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Meet Our Team

• Managing Partner
• Mark Mathews, MD
• Senior Advisor
• Ian R. Lazarus, FACHE
• Medical Director
• Daniel Gee, MD MBA
• Associate Partners
• Jonathon Lee Andell
• Tiffany A. Davis
• Wendy Novicoff, Ph.D.
• Senior Associate Partners
• Mr.Hildebrand van Weerd
• Mark Woodbridge

 

Mark Mathews, MD
Managing Partner
mm@creative-healthcare.com

Dr. Mathews comes to Creative Healthcare from over 14 years of active clinical practice in the field of Anesthesiology. Located in Scottsdale, Arizona, he currently serves on the management board of his large multi-specialty anesthesiology group in the Phoenix area and serves on various committees within the Scottsdale Healthcare System. As such, he brings specialized expertise in hospital and outpatient surgical site management to CHC. The development of Operating Room efficiency models and the application of Six Sigma analysis to medical billing are among his recent projects with Creative Healthcare.

After receiving his Bachelor of Science Degree from the University of Arizona, Dr. Mathews obtained his Medical Degree from the University of Arizona and completed his Residency training in Anesthesiology at the University of Minnesota. He also received specialized fellowship training in Neuroanesthesiology from the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Arizona. Currently, he is a Diplomat of the American Board of Anesthesiology and maintains numerous memberships in professional medical societies.

Dr. Mathews has professional practice experience with the Mayo Clinic Scottsdale, Barrow Neurological Institute, and the Scottsdale Healthcare System including clinical practice, clinical research and resident teaching activities. In addition, Dr. Mathews also serves as a Clinical Consultant to Aspect Medical Systems in Boston, Massachusetts.

 

Ian R. Lazarus, FACHE
Senior Advisor, Creative Healthcare
Irl@creative-healthcare.com

Mr. Lazarus formed Creative Healthcare after over 15 years in healthcare management. His career began at Voluntary Hospitals of America, where he worked with executive management in building VHA into the largest alliance of nonprofit hospitals in the U.S. Mr. Lazarus left the corporate offices of VHA and subsequently worked in the Rocky Mountain and New England regions of the alliance to assist those areas in regional program development.

He joined publicly traded National Health Enhancement Systems, Inc. in 1989 and ultimately became Senior Vice President over all company products, and later President of the Company's new CRM & medical call center division. As Senior Product Manager for the Company's medical call center products, Mr. Lazarus built a national network of over 500 call center installations. As President of the Company's 24 hour national call center service, Mr. Lazarus provided services on an outsourcing basis to such clients as Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Pacificare, and Johns Hopkins Health System. Mr. Lazarus has emerged as a national expert on CRM & call centers and is frequently quoted in national journals, faculty at national conferences, and chairman of national call center programs.

When HBO & Company acquired National Health in 1997, Mr. Lazarus moved into his last corporate role as Director of International Business Operations, where he managed international strategic and commercial relations for the HBO & Company Call Center Group. In building an international market for HBO & Company, Mr. Lazarus worked extensively in the United Kingdom, Europe, the Middle East and Australia.

Throughout Mr. Lazarus' career at VHA, National Health and HBOC, he consulted with hundreds of healthcare CEOs and at all levels of health administration. He has spoken at several major healthcare conferences and written articles for all major industry trade publications, including Modern Healthcare, Pharmaceutical Executive, Healthcare Strategic Management, Hospital Financial Management (HFM), Computers in Healthcare and Managed Healthcare. In 1997, Managed Healthcare designated Mr. Lazarus their national expert in CRM & call centers, in 1998 he became the magazine's expert in international healthcare and in 1999, he joined the Managed Healthcare Editorial Board.

