2025 Convention Agenda
Monday, May 19
10:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
(ET)
Health Care Workforce Summit
7:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.
Kentucky Society of Health System Pharmacists Track
Tuesday, May 20
(ET)
Registration Opens
Breakfast Available (7:30 – 8:00 AM)
8:00 a.m. – 9:20 a.m.
Keynote Address: Unstoppable
Anthony Robles
Anthony Robles was born without a right leg, yet he never let disability stop him from achieving his dreams. With unrelenting determination – and the belief that he could do anything – he defied all odds and became a champion collegiate wrestler, competing against able-bodied athletes. An NCAA Division I Champion, three-time All-American, and a recipient of the ESPY Jimmy V Award for Perseverance, Anthony inspires others to believe that they too can overcome the odds. In this moving, awe-inspiring presentation, Anthony shares his extraordinary life story – now chronicled on the big screen in a major motion picture starring Jennifer Lopez and Jharrel Jerome – and illustrates how perseverance, hard work, and a strong belief in yourself can not only lead you to success but make you unstoppable.
9:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.
Concurrent Sessions
KHA
Strategic Innovation and Interoperability Utilizing
a Post-Acute Care Collaborative Model
Jill Ferragame
Director of Operations, Post Acute Care Collaborative
Lehigh Valley Health Network
This session covers the importance of collaboration in reducing hospital readmissions and improving patient outcomes. Participants will be able to identify key quality metrics and understand how to optimize technology and workflows, and examine strategies for enhancing teamwork and communication among health care providers.
KHA
Leveraging Data to Make Information-Driven Strategic Decisions
Moderator:
DJ Sullivan
Chief Growth and Delivery Officer and Managing Director, Claims Data Analytics
HSG Advisors
Panelists:
Stacey Biggs
EVP, Marketing, Planning/Development
T. J. Samson Community Hospital
Melanie Landrum
Senior Vice President, Data, Operations & Innovations
Kentucky Hospital Association
Nick Spoonmore
Vice President Strategic Initiatives
Ephraim McDowell Health
Kerry Tague
System Director of Business Development
UK King’s Daughters Medical Center
This session will teach participants how to integrate analytics into the strategic planning process for a more informative and dynamic approach, as well as the importance and methods of continuous monitoring and evaluation in refining strategic initiatives and achieving desired outcomes.
KHA
Statewide Roll-Out of I-PASS: Progress & Lessons from the Early Adopters
Moderator:
Patricia McGaffigan, MS, RN, CPPS
Board Member; Senior Advisor, Safety; and President, Certification Board for Professionals in Patient Safety
I-PASS Institute: Institute for Healthcare Improvement
Panelists:
Jeneen Carman, DNP, RN, NEA-BC, CEN
System Chief Nursing Officer
Appalachian Regional Healthcare
Trish Jordan, RN
System Associate Vice President, Clinical Outcomes
Baptist Health
This session will illustrate the importance of hand-off communication in the health care ecosystem while articulating the insights, lessons learned, and advice from the early adopters.
KONL
Inculcating a Culture of Regulatory Compliance
Rick Curtis, RN, MS, HACP
Chief Executive Officer
Center for Improvement in Healthcare Quality (CIHQ)
This presentation provides practical, real-world strategies that have shown to be effective in establishing a culture that supports continuous ongoing compliance to regulations and improvement in quality.
Learning Objectives:
- Discuss the importance of organizational culture
- Identify the difference between formal and informal culture
- Interpret barriers to creating a successful culture
- Communicate how to inculcate a desired culture into the structural fabric of an organization
KAHA
Protecting Post Encounter Reviews: Case Law Update and Strategies
Wesley R. Butler, Esq.
Partner
Barnett Benvenuti & Butler, PLLC
10:30 a.m. – 10:45 a.m.
Networking Break with Sponsors
10:45 a.m. – 11:45 a.m.
Concurrent Sessions
KHA
340B Update: Emerging Legal and Compliance Issues and Solutions
David M. Dirr
Attorney
DBL Law
Jason Prokopik, PharmD, 340B ACE
Senior Manager
Blue & Co., LLC
This session will focus on new legal issues affecting the 340B program, how to identify new legal issues that should be addressed in 340B contracts, and how current compliance issues impact providers of 340B programs.
KHA
Managing Medicare Advantage
Kathy Reep
Senior Manager
PYA
Martie Ross
Principal
PYA
This session will cover new negotiation tactics with Medicare Advantage plans, how to implement processes to monitor contract compliance, and how to increase revenue on Medicare Advantage beneficiaries by managing prior authorization and denials.
KHA
2025 State of the State: Payer Accountability
Travis Gentry
Chief Executive Officer
Hyve Health | Collectyve Health
This session will review trends across the country but focus on current events in Kentucky based on data submitted from Kentucky hospitals. The speaker will analyze payer trends around prompt pay, reimbursement, downcoding, and denials, while discussing how data can empower advocacy efforts at the national and state level, giving providers data to help with payer-provider contract negotiations.
KONL
Sharing and Presenting Best Practices
Three topics will be covered in this session.
Every Nurse Matters: A Peer-to-Peer Suicide Prevention Program
Judy Ponder, DNP, RN, NPD-BC, NE-BC, CSSGB
Director of Education and Professional Development
Baptist Health Richmond
- Recognize the elements of an effective educational program that can be implemented with nursing staff and nurse leaders to support suicide prevention efforts
- Describe ways in which structured educational approaches can enhance confidence in nurses’ abilities to intervene when the threat of suicide exists
- Identify ways to empower nurses to make safe decisions regarding risk for suicide following educational interventions
- Detail the reason for moving to Code Violet responses and how it supports trauma-informed care
- Describe the role of the behavioral health specialist nurse
- Discuss outcomes of the program
- Describe the key elements of a well-written abstract
- Identify “dos” and “don’ts” with abstract writing
KAHA
Legislative Update
James C. Musser, Esq.
