestanding hospitals, healthcare systems/networks, and group purchasing organizations tackling issues related to general pharmacy operations, integration challenges, sound contracting practices, and strategic cost management for the entire supply chain. He has used his strong project management capabilities to run a clinical and value analysis teams, tackling Strategic Cost Management initiatives within large academic-based systems. He also developed the infrastructure for and managed the implementation of a supply chain management integration program for a non-affiliated group of hospitals while serving as corporate director of supply chain management.
Michael was formerly, President and CEO of the consulting firm Pharmaceutical Services, Inc., where he addressed such issues as pharmaceutical purchasing, inventory control and drug dispensing, drug regimen review, and several other issues relevant to acute and long-term care providers. He was also a Senior Manager with Ryerson Management Associates and Vice President of Sales and Services at United Shared Services. His pharmacy management experience includes the position of Pharmacy Director at Jamestown General Hospital where he was responsible for both pharmacy and materials management. He also served as Supervising Pharmacist in a retail setting. Michael is a Fellow of the American Society of Consultant Pharmacists (ASCP) and an active member of ASHP and HFMA. He is also certified as a Six Sigma green belt.
Scott Ayres, BS, Pharm D, MBA
ayres@thesynergyassoc.com
Areas of Expertise: Hospital Pharmacy Clinical Program Management, Decision Support incorporating Contract Utilization with Clinical Selection/Utilization, Non-Salary Expense Reduction and Process Improvement.
Mr. Ayres has over 9 years of consulting experience providing inpatient pharmacy expense reduction consulting services. He has worked with non-profit community hospitals as well as major Health-Systems across the nation. As a previous consultant with Premier Inc. (Group Purchasing Organization), he was instrumental in the development of the Pharmacy Supply Chain Consulting Department where he constructed financial and clinical evaluation tools. His strengths include being able to integrate clinical and contractual knowledge, communicate with clinicians as well as senior level management, and provide detailed analysis and research.
Scott’s consulting expertise includes diagnostic analysis on non-labor expense reduction, formulary management, drug utilization/chart reviews, implementation of potential savings through protocol development/approval, physician meetings and P&T meetings and approvals.
Realizing the importance of contract management to cost reduction efforts, Scott incorporated contract utilization with clinical selection/utilization to optimize project results. Scott developed numerous decision support models that aid clinicians in selecting the most cost-effective therapeutic choices and incorporates the contracts at that facility. The quality of his work is reflected in the level of satisfaction clients have received through his interaction with them.
Mr. Ayres holds a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Biochemistry, a Pharmacy Doctorate Degree and a Master of Business Administration from the University of California.
Jack Fitzpatrick, MBA
fitzpatrick@thesynergyassoc.com
Areas of Expertise: Supply Chain Operations, Sourcing, Development and Implementation of Business Improvement Systems.
Jack Fitzpatrick is an Associate Consultant with SCA with extensive experience in leading diverse manufacturing and operations teams to implement critical programs utilizing Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma techniques, along with ISO standards and APICS training, to remove waste and deliver value. Mr. Fitzpatrick is accomplished in developing dynamic supply chain, procurement, inventory control, supplier management, distribution and contract negotiation programs. Using his project management skills, he has been able to assess current operations and apply creative thinking to develop and implement business improvement systems.
Prior to working with SCA, Mr. Fitzpatrick was the Director of Business Development for Sterigenics International, a global leader in sterilization solutions for the medical device, pharmaceutical and food processing industries; a Principle Consultant with BD Healthcare Consulting where he managed projects to assess, identify and implement strategic supply cost reduction initiatives; directed assessments of the supply chain management processes encompassing organizational design, operations, customer service/service levels, logistics for material intensive clinical areas, materials management information systems, bar-coding systems and overall resource management. Included among BD clients that Mr. Fitzpatrick managed consulting support was Denver Health and Hospital Authority, Butler Memorial Hospital and University of Texas Health Science Center.
Prior to providing healthcare consulting project management for BD, Mr. Fitzpatrick was employed as Director of Operations / Materials for Baxter Healthcare Corporation where he led a team of 10 direct reports and 94 support personnel, implemented new order entry, manufacturing planning, material planning, procurement, distribution, inventory control and supplier management programs. He also served as a key team member, representing the operations group in the implementation of an SAP ERP system for the business.
