Staff and Consultants
Management Team
John Freedman, MD, MBA, Principal at Freedman HealthCare, has 20 years' experience in systems management, managed care, health care quality measurement and quality improvement, physician profiling, clinical laboratory development, health economics, and medical informatics. His experience comes from leadership roles at nationally recognized organizations, such as Kaiser Permanente, Tufts Health Plan, MA Health Quality Partners, Focused Medical Analytics, and the MA Quality and Cost Council. While at Tufts Health Plan, Dr. Freedman helped them climb to a #2 National Committee for Quality Assurance ranking with market-leading efforts in MD profiling, pay for performance (P4P), tiered network products, public reporting, disease management and innovative member outreach programs. He received a 2004 Innovator’s Award from America’s Health Insurance Plans for the creation of Navigator, a value-based tiered network insurance product. Dr. Freedman attended Harvard College and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.Alison Glastein, MEd, Vice President/Strategy at Freedman HealthCare brings more than 15 years experience serving the public and nonprofit sector in senior-level positions and as a consultant. She was Founder and President of PEAR Associates LLC, a firm that has provided grant writing services to organizations throughout Greater Boston since 1999, including many in the community health domain. Ms. Glastein has a 10+ year track record of creating successful proposals and concept papers in response to private, state and federal grant guidelines and is expert on utilizing data to develop community health projects with clients. She has served as Executive Director of Breakthrough Cambridge, a multifaceted year-round educational program serving urban students and aspiring teachers, and Healthy Malden, an award-winning community health coalition that was jointly sponsored by Hallmark Health and the City of Malden. Ms. Glastein served as an Adjunct Faculty member at Bunker Hill Community College in Boston, MA, where she taught a Grant Writing course for the Division of Continuing Education. She has a graduate degree in professional education from Suffolk University, where she also obtained a Bachelor of Science. Ms. Glastein completed a certificate program from the Institute for Communication Improvement in Professional Program Development and Grant Communication in August 2007.
Linda Green, MPA, Vice President - Programs at Freedman Healthcare, has 30 years of experience in state and local government addressing complex public policy questions, including those related to effective health care services and contracting. Ms. Green’s recent projects include strategic planning support in state health care reform and long term care re-engineering. As the former Director of Health Data Analytics for the Massachusetts Division of Health Care Finance and Policy, Ms. Green oversaw the APCD and hospital discharge data sets, including, regulatory process; data release policies; data intake, editing and verification procedures; harmonization with other states; measurement calculation; and website reporting implementation. She successfully streamlined the agency's data release operation, and developed a similar process for the Health Care Quality and Cost Council. Her prior experience as Director of the Managed Care Reimbursement Unit for Commonwealth's Office of Acute and Ambulatory Care involved taking the financial lead for a $1.7B managed care program.
Consultants
Edith Ackerman, MAT, Affiliate Consultant with Freedman HealthCare, has more than 20 years’ experience developing marketing and communication strategy for some of the nation’s leading hospitals and health plans. At Massachusetts General Hospital, Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital, and most recently at North Shore Medical Center, Ms. Ackerman has developed marketing programs to raise brand awareness and increase philanthropic support. At both Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts and Tufts Health Plan, Ms. Ackerman led the marketing of new products and health programs, as well as leading marketing strategies for new products in response to Massachusetts and national health reform. At Tufts Health Plan, Ms. Ackerman led a comprehensive rebranding, launching research, and implementing a transformation which increased customer satisfaction and overall brand confidence measurably. Ms. Ackerman has a Master of Arts in Teaching from Brown University, and Bachelor of Arts in English from The College of Wooster, and completed an executive leadership program in healthcare management at Babson College in 2010.