Mr. Lazarus is a Fellow in The American College of Healthcare Executives, received his training in health administration at The University of Michigan and is currently adjunct faculty at Arizona State University's College of Business. He formerly served on the Board of Directors for Social Venture Partners of Arizona, a foundation that funds local charities utilizing a venture capital approach to philanthropy. He is currently on the Volunteer Relief Task Force for Doctors without Borders, and a volunteer for Teach for America. Mr. Lazarus also serves as Managing Director of Woodbridge Consulting West, the U.S. branch of a management-consulting firm based in Germany, with a specialization in international marketing and trade relations.

In 2001, Mr. Lazarus received his certification as a Six Sigma Black Belt practitioner, with concentration in healthcare and other transactional industries.

View Mr. Lazarus' list of speaking engagements
View Mr. Lazarus' list of published articles

 

Daniel Gee, MD MBA
Principal
dg@creative-healthcare.com

Dr. Gee brings 15 years of medical experience to Creative Healthcare, with specialized expertise in operating suite dynamics, logistics, management and personnel. Prior to joining CHC he served as managing partner for a large multi-specialty anesthesiology practice in the southwest. He remains active in that practice today.

As the former Chief of Anesthesiology at John C. Lincoln Hospital in Phoenix, Gee designed pharmaceutical protocols for clinical practice. He is a former speaker for Glaxo Pharmaceuticals in connection with post-anesthesia drug therapy. He has served on formulary committees and as an investigator for clinical trial programs.

Dr. Gee has practiced at several U.S. hospitals, including Parkland Medical Center (Dallas), University of Texas Southwestern, and Maricopa Medical Center and St. Joseph's Hospital, both in Phoenix. He also assisted to establish obstetrical anesthesiology programs at two additional hospitals in the Phoenix market.

He received a BS with Honors from University of Southern California and his MBA from Arizona State University. Gee obtained his medical degree from University of Arizona, and he is a Diplomate of the American Board of Anesthesiology.

In addition to serving as a CHC Principal, Dr. Gee is Director of CHC Research Initiatives, including the CHC National Benchmarking Registry.

 

Jonathon Lee Andell
Associate Partner
ja@creative-healthcare.com

Jonathon Andell specializes in the technical, organizational, and interpersonal aspects of modern Quality Management. He guides organizations and their leaders through the complex transition from "me too" to "world class" Quality Management.

His technical expertise encompasses the manufacturing, transactional, and design applications of Six Sigma. His broad base of consulting skills includes: development and administration of training classes, statistical and analytical problem solving, facilitation and team building, executive consulting, organizational development, and project management.

Across three continents Jonathon's clients include chemical manufacturers, pharma companies, software producers, and most recently, healthcare providers. He has consulted in such diverse fields as community services, education, home construction, leasing of business jets, machining, and printing. He has trained hundreds of Six Sigma Black Belts specializing in manufacturing, transactional, and hardware and software design, along with Executives, Champions, Green Belts, and many others.

Prior to joining Creative Healthcare he spent fifteen years at Motorola. While with Motorola University's Six Sigma Research Institute, he became one of the world's first certified Six Sigma Black Belts. He drafted key revisions to Motorola's world-class Quality Systems Review Guidelines, as well as to an ISO standard. He also served on Motorola's Speaker's Bureau.

Jonathon wrote a chapter for a textbook on statistical quality tools, plus two chapters on Six Sigma for the forthcoming Handbook of Modern Manufacturing Methods. He has published numerous articles on statistical methodologies, Six Sigma Design, quality management, and business ramifications of Six Sigma.

 

Tiffany A. Davis
Associate Partner
tad@creative-healthcare.com

Ms. Davis brings 15 years of healthcare experience to Creative Healthcare, with specialized expertise in ground-up program development, continuum of care process improvement, quality improvement and management. Her professional career began in clinical and laboratory research environments at Henry Ford Health System in Detroit, MI. Her publications in these areas focus on improvements in the treatment of insomnia and care and services for geriatric populations. Also known for its cutting edge application of process improvement techniques founded by Edward Deming, Ms. Davis served in variety of teaching, project management and administrative leadership roles within the Studies and Quality Divisions. She brings managed care experience to CHC after having served as the Research and Development Manager for Mercy Health Plans in Farmington Hills, MI and Regional Director for Magellan Behavioral Health's Pacific Region headquartered in San Francisco, CA.