Mr. Fitzpatrick holds an MBA degree from Loyola University, Chicago and a BB Finance degree from Western IL University. He received Six-sigma Green Belt training from Motorola, Lean Manufacturing Implementation from Loyola, Production and Inventory Control Certification from DePaul University, Logistics and Supply Chain Management from University of Wisconsin and Negotiations Strategies, Business Process Reengineering from Northwestern University.
Rebecca J. Garry, MSN, RN
garry@thesynergyassoc.com
Areas of Expertise: Clinical/Hospital Operations Management, Non-Salary Expense Reduction, Process Improvement, Facilitation and Team Building.
Rebecca Garry, a Registered Nurse with a Master of Science in Nursing, is an Associate Principal Consultant and Project Manager with Synergy Consulting Associates. Having an extensive clinical and consulting background, Rebecca is recognized for her innovative service delivery approaches and her accurate organizational assessments, including expense and process control, recruitment and training of staff, and non-salary expense reduction programs. She has continuously exceeded project goals and client expectations, achieving greater cost savings goals than initially targeted for projects. Most recently Ms. Garry served as a Principal Consultant to BD Healthcare Consulting and was a Senior Consultant with Johnson & Johnson Health Care Systems, specializing in Non-Salary Expense Reduction Programs for hospitals. Her experience included management of all aspects of projects and extensive facilitation and team building with clinical and administrative teams to achieve savings goals and establish sustainable processes for the future.
Rebecca’s hospital experience includes over 15 years in clinical and operational management positions, including Director of Special Projects, Director of Emergency/Trauma Services at Franciscan Health System of Dayton, Clinical Instructor at Northern Kentucky University, and staff and head nurse positions at Bethesda North Hospital, University Hospital Cincinnati, and Cleveland Metropolitan/Highland View Hospital. Ms. Garry has published articles on benchmarking performance in the Journal of Nursing Administration and is an active member in Emergency Nurses Association and Sigma Theta Tau – Beta chapter.
Stephen B. Kinsella, BS
kinsella@thesynergyassoc.com
Areas of Expertise: Data Analysis, Value Analysis, Materials Management Operations, Supply Expense Reduction.
Stephen Kinsella is a healthcare supply chain management professional with over 15 years experience within the healthcare supply chain. Steve has helped many healthcare organizations to assess and identify non-labor savings opportunities, from operational redesign and improvement projects to extensive supply cost reduction. Steve’s focus has been to identify quantitative, data driven opportunities for savings and improvements that support quick implementation.
Steve has extensive hands-on experience, both as a consultant and provider-based manager. As a Management Consultant with BD Healthcare Consulting Services (BDHCS), Steve played a pivotal role in the Strategic Cost Management Practice where he proved his success in leading healthcare supply chain project teams in the identification of detailed savings opportunities in product pricing, product standardization, supply utilization, and inventory reduction. Steve has also been instrumental in helping clients with data management projects and group purchasing affiliation assessments.
Steve’s professional experience includes:
- GPO Contracting - Delivered quantitative results and recommendations for GPO assessments for independent hospitals and large healthcare delivery networks.
- Operating Room Inventory Reduction - Led Peri-operative service inventory reduction project at a major academic medical center, identifying over $1,000,000 of implementable savings.
- Supply Savings – Collaborated with numerous clients to identify “best in class” products for major supply intensive departments, develop cost targets and goals, create action strategies, and achieve positive financial results.
- Operational Benchmarking - Designed and implemented CQI program for supply chain functions in a large mid-west academic medical center. Working with the process improvement team, Stephen developed supply chain performance metrics for each operational area and a reporting system to identify opportunities and recommend corrective actions.
- Data Integrity/Item File Management – Led all Item File data cleansing projects (60+ Item Files reviewed, cleaned).
- Industry Contribution - Provided guidance and analytical support to the development of AHRMM’s 2004 Surgery Supply Chain Management Report and AHRMM’s 2005 Performance Indicator Study.
Kim Nilsson, RN, BSN, MBA
nilsson@thesynergyassoc.com
Areas of Expertise: Perioperative Services, Non-salary Expense Reduction, Operational Assessments, Process Improvement.
Kimberly Nilsson is Senior Clinical Consultant with over 20 years in perioperative nursing with an emphasis on performance improvement and system process enhancement. She has a broad knowledge base of Operative Services and Intensive Care from a clinical, educational, and administrative perspective. Ms. Nilsson’s experience within perioperative Services includes Operating Room, Sterile Processing, OR Financial/Business Department, and OR Information Systems.