Sue L. Kaufman, MS – Associate Consultant at Freedman HealthCare, Ms. Kaufman has over 20 years experience leading health care organizations. As Assistant Commissioner at the Division of Health Care Finance and Policy, Ms. Kaufman mobilized the team charged with developing an All-Payer Claims Database, led the promulgation of intake and release regulations, data intake specifications, procurement of Medicare data, and engagement of government and external stakeholders. She also staffed and facilitated several expert panels focused on performance measures for public reporting, including hospital specific mortality measures and hospital wide readmissions rates. Ms. Kaufman was Executive Director of Urban Medical Group, responsible for providing primary care and care coordination across the continuum to frail elderly and multiple chronically ill patients. Under her leadership, the Urban Medical Group model was nationally recognized for having saved on overall costs to the system while maintaining or improving quality of care and patient/family satisfaction. As COO of Benova, Inc., Kaufman partnered with states in the implementation of Medicaid managed care and CHIP, including overseeing the successful implementation of large integrated systems and operational solutions with tight budgets and timeframes.
Amy Lischko, PhD is Associate Professor at Tufts University School of Medicine, where her research is focused on using claims databases to assess overutilization of health care services and the effects of cost sharing on consumers’ use of health services. Dr. Lischko is a leading expert on health insurance exchanges, and has published articles and spoken at national venues to share her knowledge. As Commissioner of MA Division of Health Care Finance and Policy, Dr. Lischko led the development of the MA health care reform bill, including strategic planning and analysis. She has 20+ years of experience conducting applied health services and policy research using quantitative and qualitative approaches. Dr. Lischko consults with a number of states around health care reform implementation, specifically, using state-level data and analysis to guide policy decisions.
Katharine London, MS - Principal Associate at the Center for Health Law and Economics at UMass Medical School, has 20 years experience in health care policy development and analysis in the areas of health care financing, cost containment, and quality improvement. Ms. London served as Executive Director of the Massachusetts Health Care Quality and Cost Council where she built the Council’s private insurance claims dataset and launched the Council’s website, the first in the nation to display hospital-specific quality and cost information simultaneously. Reporting simultaneously to the state Secretary of Human Services and to the 17 member Council, Ms. London guided the Council and its Committees to establish strategic direction, forged consensus among Councilors with divergent views, drafted the Council’s regulations, and implemented the Council’s decisions. Ms. London led the Council’s vendor procurement processes, reviewed proposals and led contract negotiations. Previously, Ms. London directed staff support for 3 large public-private commissions, advised the Massachusetts Attorney General on health policy issues, and developed payment methods for Massachusetts Medicaid.
Jeanne O’Brien is a senior advisor to organizations seeking to develop hospital-affiliated multi-specialty groups and/or be prepared to succeed with payers and providers in an accountable-care environment. Ms. O’Brien has unique success helping physicians from diverse, competitive settings come together to forge a new practice entity. Ms. O’Brien has been a C-level executive over 20+ years of significant accomplishments including Executive Director and Vice President of Network Development of a multi-hospital system which restructured its physician organization to handle risk based contracts for the major health plans in Massachusetts including the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, Alternative Quality Contract (AQC) (Caritas Christi) and Chief Operating Officer of two Independent Practice Associations with expertise in recruiting and retaining physicians, negotiating contracts with physicians, health plans, hospitals and vendors, developing an information technology strategy, as well as constructing and overseeing multiple budgets and revenue streams (New England Quality Care Alliance and Primary Care, LLC). Ms. O’Brien is a graduate of Curry College and Lesley University.
Margie Ross Decter, MHS, is a health industry expert with almost 20 years’ experience in developing, advising and managing health-driven organizations. She advises clients desiring business or organizational change and catalyzes them to new competitive positioning through strategy consulting, performance improvement and marketing communications strategies. Margie’s unique cross-sector health experience leveraging data, communications and change management strategies with health providers, scientists and health executives uniquely positions her to advise clients to strengthen their performance while improving relationships, their reputation and market differentiation. Margie is a founding member of the MIT chapter of Graduate Women in Science, and has served as an advisor to the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council since 2001. Margie earned a Masters Degree in Health Policy and Management from Johns Hopkins University and Bachelor’s Degrees in Biology and French from Lehigh University. Margie is also a licensed Emergency Medical Technician and a former molecular endocrinology bench researcher.
