Moderator:

Ralph Johnson, MS, FHIMSS

Ralph Johnson currently serves as the Vice President of Informatics and Technology for The Leapfrog Group. Ralph’s career prior to joining the Leapfrog Group was as a hospital Chief Information Officer for 35 years. As a hospital CIO Ralph led many hospital and physician practice EMR implementations. He has also led major initiatives to improve patient safety and is recognized as a Fellow of the Health Information Management Systems Society (FHIMSS).  Ralph has a BS in Healthcare Administration and a Master of Science in Leadership from Northeastern University. His career also includes past responsibilities for hospital quality programs, health information management, and risk management.

Panelists:

Scott MacLean

Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer at MedStar Health

Scott T. MacLean is senior vice president and chief information officer at MedStar Health. He is responsible for the leadership and vision of Information Services (IS) in support of clinical, research and academic, and administrative functions across the system.

Starting his career at General Electric, MacLean joins MedStar with more than 25 years of experience in Information Technology (IT). Prior to MedStar, he was deputy chief information officer and director of IS Operations for Partners HealthCare in Boston, Massachusetts, where he was responsible for the core technology infrastructure and overall administration of the IS department. This role included oversight of the voice and data network, data centers, desktop support, and service desk for the Partners hospitals and affiliated ambulatory practices. He oversaw the budget, space, communications, and Human Resources needs of a 1,200-person department.

Previously, MacLean was chief information officer at Newton-Wellesley Hospital and a corporate director for Partners, where he oversaw all information systems and telecommunications for Newton-Wellesley. While there, he led successful implementations of enterprise fiscal and administrative systems, several construction projects and prepared the hospital for meaningful use.

During his tenure at Partners, MacLean also served as director of Clinical Systems at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, where he was responsible for systems related to patient safety, including physician order entry, Electronic Health Record (EHR), medication administration record and bar coding. He was corporate manager of the Partners Oncology Service Line IT Program, an initiative to improve patient safety and cancer outcomes using computer systems.

MacLean was board chair for the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), and has written and spoken on technology in health care across the United States, Middle East and Asia. He is a past president of the New England Chapter of HIMSS and has served on the Ambulatory Steering and Foundation Scholarship Committees. He has been an item writer for the Certified Professional in Healthcare Information and Management Systems (CPHIMS) exam. MacLean served as a charter member of the Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise-USA (IHE-USA) Board of Directors and on an expert panel for the National Quality Forum. He has been on the HIMSS Analytics Board of Directors.

MacLean received a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering from Clemson University and a Master of Business Administration in healthcare management from Boston University.

Marie Maloney

Lecturer, Health Informatics MS Program, Northeastern; Managing Director, Azoulas Advisory Services; Former CIO of Health Plans and HIEs

Marie Maloney is an experienced Information Technology/Healthcare Informatics consultant, educator, executive and “recovering CIO”. With over 20 years of experience in Healthcare IT, Marie has been a Chief Information Officer of several leading health care plans in the Northeast as well as a consultant in Healthcare IT. As the Managing Partner of Azuolas Advisory Services, she now consults in the provider, payer and HIE markets. Marie is also a Lecturer at Northeastern University in the interdisciplinary Health Informatics program.

Cara Babachicos

Senior Vice President, Chief Digital and Information Officer at South Shore Health

Cara Babachicos is Senior VP and CDIO at South Shore Health System, a regional community health system located just south of Boston.

Babachicos earned her Bachelor of Science degree from Boston College in the School of Management. She received her Master of Science Degree in Health Care Administration from the University of New Hampshire. In 2020 Cara completed an executive certificate in Cybersecurity at Harvard University.

In 2019 South Shore Health achieved HIMSS Analytics Stage 7 EMR Adoption EMRAM and Outpatient Adoption Model O-ENRAM – this is the highest level certification of electronic health effectiveness and less than 10% of all healthcare organizations have achieved this honor.

She demonstrates that change is enabled by IT both in her current role as Senior VP/CDIO at South Shore Health System, and in her previous role as CIO and Corporate Director of Information Systems for the Community Hospitals and Non-Acute sites at Partners Healthcare.

Babachicos was a member of the CHIME Board of Directors 2014-2106. She is on the faculty of CHIME and teaches in the Healthcare CIO Boot Camp™. Babachicos also teaches in the master’s program for Health Informatics at Northeastern University where she authored an online course focused on the patient experience.

Adolph DuBose

CIO, Athenahealth

At Athenahealth, Adolph is leading the development of a thriving ecosystem that delivers accessible, high-quality, and sustainable healthcare for all. He specializes in business process automation (RPA, ML, AI) and workforce digitalization with a passion for both local and global impact. Adolph is a two-time gubernatorial appointee for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and represents interest in Africa at the B20/G20, serving on numerous task forces.