During her tenure in managed care environments, Ms. Davis initiated her efforts to coordinate programmatic improvements with partnering entities within the healthcare continuum, such as pharmaceutical companies, nursing homes, medical device companies, hospitals and state government. As clients and oversight entities, organizations such as California's Department of Managed Healthcare, Aetna U.S. Healthcare, CIGNA and Blue Cross of CA awarded accreditation, contracts and programs to Magellan Behavioral Health in response to Ms. Davis. recommendations presented in the Six Sigma format. Many of her Six Sigma programmatic enhancements have been presented to the National Committee for Quality Assurance for accreditation purposes and continued national training efforts. Ms. Davis also served as a Junior Associate for Eckes and Associates, Inc., a Six Sigma consulting firm that contracts within all industries. Her work with Eckes and Associates resulted in millions of dollars worth of savings for organizations, such as Unifi Manufacturing, the second largest textile manufacturer in the United States.

Most recently, InktelDirect Marketing Services, headquartered in Miami, FL, recruited Ms. Davis to serve as the Executive and Operations Director for Affiliated Computer Services. (ACS) and the State of Georgia Department of Community Health's (DCH) call center development program. On behalf of Inktel, Ms. Davis partnered with ACS and the DCH to pioneer an effort to improve care for the four million members provided healthcare services by the State of Georgia, including the Medicaid, Medicaid/Medicare and commercial populations.

Ms. Davis is an active trainer for various organizations on the NCQA's Health Employer Data Information Set (HEDIS) requirements and also the new Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) standards.

 

Wendy Novicoff, Ph.D.
Associate Partner
wmn@creative-healthcare.com

Wendy Novicoff is a certified Six Sigma Master Black Belt and a Director in the Quality/Performance Improvement Program with the University of Virginia Health System. She is also an Assistant Professor of Health Evaluation Sciences in the UVA School of Medicine.

As a member of the first group of trained Black Belts at UVA, she has participated in several waves of projects at the UVA Health System, and she was part of the first group of Healthcare Master Black Belts trained by GE Medical Systems in 2002. In addition, she has technical expertise in team building and facilitation, project management, and organizational behavior change. Her project work has encompassed most areas of healthcare systems and processes, including billing, scheduling, throughput, staffing effectiveness, and data quality, and she has employed both the DMAIC and DFSS methodologies. She has also been the primary trainer for subsequent waves of Black and Green Belts at UVA.

She received her undergraduate degree from Duke University and her graduate degrees from the University of Virginia, and she has continued work on her research interests in health services research, outcomes evaluation, and hospital/health system data quality and integrity.

Wendy has presented at national conferences for several organizations, including the International Society of Six Sigma Professionals (ISSSP), the University Health System Consortium (UHC), the International Quality and Productivity Centre (IQPC), and the American Evaluation Association.

She currently resides in Charlottesville, Virginia with her husband Bob.

 

Mr. Hildebrand van Weerd
Senior Associate Partner
Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands
hvw@creative-healthcare.com

Mr. Hildebrand van Weerd brings over 20 years of healthcare experience to CHC. He created Brandaris Management, a CHC affiliate, in 1999. He started out in Dutch politics, later to become an advisor for the Board of Directors and clients of a regional homecare company on matters of law and strategic planning. His career moved on as an executive manager and strategic decision maker for several leading healthcare organizations including both non-commercial and commercial organizations.

Mr. van Weerd studied Dutch and International Law and acquired his law degree in 1984. Due to his experience in politics he was asked to operate in the strategic field of healthcare in a broad range of areas. In the Netherlands, homecare is viewed as a cost effective alternative to hospital care, and van Weerd eventually started a regional homecare company, directly involved in the progressing changes in healthcare. In this capacity he was responsible for merging several small homecare organizations and for the liquidation of several regional subsidized organizations. This reorganization was broad, and involved the reorganization and reduction of personnel while achieving political support for the arrival of a new ruling administration and labor unions.

