SHEILA A. STEPHENS
Senior Consultant

Ms. Stephens has 20 years of experience in the health care field, with specific expertise in the development and administration of patient care services, and the related systems and structures to support financial management and quality improvement. She has extensive experience in program development across the health care continuum, including clinic and outpatient services, acute and long term care, home health and hospice care.

As a Service Line Administrator and Vice President for Clinical Services, she has led projects to reduce costs, improve quality, increase market share, and redefine and position services to compete in the managed care environment. As an early advocate of home care, Ms. Stephens organized and developed a hospital based home care agency, co-founded a community based Hospice program, and developed a coalition of health care and community leaders to address community health needs. She has extensive experience in clinical documentation systems, having led and directed the design, installation, and evaluation of integrated clinical systems. Ms. Stephens has considerable speaking and teaching experience on a variety of clinical and technical topics. She has presented papers at several national conferences on the value added aspects of technology and integrated clinical systems; has taught nursing at the undergraduate level; and has provided instruction in quality processes and standards compliance.

With broad experience in quality management, including being a certified quality instructor, she has directed teams in the development and implementation of improvement strategies, indicator development, analysis, and benchmarking. Well versed on the certification standards of JCAHO, NCQA and other accrediting agencies, Ms. Stephens has managed the preparation for a number of successful accreditation and licensing surveys.

Ms. Stephens has written and received numerous grants, and has written and implemented, in collaboration with physician leaders, business plans for specialty services such as orthopaedics, neurosurgery, cardiology, and gastroenterology. Most recently she has worked with IPAs and Medical Groups to prepare for state licensure as contracting health plans, to develop service lines and centers of excellence, and to develop quality and cost indicators and monitoring systems. She has also designed and implemented case management programs and systems, and in collaboration with physicians has developed and implemented clinical pathways and protocols. She has a Bachelors of Science in Nursing and a Masters in Public Health, with an emphasis on Healthcare Administration. Her affiliations have included the American Cancer Society, the Arthritis Foundation, Hospice of San Joaquin, Healthcare Executives of Sacramento, American Organization of Nursing Executives, and the Association of California Nurse Leaders.