Gail Sillman, JD, MPH is an affiliate consultant working with providers, purchasers and payers to realign incentives for quality and cost under global payment contracts. As a co-founder and Executive Vice President of a mid-size Independent Physician Association, Gail has worked in the healthcare management systems sector for more than 25 years. She has also practiced health care law for many years and has advised and negotiated agreements on behalf of physician, hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, nursing homes and integrated delivery systems. Her extensive experience in strategic planning, managed care contracting and implementation, risk performance management and health information management systems coupled with her background in health care law uniquely positions her to advise clients regarding the legal and regulatory aspects of structuring health care arrangements and the creation of sustainable organizations with practical, cogent enforceable business plans. Gail earned a degree in political science from Brandeis University, a law degree from Washington College of Law and a Masters Degree in Health Policy and Management from Harvard School of Public Health. Gail also holds a license to practice law in Massachusetts and Florida.
Ellie Soeffing, Affiliate Consultant at Freedman HealthCare, is a senior healthcare executive with over 25 years of diverse healthcare experience developing businesses, building and marketing products and managing large scale projects and interdisciplinary project teams. Ellie has extensive experience managing large departments and initiatives and working with academic and community hospitals and physicians as well as insurance companies. She is an analytical thinker with a strong understanding of healthcare finance and delivery, managed care contracting, global payments and programs to manage care who brings expertise in health reform, government program (Medicare/Medicaid). population analytics, care integration, patient self management and chronic care management. Ms. Soeffing has worked closely with physicians in the establishment of IPAs and PHOs and significantly improved their contracting terms and performance in managing capitation. As a consultant, Ms. Soeffing has performed strategic and business planning, project management, market research, reimbursement analysis and contract negotiations for providers, health plans and agencies. Some of her previous positions include: Senior Director in a Care Management company, Vice President of Managed Care and Director of Managed Care for two Boston area hospitals, Director of Product Management and Strategic Planning Manager for Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, and Administrator for all Ambulatory Care at The Children's Hospital in Boston. Additionally, for two years she lectured on health care payment and reimbursement at the Harvard University Graduate School of Public Health.
Greg Spino, CFA, Affiliate Consultant at Freedman HealthCare. Greg Spino oversaw the Data Warehouse and Business Intelligence program for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ Executive Office of Health and Human Services, which includes 16 EOHHS agencies. The platform supports all analytics for the nine billion dollar Massachusetts Medicaid Program, the MA Health Insurance Exchange (Health Connector), the EOHHS performance management environment (EHSResults). Mr. Spino was responsible for managing the procurement process for the Business Intelligence platform, designing and procuring the hardware infrastructure, designing and building the analytic and reporting portal as well as building the analytics team. Mr. Spino also oversaw all architecture and development for the data warehouse, as well as a portfolio of related projects including the technical components of EHSResults, a Secretariat-led initiative, which is a performance management reporting application that tracks several hundred quality and performance metrics. Most recently Mr. Spino managed the development of the Medical Homes application and reporting interface that will support the provider community during this critical transition.
Ben Stewart, a recent Union College graduate, is an analyst at Freedman HealthCare. He is currently conducting statistical analyses on several client projects, focusing on evaluating quality and efficiency measures of Massachusetts healthcare networks. His acute analytical skills have contributed to more in depth exploration of client projects. Mr. Stewart has quickly proven to be a valuable asset on projects, and his quick learning style is allowing him to branch into new areas of expertise. While at Union, Mr. Stewart majored in Economics and Mathematics, as well as studied international business in Lille, France. He also completed an internship in the Wealth Management Division of Merrill Lynch.
Pranali Trivedi, Project Coordinator, recently joined Freedman HealthCare and is working on All Payer Claims Database projects. Ms. Trivedi’s educational background in healthcare policy and management, as well as her particular interest in measures of quality, information technology, and multi-stakeholder work will be an asset to the firm. She is a graduate of Union College where she obtained an undergraduate degree in Sociology, and is now a candidate for a Masters in Public Health from Boston University’s School of Public Health.
Jake Unger, Project Coordinator, is a recent graduate from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. At UNC he graduated with distinction (honors) in both History and Communication Studies. He brings a strong research and organizational background to the Freedman HealthCare team. Jake has previously worked in a variety of fields including a research and film production internship in London, UK where he earned a in credit the environmental documentary Animate Earth.