Ingenix Consulting has announced the launch of its Strategic Technology Solutions practice. The new service aims to help healthcare executives create health IT investment and implementation strategies that enable their organizations to improve patient outcomes, enhance organizational performance and prepare for fundamental shifts occurring in healthcare nationwide.

"Ingenix Consulting is building a team of experts dedicated to helping healthcare organizations take advantage of unprecedented investment and innovation in health IT," said Ingenix Consulting CEO John Nackel. "These experts share a passion for using information and technology to help clients solve their most pressing business challenges and achieve their goals for growth, performance and access to capital."

Scott Kolesar will lead the Strategic Technology Solutions Practice. Also joining the group are Dan Kinsella, Andy Sullivan and Todd Blake.

Kolesar, partner and practice leader, will lead a team of consultants who drive health IT strategy development, technology procurement efforts and system implementations. Kolesar has advised more than 200 healthcare provider, payer and health technology organizations in his 25-year career. His experience and leadership spans a number of consulting disciplines, including systems implementation and integration, software design, strategic IT and business planning, vendor selection and contract management, operational and technology assessments, benefits identification, performance improvement and program management.

Kolesar was previously managing director of the start-up healthcare technology consulting practice at Chicago-based Wellspring Partners, a Huron Consulting Group practice. Prior to that, he served as the vice president and global healthcare provider industry leader for EDS. Kolesar is a Certified Professional in Healthcare Information and Management Systems (CPHIMS) and a member of HIMSS, the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) and the Project Management Institute.
 
Kinsella, partner, will help healthcare executives develop successful health IT strategies and make health IT investment decisions that support long-term patient care and operational objectives.

He has more than 30 years of experience working with health plans, hospitals, physician practices, long-term care organizations, government agencies, life-science businesses and professional associations. Most recently, he was a vice president at The Revere Group in Chicago where he developed and managed the firm’s largest industry-vertical practice area, co-directed a business intelligence roadmap for a Blue Cross Blue Shield health plan, led eHealth strategies at multiple regional health systems and directed an EMR implementation at a local Medicare Advantage health plan.

Prior to that, he was a partner in the healthcare consulting practice at Ernst & Young. Kinsella is a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) and HIMSS.

Sullivan, senior vice president, will help commercial health plans manage operations and IT systems more effectively. He will focus on helping health plans develop and implement payment reform strategies and collaborate with integrated provider systems. Sullivan brings more than 26 years of experience working with healthcare providers and health plans to Ingenix Consulting. Previously, he was a partner with Accenture where he advised healthcare providers and health plans on a range of projects, including network and quality management, patient accounting, patient care systems and computer-based physician order entry (CPOE).
 
Blake, vice president, will help healthcare providers and payers plan, select and adopt technologies that reduce costs, automate and simplify administrative operations, and improve clinical outcomes. Previously, he was a partner at Ernst & Young and, most recently, at Accenture where he led the technology-based strategy and implementation efforts required to separate a hospital from a shared-service center.