An evidence-based approach to virtual workforce programmes

Author's Biography

Ekta Vyas , PhD, M.S., SHRM-SCP, has a passion for applying systems thinking to enhance organisational effectiveness and a goal to maximise human resources value for business. Dr Vyas is an industrial/ organisational psychologist with 28 years of experience in leadership and consulting roles, primarily in academia and the healthcare industry. She currently serves as the Chief Human Resources Officer at Keck Medicine of USC and an adjunct management faculty with USC Marshall School of Business. In these roles, Dr Vyas’ major feats have been transforming teams and programmes in organisations to maximise the service delivery impact of Human Resources (HR) programmes and to build higher credibility for HR partnership with business. Prior to joining Keck Medicine, Dr Vyas served as the Deputy Chief Human Resources Officer for UC Davis Health and was with Stanford Healthcare and Stanford Children’s Health in various leadership roles for 14 years. Her current portfolio also includes serving on the SME board for the International Association for Human Resource Information Management. Dr Vyas has had a well-rounded career as a Human Resources executive, management faculty member and board member. She is a frequent speaker and panellist at conferences focusing on talent and performance management, strategic HR management, leadership, culture, transformational change, emotional intelligence and engagement. She is an elected member of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology and Forbes HR Council and regularly contributes to academic and practitioner journals.

Adam Higman , DHA, FACHE, is a healthcare leader with national experience in healthcare quality, strategic planning, analytics and performance improvement. He has management and consulting experience in leading engagements focused on clinical redesign and performance improvement for more than 75 healthcare organisations throughout the United States. He has also worked with healthcare organisations on a variety of growth-focused projects, including projection analysis, short- and long-term strategic planning, new product and service planning and operationalisation. His planning experience includes system planning around demographic states and population health initiatives. Dr Higman currently serves as a leader for Press Ganey, one of the largest healthcare data analytics and advisory firms in the country. He has responsibility for Press Ganey’s member experience and payer consulting, as well as strategic initiatives for provider clients around patient, workforce and operational redesign. Dr Higman holds a doctorate in health administration from the Medical University of South Carolina. He is board certified in healthcare management as an ACHE Fellow.

Dragana Gough , BS, MSCP, is a Director with Press Ganey and has consulted with more than 150 healthcare organisations for various improvement initiatives. She is an experienced Engagement Manager and has worked extensively on generating insights and meaningful advances for healthcare operations. She leads Press Ganey and client teams to design optimal practices, including tools and resources to improve operational and financial performance. Dragana has worked with clients to design tools to monitor trend and establish baseline quality measures to drive improvement. Dragana works with Enterprise Quality to redesign experience and quality improvement initiatives to align efforts among system entities. Dragana is certified in Black Belt Six Sigma and has a master’s degree in Computer Engineering from the University of South Florida.

Dean Vanderhoof , MHA, FACHE, is a Senior Associate with Press Ganey’s Strategic Consulting group, with more than 40 years of healthcare experience in administrative and executive roles in acute care hospitals, ambulatory surgery centres and medical consulting services. He has held leadership positions in the community teaching, tertiary care hospitals and systems ranging from department head to C-Suite roles. Prior to his various roles in hospital administration, Dean began his healthcare career in clinical, anatomical and research laboratories as both staff and management. The laboratory is where he developed an interest in data statistics and analysis, process monitoring and improvement and complex system modelling; in addition, experience in information technology and management led him to choose that topic for his thesis in graduate school.