Mary Kay Owens

Mary Kay Owens is Executive Director of the Institute for Healthcare Innovation Strategies and president and CEO of both Intelligent Health Analytics and Southeastern Consultants, Inc. The mission of the Institute for Healthcare Innovation Strategies (IHIS) is to provide consulting and advanced analytical services to federal and state agencies including Medicaid, Medicare, and employers as well as to health plans, healthcare collaboratives, providers, accountable care organizations, patient advocates and others as they strive to implement innovative payment and care delivery models. Areas of focus include initiatives such as patient centered medical/health homes, care integration/coordination, transitions of care models, multi-disciplinary team care management, appropriate medication use, patient safety, quality assessment, creating system wide cost efficiencies, and evidence based evaluations.

Mary Kay has over 20 years experience in providing services to government agencies, public and commercial health plans, academic institutions, health information technology groups, care management companies, industry, and professional health care associations in areas such care coordination assessment, HIT, Medicaid/Medicare program operations, policy and reimbursement, appropriate medication use, utilization management, auditing methods, and fraud detection.

Mary Kay is a pharmacist by training and Clinical Associate Professor at the University Of Florida College Of Pharmacy, Department of Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy and serves as a consultant to the Florida Center for Medicaid and the Uninsured, a health policy analysis and research institute. Ms. Owens serves as Vice Chair of the National Alliance for Integrated Medication Management (AIMM) and serves on the National Pharmacy Work Force Center Technical Advisory Panel and has served on various state Medicaid Advisory Boards.

Owens formerly served as the Director of the Florida Medicaid Drug Utilization Review (DUR) Program and Chair of the National Medicaid DUR steering committee. She also served as a senior health care fraud investigator and auditor within the Florida Medicaid Agency for Health Care Administration.

Mary Kay routinely presents at regional, state, and national forums for public officials, legislators, associations, and advocacy groups. The topics include using sophisticated analytical methods to identify and quantify the cost of uncoordinated care for creating targeted care management strategies. Other areas include analyzing and interpreting the relationships between utilization patterns, access and adherence behaviors, and total healthcare costs to identify and target avoidable and inappropriate services. Owens also presents to national audiences on Medicaid/Medicare programs, reform initiatives, development of new payment and delivery models, comprehensive medication management, and integrated/accountable care program development using advanced analytics and health information technology.