A health policy analyst and regulatory expert, Kristie Lee has worked on the analysis and implementation of federal regulations from a health plan perspective. She has a deep understanding of the actions required when new regulations are released and experience establishing oversight and project management-driven initiatives.

Kristie joins HMA after serving with an information technology/health plan operations vendor supporting Medicare Advantage health plans, where she was manager of the internal regulatory operations team. In this role, she monitored and analyzed the latest federal Medicare regulations that informed strategic and tactical business implementations. Kristie was the primary lead for health plan operations-related topics, such as enrollment, billing, claims, risk adjustment, and quality.

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kristie led and implemented a cross-functional oversight workgroup to review the unprecedented influx of federal regulations that were released during the first few months of the public health emergency. She also supported internal and client audits, including an Office of Inspector General risk adjustment payment audit, maintained the vendor’s Third Party Administrator license in more than 40 states, and triaged compliance issues.

Kristie also has experience with strategic business implementations of Affordable Care Act (ACA) requirements and analyzing ACA regulations at a large Blue Cross Blue Shield health plan. She also has developed internal training programs and employee communications while working at a local hospital revenue cycle consulting firm.

Kristie earned a bachelor’s degree in political science at Duke University and Master of Public Health from the University of Michigan School of Public Health.

Nora Carreras is a proven leader and team builder with expertise in social determinants of health (SDOH) and non-profit management. She has broad cross-cultural experience management, community and government relations, program development and program evaluation. She has more than 20 years of experience in the public, academic, private, and non-profit sectors.

Before joining HMA, she served as special advisor to the secretary in the executive office of the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services. Her role there included leading large-scale projects for the secretary, including the procurement of a statewide platform to address SDOH in collaboration with managed care organizations, providers, non-profits, local government entities and other state agencies. As an advisor, Nora provided guidance on priority initiatives and topics. Her work also included the formation and oversight of several advisory committees of internal and external stakeholders.

Her work with the Commonwealth also included serving as a policy analyst and specialist for program offices including the Office of Medical Assistance Programs, and the Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services. She has experience conducting research, developing policy recommendations, and leading executive staff on projects and initiatives.

Nora is a seasoned program administrator, budget and grant manager, and coalition builder. Her non-profit and association work includes serving as chief program officer and planner for the York County Community Progress Council where she oversaw program operations, budgets, and administration of the county’s Community Action Agency. Her work included developing and overseeing programs aimed at improving the lives of residents. She also worked in fund development for the Alzheimer’s Association Greater Pennsylvania Chapter and the Penn State Hershey Medical Center.

She earned a Master of Public Administration from the University of Puerto Rico and a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Puerto Rico Interamerican University. She is pursuing a PhD in public administration from Pennsylvania State University and holds a certificate from the Fostering Diversity and Inclusion program at Yale University, School of Management.

A physician leader with more than two decades of executive experience, John Jay Shannon, MD, is the former chief executive officer (CEO) of Cook County Health (CCH) where he also served as the system’s chief of clinical integration.

Before joining HMA, Dr. Shannon led efforts for the Illinois Department of Public Health in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. He worked on clinical issues including assessment of medical equipment inventory and distribution including mechanical ventilators, as well as navigated relations between various state agencies and provider communities. He developed and communicated strategies aimed at preserving surge capacity, and staffing and equipping care facilities. He also worked with the Illinois Department of Public Health on strategies regarding elective hospital procedures during various phases of the pandemic and on measures reflecting progress during Restore Illinois.

During his time as CEO of CCH, the system undertook a transformative journey, developing an innovative and integrative approach to the fulfillment of the system’s mission by aligning its role as a provider of care, both in traditional and correctional settings, and as a public health authority and health plan. In addition to fulfilling the health system’s mission to protect the health of all Cook County residents, Dr. Shannon was steadfast in his commitment to ensure CCH was a good steward of taxpayer funds. Through significant operational improvements, CCH reduced its reliance on local taxpayers by more than 75 percent between 2009 and 2019. Today, local tax dollars represent 3 percent of CCH’s operating revenue.

Dr. Shannon spent much of his professional career at John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County, formerly Cook County Hospital, joining the medical staff in 1990 and serving in several roles, including as director of the Adult Asthma Clinic where he led several quality improvement collaborations aimed at improving the delivery of care for asthma patients within the health system and across the county. He also served as an associate chair of the Department of Medicine and chief of the Divisions of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Stroger Hospital.

In addition, Dr. Shannon served as executive vice president for medical affairs and chief medical officer at Parkland Health & Hospital System in Dallas. While there, he served for two years as a trustee of the Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council.

His other board and community service work includes serving as a director on the board of the Greater Chicago Food Depository, and as a trustee of Spring Hill College. Previously, he served on the board of the Illinois Health and Hospital Association, the executive board of the American Lung Association of Metropolitan Chicago (now the Respiratory Health Association), and on the executive board of the Chicago Asthma Consortium.

Dr. Shannon earned his bachelor’s degree from Spring Hill College and his medical degree from Rush Medical College. He trained in Internal Medicine and was a chief resident at the University of Texas Southwestern Affiliated Hospitals in Dallas (Parkland Memorial Hospital and the Dallas Veterans Administration Medical Center), and later earned specialty training in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor.

With an intimate knowledge of Medi-Cal and California healthcare, Gelmy Ruiz ensures regulatory compliance and prepares clients for successful audits. Working at the intersection of policy and practice, she has significant experience collaborating with governmental payers, safety net systems and health plans. Gelmy analyzes contracts, interprets reporting requirements, and translates new regulation into sustainable action.

Gelmy joined HMA from California Health & Wellness (CHW), a Centene-operated Medi-Cal managed care health plan serving California’s 18 northern rural counties and one southern border county. As a compliance manager, she coordinated with business team leads to prepare regulatory audits. Gelmy was among the first wave of hires brought on to implement the health plan in 2013 – assisting in the creation of policies and procedures and the review of processes and documents to ensure compliance with the California Department of Health Care Services contract and state regulations.

In various compliance-focused roles with CHW, Gelmy managed the plan’s relationships with both the state Medicaid and health plan regulators and reviewed and submitted regulatory reports. She created a new committee to streamline review and approval of all departmental policies and procedures, and she supervised clerical compliance and collaboration within departments.

Prior to CHW, Gelmy served as a senior compliance analyst at Health Net, Inc., a California-based Medicaid, Medicare and commercial health plan. She oversaw day-to-day operations of the Healthy Families contract and administered the Medicaid required reports. Gelmy managed the regulatory relationship with the Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board. Additionally, she directed the plan’s activities to shift Health Net’s Healthy Families enrollees into the Medi-Cal M-CHIP successor program.

Gelmy has also held positions with the Health Plan of San Mateo as a long-term care specialist and with San Mateo County’s correctional health unit where she coordinated the accreditation review of the medical unit.

Gelmy received her master’s degree in public administration from California State University in Hayward. She received her bachelor’s degree in psychology with a minor in Spanish from Saint Mary’s College of California. Following her graduate studies, she served as a CSU executive fellow with the California Conservation Corps.

Fluent in Spanish, Gelmy was born in Nicaragua and loves to travel. When she is not globetrotting, she is reading, gardening or playing volleyball.