Ms. Nilsson’s consulting experience includes assessments and implementation within the surgical services arena for expense reduction opportunities based on utilization, standardization, and physician preference items utilizing benchmark data, GPO contract analysis, and target price analysis which resulted in significant cost reduction opportunities. In addition, Ms. Nilsson has performed assessments of OR throughput processes from Pre-Admission Testing through Post-Operative Recovery to provided insight into opportunities for improvement in areas such as turnaround time, room utilization, and processes in general. Reorganized and implemented a Charge Master Data auditing system which resulted in a capture of $2.3 million in lost charges of a large hospital system.
Ms. Nilsson previously served as a Director in Premier Consulting Solutions. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Nursing from the Medical University of South Carolina and MBA from The Citadel in Charleston, SC.
Current Affiliations include the Association of Operating Room Nurses (AORN) and Sigma Theta Tau Honor Society in Nursing.
Michael L. Rudomin, MHA
rudomin@thesynergyassoc.com
Areas of Expertise: Supply Chain Management, Supply Chain Technology and Information Systems, Inventory Management, Operational Improvement and Materials Management Logistics.
Michael Rudomin is an Associate Consultant providing supply chain management consulting services to the healthcare industry. He has over 27 years of healthcare experience in hospital and consulting. Michael has held executive level supply chain consulting positions at Owens and Minor, AdvanTech, Quantum Healthcare Services, and Concepts In Healthcare. Included among those clients for whom Mr. Rudomin recently managed consulting support are BayCare Health System (8-hospital IDN in Tampa), Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital (Memphis), Stony Brook University Hospital (New York), NYU Medical Center (New York), and William Beaumont Hospital (Detroit).
In addition to having provided healthcare supply chain consulting support to over 100 institutions across the country, Mr. Rudomin's hospital experience includes service as the Director of Materials Management at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, and several positions at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, including that of Inventory Manager. His additional healthcare experience includes service as a Peace Corps volunteer in South Korea, where he identified and treated patients with leprosy, and as a member of a Boston-based volunteer medical team providing free surgical services to children in Central America.
A regular presenter at regional and national educational conferences across the country, Mr. Rudomin holds a Master’s Degree in Healthcare Administration from the George Washington University and currently serves as a member of the editorial board for Healthcare Purchasing News.
Girard F. Senn, RN, MS, CNAA
senn@thesynergyassoc.com
Areas of Expertise: Clinical/Hospital Operations Management, Benchmarking of Clinical Services in the OR and Cardiology, Non-Salary Expense Reduction and Process Improvement.
Girard Senn has been instrumental in establishing, directing and delivering bottom line value improvement in healthcare over the past 20 years. He has held a range of strategic position in multiple providers, consulting firms, and Group Purchasing Organizations (GPOs) documenting over $1.3 billion in savings opportunities.
Girard has developed the fourth generation of physician preference management tools and services that help turn identified savings into realized savings. He has developed important proprietary protocols, business processes and management services to maintain the improvements that are implemented.
Most recently Girard was the Managing Principal of perioperative, cardiology, and nursing consulting services at Premier, a national alliance of 1500 hospitals. Girard was responsible for a broad range of clinical and operational consulting services, industry leading implant pricing tools and knowledge transfer. During his tenure, his team delivered over $129 million in supply savings to member hospitals.
Other professional experience included CEO of OR Benchmarks, Inc., Director of Surgical Services at the University HealthSystem Consortium, Coordinator of Surgical Services Council of over 60 academic medical centers, Senior Consultant with Price Waterhouse Coopers, VP of Patient Care at a 300-bed hospital and Director of Surgical Services in a 280-bed hospital.
Current Affiliations include the American College of Healthcare Executives, American Organization of Nurse Executives and Association of Operating Room Nurses. Mr. Senn is a sought after author and speaker; he has over 30 published articles and over 40 presentations at the national level.
Dennis G. Sumwalt, MT, CLDir
sumwalt@thesynergyassoc.com
Areas of Expertise: Clinical Reference Laboratory Operations, Non-Salary Expense Reduction and Process Improvement for Supply Chain, Facilities and Clinical Laboratory.
Dennis Sumwalt has extensive management consulting experience and a proven track record for successfully driving projects to achieve sustainable improvement results. He founded a performance improvement consulting firm specializing in medical laboratories providing insightful analysis and cutting-edge improvements and change management for a wide range of business, operational, and quality issues facing medical laboratories.