Senior Vice President, Policy and
Government Relations
Kentucky Hospital Association
11:45 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
KAHA Annual Business Meeting
Kristen H. Fowler, Esq.
Secretary/Treasurer
Kentucky Academy of Healthcare Attorney
12:00 p.m. – 1:20 p.m.
KHA Awards Luncheon
Gerard Colman, Ph.D.
KHA Board Chair
System CEO of Baptist Health System
Our annual awards luncheon honoring the leaders in Kentucky’s hospital community.
1:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
American College of Healthcare Executives Session
Leading Strategic Change
Jim Austin, MPA/MURP
Adjunct Assistant Professor
Brown University, MHL
As the U.S. health care system undergoes profound transformation, health care leaders must adapt and evolve amidst their changing realities. This seminar will provide attendees with the ability to make solid decisions and optimize strategic changes when faced with uncertainty. Discover answers to critical questions such as which strategies will provide leaders with the ability to thrive during these uncertain times and what new investments and capabilities are needed to successfully lead strategic change. You will learn the four building blocks to good decision making and common decision traps. You will also be introduced to a scenario planning tool and a framework to help you develop future alternatives. Take away a simple four-step model to optimize execution and drive change.
1:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.
Concurrent Sessions
KONL
Exercising Nursing Leadership through Advocacy
Stacey Chapell
Senior Director, Advocacy and External Communications
American Organization for Nursing Leadership
Nurse leaders are natural advocates. Learn how to exercise nursing leadership in legislative advocacy. From learning more about who represents you to finding messages that resonate with policy makers, this session will inspire novice advocates to find their voice and help more experienced advocates learn how to expand their influence politically.
Learning Objectives:
- Articulate why advocacy is important for nursing leadership and work environment
- Demonstrate how to hone a message to resonate with different legislators
- Identify impact of communication on legislative decision making
- Verbalize AONL’s 2025 legislative priorities
KAHA
Case Law Update
Sarah L. Clark, Esq.
Counsel
Napier Gault Schupbach & Stevens, PLC
2:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.
Concurrent Sessions
KONL
AONL Span of Control
Brandy Mathews, DNP, MHA, RN, NE-BC, CENP
KONL Immediate Past President
- Describe the work of the AONL workforce committee and discuss best practices and innovative strategies with the goal of creating sustainable work environments and support needed to empower nurses
- Understand the factors associated with determining and rightsizing nurse manager span of accountability. Using the AONL assessment tool, participants will be able to evaluate if the SOC needs to be adjusted to ensure nurse manager success
- Describe the value of the nurse leader/finance business partner relationship and learn how the ROI Calculator will assist to justify an investment in resources while providing expected outcomes and accountability measures
KAHA
InstaMetaXTokFace: Patients, Employees and Social Media
Carole Christian, Esq.
Partner
Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs, LLP
Ramona Hieneman, Esq.
Vice President and Associate General Counsel
Owensboro Health, Inc.
3:30 p.m. – 3:45 p.m.
Networking Break with Sponsors
3:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
KAHA: Issues for In-House Counsel: Internal Investigations
Christoper E. Schaefer, Esq.
Member
Stoll Keenon Ogden, PLLC
3:45 p.m. – 4:15 p.m.
KONL Business Update
Sally Davenport, DNP, RN, NEA-BC
4:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.
ACHE Reception with Sponsors
Wednesday, May 21
7:00 a.m.
(ET)
Registration Opens
Breakfast Available (7:30 – 8:00 AM)
8:00 a.m. – 9:10 a.m.
(ET)
Breakfast Keynote: Our Healthy Kentucky Home
Steven J. Stack, MD, MBA
Commissioner, Kentucky Department for Public Health
Our Healthy Kentucky Home is a Team Kentucky initiative with the Kentucky Department for Public Health (KDPH) to engage and inspire Kentuckians on a personal journey of achievable health and wellness improvements through increased physical activity, improved nutritional health, and decreased social isolation through targeted interventions.
9:15 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
American College of Healthcare Executives Session
Leadership and Accountability in Project Management Programs
Laura W. Synnott, LFACHE
Associate Teaching Professor
Carnegie Mellon University
Project management tools can be used to implement the most important strategic initiatives facing health care executives today: accountable care organizations, affiliations, quality and process improvement initiatives, revenue cycle programs, and more. The outcomes of these high-priority projects can be critical to both your organization and career. This session will provide you with an overview of how you can integrate project management into your organization’s culture.
9:15 a.m. – 10:15 a.m.
Key Developments in the 340B Drug Discount Program
Ted Slafsky, MPP
Publisher and Chief Executive Officer
340B Report
James C. Musser, Esq.
Senior Vice President, Policy and Government Relations
Kentucky Hospital Association
This session will provide an update on the status of 340B at the federal and state levels, reporting requirements, pharmacy benefit manager protections, and details on pharmacy companies suing states. Participants will learn how to get involved with advocacy to protect the 340B program.
10:15 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.
Networking Break with Sponsors
10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
Medical Cannabis Update: Lessons Learned in the First Six Months
Jennifer J. Cave, Esq.
Member
Stites & Harbison
Ramona Hieneman, Esq.
Vice President and Associate General Counsel
Owensboro Health
Robin E. McGuffin, Esq.
Member
Stites & Harbison
Kentucky’s new medical cannabis program became effective on January 1, 2025. This session will provide a brief overview of the program followed by a panel discussion about what hospitals are seeing with the new law nearly six months in, both from a patient care standpoint and as employers.
12:00 p.m. – 1:20 p.m.
KHA Luncheon brought to you by ACHE
Sponsored by:
