Magdalena Ramirez, MPA

Magdalena Ramirez joined the staff of the American Medical Rehabilitation Providers Association in 2009 and currently serves as Vice President of Membership Services.

With over thirty years of progressive expertise in the rapidly evolving healthcare market, Magdalena Ramirez began her healthcare career with the New York City Heath and Hospitals Corporation as an Assistant Director of Operations involved in assisting to restructure one of the largest public health sector healthcare delivery organizations, including expanding the ambulatory care programs that reached out to the community to better meet the needs of patients.

Continuing her career with the HHC, she went on to spend five years as the Associate Executive Director at Queens Hospital Center, a 700- bed acute care hospital. There she integrated risk management and quality assurance programs and oversaw hospital-wide programs to manage the hospital’s response to both public and private regulatory standards.

Ms. Ramirez was recruited to the position of Assistant Director, Bureau of Alternative Delivery Systems of the New York State Department of Health’s Office of Health Systems Management where she had responsibility for developing policies and procedures that defined the operation of the Bureau’s certification and surveillance programs of state wide ambulatory care facilities including HMOs.

In 1989, Ms. Ramirez became Chief Executive Officer of Helen Hayes Hospital, the seventh largest specialty physical rehabilitation hospital in the nation, and the largest and most comprehensive in New York State. At Helen Hayes, Ms. Ramirez was instrumental in restructuring services and re-engineering delivery systems. During her 20 years as the hospital’s CEO, Ms. Ramirez implemented and expanded programs which represent major innovations, including a comprehensive community Wellness Center and expansive spinal cord injury and traumatic brain injury rehabilitation programs. Under her direction, the hospital was granted a demonstration program to provide sub acute rehabilitation services, and opened a new 10 bed Transitional Rehabilitation Center for individuals recovering from traumatic brain injury. She implemented a strategic planning process to ensured Helen Hayes Hospital was positioned to quickly respond to the rapidly changing needs of its patients, its referral sources and its community

In 2002, Dominican University awarded her the honorary degree Doctor of Humane Letters, bestowed in recognition of her leadership. A graduate of Cornell University, Ms. Ramirez received her Masters in Public Administration from New York University.

Chris Davies Nevin, FNP-BC

Chris Davies Nevin began working in a Family Practice in 2000. In 2009, Chris began seeing patients at the newly established Partner in Primary Care, PLLC, in Nanuet, NY. She brings more than 17 years of nursing experience to her practice. With her diverse background in emergency medicine, critical care and family practice medicine, Nevin is committed to providing superior medical care.

A graduate of Pace University where she received an MSN, Chris Nevin is Board Certified as a Family Nurse Practitioner. She has worked as a Family Nurse Practitioner for the last 13 years and is a member of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, the NYS Nurse Practitioner Association, and the Rockland County Nurse Practitioner Association. She has been an adjunct and clinical instructor at Pace University, as well as a clinical preceptor for Dominican University and SUNY Delhi students. Chris Nevin is completing a doctoral degree in nursing practice from Duke University, Durham, North Carolina.

She is a lifetime resident of Rockland County, with family ties to the area going back over 150 years. Chris Davies Nevin’s great-grandmother, Dr. Virginia Davies, was one of the first female family physicians in Rockland County, delivering more than 6,000 babies in the late-1800s, and a descendent of Meriwether Lewis of the Lewis and Clark expedition team. Chris Nevin’s family still owns and operates the 50+ acre Dr. Davies Farm in Congers.

Gary Kogut

Gary is a career healthcare executive with broad knowledge of private healthcare business enterprise development and management. For over 30 years Gary has been involved in starting up, reorganizing and expanding healthcare practices including a multi-site/specialty medical practice; a hospital system-based specialty practice; a diagnostic imaging center; and numerous other physician practices.

Gary began his healthcare career as a registered nurse with a specialty in spinal cord injury rehabilitation.  He then went on to roles as director of clinical departments in major teaching hospitals, executive director of medical practices and healthcare business ventures and the VP for revenue cycle services with regional and national consulting firms.

Gary has been a member of the faculty of Dominican University’s FPN graduate program since 2007 and has published numerous articles on healthcare business management. He has a BS in nursing from Hartwick College and received his MBA from Cornell University with a Sloan Certificate in Hospital and Health Services Administration.