Dennis was a Managing Principal in Premier's Supply Chain Performance Improvement unit providing management direction and development for the consultants and engagements of non-labor expense reduction, supply chain improvement, facilities, and clinical laboratory. Prior to joining Premier, Dennis was the Managing Principal and senior consultant for Johnson & Johnson’s Ortho Clinical Diagnostics Division where he developed the consulting practice and teams that applied Six Sigma and Lean Thinking and value stream mapping tools to deliver high impact performance improvement solutions. During his tenure with the McFaul and Lyons Group, he lead a national team of consultants in a supply expense reduction, staff and operations redesign, and facilities consolidations and mergers.
His experience includes regional management responsibilities for Pathology Medical Laboratories and President of Medical Services Laboratory, Inc., a regional reference laboratory serving physicians and hospitals in the U.S. and Mexico.
Dennis has a Bachelors degree in Microbiology and a minor in Biochemistry from San Diego State University. He has extensive post-graduate training in management, strategic planning, and business development. He is licensed in California as a clinical laboratory scientist, and is nationally-registered as a medical technologist and certified laboratory director. He has training and experience as a Six Sigma Black Belt and in the use of Lean Process tools. Dennis has been a frequent speaker on managed care and healthcare marketing. He has published business articles in healthcare professional journals in the United States and Europe. He is an active member of the Healthcare Financial Management Association and the Clinical Laboratory Management Association.
Christian L. Troiano, MBA
troiano@thesynergyassoc.com
Areas of Expertise: Material Management Workflow Redesign, Medical Systems Planner.
Mr. Troiano is an accomplished Medical Systems Planner who brings over 25 years of strategic, systems and facility planning experience. He was Assistant Vice President, with BD Healthcare Consulting & Services and Concepts In Healthcare for 14 years, where he directed engagements involving Material Master Plans, Alternative Distribution Systems Planning, Re-engineering, Surgical Supply Systems and Planning Consolidated Service Centers. He supports hospitals in the U.S., Canada and abroad, other consulting firms and architectural firms with Facility and Functional Planning for Central Sterile Reprocessing, Surgical Suites, and Material Handling/ Transport Systems. Functional space programming and facility planning for new hospitals and major renovation projects are Chris’s specialty.
As a planner, strategist and operations specialist, Chris has assisted health systems and hospitals with assessing, improving and integrating material-support services. These clients have included: the Cleveland Health System/Cleveland Clinic Foundation; Capital Region Health, New Hampshire; Wellspan Health and York Hospital, Pennsylvania; Chatham-Kent Alliance, Ontario; Yale-New Haven Health System, Connecticut; Baylor Health System, Texas; Connecticut Health System and Hartford Hospital and the 14 hospitals of Metro-Vancouver, British Columbia. Mr. Troiano has also supported Canadian hospitals, district health councils, and health care systems in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia.
Previously with Lammers+Gershon Associates, he directed that firm’s Material Handling and Transport Planning Services, advising such clients as: U.S. Army Surgeon General’s Office for Brooke Army Medical Center, Veterans Affairs Medical Centers; the Department of Defense and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Mr. Troiano was Director of Materiel Management at 300 bed Brockton Hospital, Brockton, Massachusetts. He also was Director at Baystate Health Systems, a four-hospital IDN in Springfield, Massachusetts. Earlier in his career, Mr. Troiano served as Material Manager with St. Joseph Hospitals of Rhode Island and was Administrative Assistant to the Chief of Surgery at the Veterans Administration Medical Center, in Providence.
Mr. Troiano holds a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Health Services Administration from Providence College and a Masters of Business Administration from Bryant College, Smithfield, Rhode Island
John R. Webb, JR., MHA, CPM
webb@thesynergyassoc.com
Areas of Expertise: Material Management Redesign, E-commerce, Supply Automation.
John R. Webb Jr. is an Associate Consultant. His focus is multi-fold - Material Management, resource management, Biomedical Contract Management, as well as e-commerce. Mr. Webb works with clients to develop cost reduction programs and competitive market assessments; assists with contract negotiations and implementation; and helps with the challenge of change management and operations turn-around initiatives. He has held numerous positions in consulting for supply chain improvement as well as the director of material management in a large teaching medical center.
