HJBR May/Jun 2019

Healthcare Journal of BATON ROUGE I  MAY / JUN 2019 41 For weekly eNews updates and to read the journal online, visit HealthcareJournalBR.com as the least healthy state, despite Medicaid expansion and additional developments,” said Alma Stewart, summit organizer and Louisiana Center for Health Equity founder/president. “We hope to lead the way for meaningful discussion on underlying issues that will lead to changes in improving the health of children by investing in the employability of parents, promoting healthy living in the classroom, and other ways that help the health of children and families.” Tricia Brooks, associate research professor and senior fellow at the Georgetown University Cen- ter for Children and Families (CCF), served as the summit’s keynote speaker. Brooks is also a nation- ally known expert on Medicaid and CHIP. Addi- tional speakers included Gov. John Bel Edwards; Secretary, Louisiana Department of Health, Dr. Rebekah Gee.; Louisiana Department of Health- Office of Public Health Assistant Secretary Dr. Alexander Billioux; Secretary, Louisiana Depart- ment of Children and Family Services, Marketa Walters; and several public health experts from across the state.  The summit was organized via the Louisiana Center for Health Equity in collaboration with the Louisiana Department of Health, Office of Pub- lic Health, and Pennington Biomedical Research Center. LAHealthcare Connections Named Outstanding Employer of the Year by LANurses Foundation For the third consecutive year, the Louisiana Nurses Foundation presented its 2019 Night- ingale Award for Outstanding Employer of the Year to Louisiana Healthcare Connections. The annual award recognizes a Louisiana company that supports nurses and fosters professional growth, achievement, and innovation in the nurs- ing profession. "Nurses are on the front line working tirelessly to ensure our members receive the quality, com- prehensive healthcare they deserve. We are for- tunate to have so many knowledgeable and com- passionate nurses on our staff to coordinate care for our members," said Kendra Case, RN, chief operating officer. "This award exemplifies the out- standing work our nurses do each and every day for our members, and we are honored to receive it on their behalf." Louisiana Healthcare Connections, a Healthy Louisiana Medicaid health plan, employs more than 150 registered nurses and licensed prac- tical nurses across the state. The Nightingale Award recognizes the company’s investment in the professional growth of nurses through internal and external learning opportunities, innovation awards, and workplace recognition programs. The Louisiana Nurses Foundation hosts the Nightingale Awards to recognize registered nurses and healthcare institutions across the state for demonstrating leadership, clinical excellence, and quality service in the nursing profession. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana Appoints Vice Presidents to Information Technology Leadership Team Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana has appointed two vice presidents, Prashanth Can- nanbilla and David Yoo, to its collaborative IT leadership team. Cannanbilla joined the state’s largest health insurer as vice president, strategic program management, and Yoo serves as vice president, digital and enterprise services. Reporting to Blue Cross Chief Information Offi- cer Sue Kozik, Cannanbilla will focus on strategic program management, supporting and opera- tionalizing new projects and partnerships. Yoo will direct enterprise architecture at the execu- tive level and will also report to Kozik. “The bottom line is that two industry-rec- ognized leaders with extensive experience in healthcare IT are on our team,” Kozik said. “I am thrilled, knowing what these two men bring to Blue Cross.” Cannanbilla comes to Blue Cross from F.N.B. Corporation, where he was senior vice president and head of data governance and management. Before F.N.B. Corporation, he was senior direc- tor of IT at Highmark, Inc. He has held a series of increasingly responsible positions in business strategy, technology management, and data gov- ernance throughout his career. Cannanbilla earned a master’s degree in com- puter science, software engineering, at the Uni- versity of Pittsburgh. He earned a Master of Busi- ness Administration degree, strategy, at the Katz School of Business at the University of Pitts- burgh. He is a member and certified project management professional of the Project Man- agement Institute and a member of Beta Gamma Sigma, the honor society for collegiate schools of business. He also holds the health insurance asso- ciate and the managed healthcare professional designations from AHIP. Yoo brings to Blue Cross more than 25 years of senior-level IT and digital leadership experience. He has held IT management positions at Carl- son Companies and Best Buy in Minnesota, Kai- ser Permanente, NantHealth and Encore Capi- tal Group in California, and Bank of America in North Carolina. At Best Buy, he was chief architect for the com- pany’s supply chain, and at Kaiser Permanente— the nation’s largest not-for-profit HMO, with $49B in annual revenue—Yoo was responsible for deliv- ering enterprise-level architecture and digital and mobile technology tied to the company’s busi- ness and technology strategy. Yoo studied biology at the University of Min- nesota Twin Cities and completed the executive leadership program at the University of Minne- sota, Graduate School of Management. NewBaton Rouge Cardiology Center Location Opens in Central Baton Rouge Cardiology Center patients will now have access to heart and vascular care closer to home with the opening of a new clinic loca- tion in Central. Dr. Joseph Cefalu, a board-certified interven- tional cardiologist with Baton Rouge Cardiology Center, will provide cardiology services in Cen- tral. For more than 15 years, Cefalu has cared for patients in Central. In August of 2016, historic floods devastated parts of south Louisiana and Joseph Cefalu