In 1993, Mr. van Weerd was appointed CEO of the nationwide Dutch Homecare Call Centers company and CEO of a commercial organization to develop initiatives to make proper arrangements with regional insurance companies. Dutch Homecare Call Centers was the first call center organization in the Netherlands to serve the many unique needs of this market. This later evolved to an integration of call centers and the Web. In 1998 van Weerd moved on to select and introduce medical call center solutions nationwide for large healthcare organizations, group practices and insurance companies.

In 1999 Brandaris Management was funded. Hildebrand van Weerd has maintained his role as a catalyst for business development in strategic markets, collaborating from time to time with CHC on the transfer of American concepts and technologies to the Netherlands. Next to the mainstream of realizing new companies and business concepts, he concentrates also on making these concepts more accessible for consumers, business-to-business clients, personnel and staff. Van Weerd is active in promoting U.S. ventures in the Netherlands and other Dutch and German speaking regions, with a keen appreciation for how to address the unique cultural aspects of northern Europe and how to adapt American programs as necessary for the unique needs of this market.

 

Mark Woodbridge
Senior Associate Partner
Regensburg (Munich) Germany

Mr. Woodbridge's career began in market research and then developed through many areas of information management and business development. He started a German consulting business in Munich in 1981. Beforehand he was involved in helping US companies such as Xerox and New Balance build a European presence, in both cases in over 30 overseas countries. Woodbridge has conversely assisted many German companies in getting established in the US. Woodbridge coordinates many of his U.S. activities in collaboration with CHC and its various subsidiaries.

Mr. Woodbridge has considerable experience in the application of American marketing concepts in Europe, which has helped him to build a robust consulting practice on both sides of the Atlantic. He speaks several local languages passably well and is fluent in English, German and French. Woodbridge understands many different cultures and can act in such roles, as a consultant, coach or project manager.

The Woodbridge Institute, a specialist in the fields of information and knowledge management, was founded by Mr. Woodbridge just outside Munich, in Regensburg, in 2002. It now has over 80 people working regularly on a range of information gathering and decision-making tools ranging from benchmarking to data-mining, from quality management to usability studies, as well as powerful business intelligence and analysis software. Responding to client demand, in the past 2 years, further offices have been opened in Lausanne and Moscow.

The educational sector is an important aspect of the work of The Woodbridge Institute and it is currently working closely with a local university and technical college environment on the best way to facilitate interchange and action between the academic and the business world. Likewise, a relationship is being established with the London Business School for similar issues. In fact, two Woodbridge Institute experts are "leading lights" in the European Union regarding learning methods and their evaluation.

The Institute is presently involved on a project with Mercedes, testing and evaluating the possibilities of "in situ" analysis method which involves passing on knowledge direct to the production line. Similarly, another Institute expert works for the Technical University in Berlin, a similar institution to US-based MIT, and is part of a team defining standards for different e-learning scenarios. Finally, the Institute enjoys many contacts to both teachers and practitioners in the field of Lean and Six Sigma, and recently launched a comprehensive evaluation of an online alternative for the purposes of instructing individuals in the practice of Lean and Six Sigma.

The Institute has established itself well in the European Community, in addition to the members of the Institute who are regularly in Brussels; many in the Institute also enjoy relatively high level contacts in political circles. Likewise, Regensburg is centrally situated and an excellent base from which to explore business opportunities in the rapidly developing areas in the east of the European Union.

For further information please refer to our website: www.woodbridge-institute.de

 

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Creative Healthcare 7047 E. Greenway Parkway, Suite 250 Scottsdale Arizona USA 85254 Phone: +1.480.473.2525 Email: info@creative-healthcare.com

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