CASE MANAGEMENT CONCEPTS - Key Persons

Job Titles:

• Manager of Social Work and Clinical Information at Medical City Hospital

Beth is currently the Manager of Social Work and Clinical Information at Medical City Hospital and Medical City Children's Hospital. Beth was one of the founding members of the Palliative Care Team at Medical City and serves on the Ethics Committee. Beth also developed and implemented the role of the Case Management Extenders. Beth also supported the professional growth of the profession by developing a Career Enhancement Program specific for Social Workers across the HCA North Texas Division and serves as a Social Work leader of the HCA North Texas Division Social Work Meetings.

Beverly Cunningham, MS, RN is a founding partner of Case Management Concepts, LLC. She has a 25-year deep working-knowledge of case management with specific expertise in denials management, patient flow and the role of the Case Manager and Social Worker in the Case Management process. She has served as a Commissioner on the Commission for Case Management Certification and is a fellow with the Advisory Board.

Ellen Honig, MBA, BSN, CCM has over 30 years diversified experience in the healthcare industry encompassing for profit and non-profit acute care hospitals, insurance and IT. She held Director of Case Management positions and is nationally accredited by the Commission for Case Management. Ellen is a change agent who is driven by measurable outcomes of success in areas of Case Management, Utilization Review, Discharge Planning, Transition Management, Business Process Redesign, Leadership Management, Healthcare Management Software and Implementations.

Job Titles:

• President of La Rosa Group

Lydia Rosa is President of La Rosa Group, a professional services firm specializing in multicultural HR services including Hispanic and multicultural management/leadership training, cross cultural mentor training, and intercultural executive coaching, employee assistance and work/life programs. Lydia has provided consultative and training services to executives, department heads, line managers, and union officials to manage delicate and complex employee situations towards the multiple goals of retaining talent, fostering productivity and creating a results-oriented culture. Lydia has many years of experience in directing social work departments both within the hospital and in the community. Her specialties include working with poor and underserved populations as well as complex discharge planning techniques. She brings all of her varied experiences to her work with Case Management Concepts. Ms. Rosa holds a BA in Business Education from Hunter College, New York, and a Masters in Social work from Adelphi University, Garden City, NY. She has a post-master certificate in Addiction Treatments from Adelphi University and a post-master certificate in Family Therapy from the Ackerman Institute for the Family. She is a graduate of MENTORCOACH, a coaching school for psychotherapists where she studied executive coaching. She is a certified a licensed psychotherapist/clinician and maintains a private practice in Massapequa, LI and NYC.

Pat Wilson, BSN, MBA a 20-year veteran in the field of case management, having held positions as director of case management, social work case management, clinical documentation improvement, regulatory compliance, and patient flow. Her experience also includes case management in home health as well as hospital. Since the early 1990s, she has worked in clinical documentation improvement oversight and development, case management process implementation, RN case manager and social worker case management role development, denial management and regulatory compliance. She is also an InterQual Certified Instructor. Ms. Wilson received her BSN from Baylor University School of Nursing and her MBA from Texas Women's University.

Job Titles:

• Staff Member

Sharonne Lynch, LMSW received her Master of Social Work degree from Adelphi University. Since becoming licensed, she has held social work positions with increasing responsibility at servicing patients in the acute care and ambulatory settings. In addition to acute care, she has held positions of Director of Social Work both in the home care as well as nursing home settings. Her skills include working in an integrated framework with nurse case managers across the continuum. With an eye on patient transitions and complex discharge planning, as well as a patient advocate and social work leadership, Sharonne brings her years of experience as a social worker and social work leader to her case management clients across the country.

Dr. Cesta has been active in the research and development of case management for over 25 years. Her research in case management has included two funded studies measuring the effects of a case management model on congestive heart failure and fractured hip patient populations, with measures of patient satisfaction, quality of life, and short and long term clinical perceptions and outcomes. Toni G. Cesta, Ph.D., RN, FAAN is a founding partner of Case Management Concepts, LLC, a consulting company which assists institutions in designing, implementing and evaluating case management models in the acute care, emergency department and outpatient settings. Dr. Cesta writes a monthly column called "Case Management Insider" in the Hospital Case Management newsletter in which she shares insights and information on current issues and trends in case management.

Job Titles:

• Staff Member

Yvonne Focke, RN has over 30 years of hospital operation and consulting experience. She is best known for her understanding of the clinical and financial aspects of the healthcare industry, promoting cooperation and achieving mutually beneficial and solvable goals in quality, service, compliance and reimbursement. Her primary areas of focus have been access management, care management and denial/appeals management.