Prior to working with SCA, Mr. Webb consulted for BDHCS and Capgemini U. S. LLC Consulting. In these positions he helped his clients redesign purchasing, contracting and internal distribution systems to reduce both supply and non-supply costs. Prior to Capgemini Mr. Webb spearheaded the e-commerce and supply automation for Omnicell. In this position Mr. Webb’s efforts lead to the collaboration between Omnicell and GHX in implementing one of the first B-to-B solutions in Healthcare Industry. Mr. Webb has consulted internationally on the benefits of supply automation for Omnicell. As the Director of Material Management for Rush-Presbyterian Medical Center in Chicago for more than 15 years, Mr. Webb instituted a state of the art Biomedical Contracting Program that reduced the Contract Maintenance Program by 4 million annually and has continued to be maintained by the institution. Develop cost savings program utilizing technology and restructuring workflow to implement 10-15% cost savings on an annual basis.
Mr. Webb is on the faculty at Rush University and is an Instructor in the Health Care Management Program at Southern Illinois University. Mr. Webb did his undergraduate work at George Washington University and received his graduate degree from Webster University. He is a Certified Healthcare Purchasing Manager and a member of American Healthcare Resource Management Association.
Catherine Whitten, RN, BSN, MHA, CNOR, CNA
whitten@thesynergyassoc.com
Areas of Expertise: Clinical/Hospital Operations Management, Benchmarking of Clinical Services in the OR with emphasis on Orthopedics, Non-Salary Expense Reduction and Process Improvement
Ms. Whitten has over 20 years of Peri-operative experience with an emphasis on orthopedic service lines. She has a broad knowledge base of perioperative services from a clinical, educational and administrative perspective. Ms. Whitten has managed 34 successful engagements focused in orthopedic total joint and spine service lines, as a previous Senior Clinical Consultant with Premier.
As Director of Surgical Services for St. Joseph's Mercy of Macomb in metro-Detroit, Ms. Whitten successfully obtained a Certificate of Need for five additional operating rooms. She worked directly with current physician staff to increase volume, while recruiting additional surgeons in a competitive marketplace. She implemented process improvement initiatives to decrease turnover time and increased scheduling capacity. She also implemented a surgical information system with intra-operative documentation, contract negotiation for single source neurosurgical plating vendor and completion of a suture vendor conversion.
Ms. Whitten has held numerous positions as Administrative Executive/ Vice President Surgery Service Line, Clinical Manager – Surgical Services, and Clinical Coordinator Orthopedics. She has had administrative responsibility for inpatient and ambulatory surgery, Preoperative unit, PACU, Pre surgical screening, Endoscopy, Sterile Processing, Inpatient Nursing, Critical Care, Vascular Lab, and surgeon office practices.
Ms. Whitten holds a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Nursing and a Master’s of Science in Healthcare Administration from the University of Detroit.
Current affiliations include the American College of Healthcare Executives and the Association of Operating Room Nurses.
JEROME L. STRACKE, FACHE
stracke@thesynergyassoc.com
Areas of Expertise: Creating and Implementing Shared Service Organizations Models, Strategic Planning, Strategic Sourcing, Interim Executive Management, Third Party Spend Operational Assessments, Supply Chain Process Improvement, Clinical Process Improvement, Clinical Guideline Implementation
Jerome Stracke is an Associate Consultant with SCA. Mr. Stracke is a Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives and has over 30 years of health care executive management, consulting and sales experience. He has managed projects requiring supply chain strategy and operation assessment; spend analysis and category management strategy implementation, Return on Investment (ROI) consulting, clinical process improvement and clinical practice guideline implementation, business process improvement, change management, performance measurement, staff development and mentoring and team building. Additional specialty projects include creating a Shared Service for medical transportation, conducting time studies in Nursing and Operating Rooms, created strategy and led e-Sourcing events, procurement card implementations for multi-hospital systems.
Jerry has written a handbook for healthcare organizations to implement Clinical Practice Guidelines, a checklist method for evidence based clinical process improvement. The North Carolina Hospital Association (NCHA) Rural Health Center and Jerry coauthored and won a grant to provide clinical process improvement for three rural North Carolina hospitals. The expertise Jerry provided spread to transparent quality performance for 110 NCHA hospitals. In 2010, the North Carolina Hospital Association (NCHA) celebrated the 5th Anniversary of their Hospital Quality Center that was created with the goal of understanding and spreading best practices in quality and patient safety to all hospitals in North Carolina. The North Carolina Hospital Association (NCHA) Hospital Quality Center evolved from the work that Jerry provided in clinical process improvement and practice guideline implementation.
Jerry has also written several articles for healthcare publications, including the Journal of Healthcare Resource Management and Healthcare Purchasing News, Health Data Management and Hospital Materials Management. Jerry’s commitment to promoting education and information through his involvement in associations is evident in his 30 years of board appointments and association memberships
.
|