Jerry Dunlavey, MBA, FABC

Mr. Dunlavey is the Executive Director of the Greater Hudson Valley Health System Medical Group.  In this role, he is responsible for providing leadership across the business and clinical operations of the Medical Group, including Information Technology, Finance/Revenue Cycle Management, Human Resources, Business Intelligence, Business and Clinical Integration, Facilities and contracts.  The Medical Group currently serves patients throughout Orange and Sullivan Counties at four different locations.  In addition to the physician practice, Mr. Dunlavey is responsible for the health system’s Intensivist, Hospitalist, Trauma and Acute Surgery Programs.  He is also the executive responsible for oversight of Health System Strategic Planning and Business Development.

Prior to his role as Executive Director, Mr. Dunlavey was Vice President of Clinical Program Development and Operations.  In this capacity, he was responsible for the growth, development and operations of several clinical product lines including cardiology, orthopedics, neuroscience and rehabilitation medicine.  He led numerous business development initiatives including the growth of the orthopedic department’s Total Joint Program, the development of a Level 2 Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, implementation of elective angioplasty and the development of a pediatric emergency department.

Mr. Dunlavey earned a Bachelor’s degree in Finance and a Master of Business Administration degree from Iona College.  He also holds a Doctor of Chiropractic degree from Palmer College of Chiropractic.

Joseph A. Welfeld, FACHE

Mr. Welfeld is currently President of the The Welfeld Group, LLC. Mr. Welfeld provides market strategy, business development and advisory services to emerging healthcare technology organizations. He also has been actively involved in the development of alternate reimbursement models such as Accountable Care (ACO) and Episodes of Care/Bundling. He has worked with “C” level executives advising on the development of regional approaches to technology deployment, including Electronic Medical Records (EMR) and Health Information Exchanges (HIE), as well as physician alignment and consumer engagement strategic initiatives.

Mr. Welfeld was Vice President for RelayHealth – a Division of McKesson Corporation, a Fortune 16 company. RelayHealth is the nation’s leader in secure, online patient-physician communications and health information exchange platforms. Mr. Welfeld was responsible for assisting clients in developing their health information exchange, physician relations and connectivity strategies. His team of deployment specialists and project managers was responsible for the deployment of the RelayHealth service to approximately 60 health system clients in the eastern U.S. using RelayHealth’s SaaS front-end application, or via interfaces to any EMR system.

Mr. Welfeld joined RelayHealth in 2005 after spending four and one half years as Program Director of the Graduate Program in Health Administration at Long Island University’s Rockland Graduate Campus. He taught graduate level courses and worked with graduate students on case studies and Thesis projects. Concurrently, he was a business strategy and development consultant.

In a previous position, Mr. Welfeld was CEO of Affiliated Physicians Network, a regional physician network focusing on oncology managed care and clinical research. In that role, Mr. Welfeld assisted the organization in developing a comprehensive breast cancer case rate agreement with Oxford Specialty Management Company. Affiliate Physicians Network was also recognized by the National Cancer Institute as a community oncology network for clinical research.

In addition, Mr. Welfeld has been a consultant in managed care contracting and strategic planning both as an independent consultant and with a number of national and regional health care consulting firms.

Earlier in his career, Mr. Welfeld was a Regional Vice President for United Healthcare and Chief Executive Officer of Ocean State Physicians Health Plan in Providence, RI. In these capacities he led United to prominence in the New England managed care market and led Ocean State to #5 on the INC 500 list of the fastest growing privately held corporations in the United States.

Mr. Welfeld is a fellow of the American College of Health Care Executives, has an MBA in Healthcare Administration from Baruch College/Mt. Sinai Medical School in NYC, and has written “Managed Care Contracting – A Guide for the Health Care Provider” – published by the American Hospital Publishing Corp. in 1996.

He has been a member of national advisory committees for both the American College of Healthcare Executives and the Healthcare Financial Management Association and has made presentations at national and regional conferences of the American College of Healthcare Executives, the Healthcare Financial Management Association, the American Medical Group Association, the National Managed Healthcare Congress, and the Medical Group Management Association.