PricewaterhouseCoopers adds 11 professionals and new capabilities to Health industries advisory practice in Metropolitan New York

NEW YORK, September 14, 2009 – PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP announced today that it has considerably expanded its Health Industries Advisory Practice in the metropolitan New York area with the addition of eleven professionals across the payer, provider and pharmaceutical & life sciences sectors and enhanced capabilities in key areas including clinical informatics, supply chain management and comprehensive, end-to-end information technology services from design to implementation. 

The expansion is a reflection of significant growth in the New York market, the impact of anticipated health reform and the economic stimulus on health industry participants, as well as opportunities associated with convergence among the health sectors and among traditional and non-traditional healthcare organizations.

The new hires join PwC’s offices in the New York metropolitan region and bring a depth of experience in some of the most critical areas for organizations across the health continuum: 

Revenue Cycle Management

• Kenneth Sheridan joins as a director in the revenue cycle practice from Navigant Consulting.  Kenneth brings significant experience in revenue cycle design strategy, and will be working with hospitals and health systems on patient access and claims denial management, health information management and patient financial services.

Clinical Informatics and Healthcare Delivery

• John Geraghty joins as a director in the healthcare provider practice, most recently from Perot Systems.  John will be working with hospitals and health systems on process improvement in clinical, consulting and commercial ventures in both provider and vendor settings.  
• Tom Hagan joins as a director in PricewaterhouseCoopers’ newly established clinical informatics practice.  He comes most recently from Alere where he was an executive vice president in charge of clinical care management and healthcare improvement across integrated accounts.  Prior to that Tom was chief information officer at Paradigm Health before it was acquired by Alere.  Tom brings 15 years of information technology experience specializing in disease management operations and strategy.

Supply Chain Management

• Ellen Reilly joins as a managing director in PricewaterhouseCoopers’ pharmaceutical & life sciences practice from BearingPoint.  She brings 25 years of experience in industry and professional advisory services, and will be working with pharmaceutical and life sciences companies on managing their supply chain, particularly as the industry evolves beyond the blockbuster model to personalized medicine and specialist therapies.  She brings vast experience in business transformations, regulatory compliance and supply chain integration, both domestically and internationally.
• Eileen O’Donnell joins as a director in PricewaterhouseCoopers’ provider practice most recently from Nexera where she was the vice president of Operations and Technology Division.  She is an experienced healthcare supply chain executive and will work on supply chain consulting engagements, from system-wide assessments to implementation of specific cost-reduction and clinical process improvement strategies. 

Governance and Strategic Planning

• Cliff Bleustein, M.D., has been named as a director in the firm’s Healthcare Advisory Practice.  As a physician, he brings to the firm extensive clinical, surgical, and practice experience in hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, private practice offices, and nursing homes.  Prior to joining PricewaterhouseCoopers, he was an advisor to large pharmaceutical companies, a practicing urologist in New Jersey and assistant clinical professor of urology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine.    
• Franklin Campbell joins as a director in the firm’s Health Sciences practice and will focus on the critical strategic issues facing academic medical centers, including strategic and business planning, funds flow, and government for both the clinical and academic enterprises.  Prior to joining PricewaterhouseCoopers, he was a senior advisor for healthcare affairs at Temple University.  

Pharma/Life Science Business Information Technology Strategy

• Richard Burke joins as a director in the firm’s pharmaceutical & life sciences practice, coming most recently from BearingPoint.  He is a business and technology management professional with experience in planning and delivering global business applications and IT solutions for top pharmaceutical organizations. 
• Hemant Ramachandra joins the firm as a managing director in the pharmaceutical & life sciences practice, coming most recently from BearingPoint.  He brings experience in business and IS strategies, effectiveness and efficiency studies, development systems architecture, and systems integration, with specialization in Service Oriented Architecture and Business Process Management. 
• Steven Kahn joins as a director in the firm’s pharmaceutical & life sciences practice, coming most recently from BearingPoint.  He has over 36 years of systems development and IT operations experience.  His specific areas of experience include business and IT process improvement, business process management systems, hosting services, infrastructure procurement, and smart cards and biometrics.
• Maxim Duprat joins as a director in the firm’s pharmaceutical & life sciences practice, most recently from BearingPoint.  Maxim is a senior consulting practitioner with experience developing end-to-end customer centricity and marketing strategies for Life Sciences companies. 

“The health landscape is evolving rapidly, with structural change driven by rising costs, scientific and technological developments, and shifting business models,” said David Levy, M.D., Leader, New York Metropolitan Health Industries Practice, PricewaterhouseCoopers.  “Now more than ever, our clients need the strategic, operational and business advice that we provide to help them confront the changing landscape.  The addition of several top industry leaders, who bring a wealth of experience across the health sector, deepens our bench of talent at a critical time for clients.”

About PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Health Industries Group

 PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Health Industries Group serves as a catalyst for change and is the leading advisor to public and private organizations across the health continuum, including payers, providers, academic institutions, health sciences, biotech/medical devices, pharmaceutical companies and employers. With a distinctive approach that is collaborative, multi-disciplinary and multi-industry, PricewaterhouseCoopers draws from its broad perspective and capabilities across and beyond the health industries to help solve the array of emerging complex problems health organizations face, lead cultural and clinical transformation, and create a new sustainable model for care delivery that is quality-driven, patient-centered and technology-enabled.

PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Health Industries’ clients include 40 of the top 100 hospitals in the U.S. and 16 of the 18 best hospitals as ranked by US News & World Report; all 20 of the world’s major pharmaceutical companies; all of the top 20 commercial payers in the U.S.; municipal, state and federal government agencies and many of the world’s preeminent medical foundations and associations.

PricewaterhouseCoopers has a network of more than 4,000 professionals worldwide and 1,200 professionals in the U.S. dedicated to the health industries. Our health industries professionals include a cadre of physicians, nurses, ancillary health providers and some of the nation’s leading minds in medicine, science, information technology, operations, administration and health policy.

About PricewaterhouseCoopers
PricewaterhouseCoopers (www.pwc.com) provides industry-focused assurance, tax and advisory services to build public trust and enhance value for its clients and their stakeholders. More than 155,000 people in 153 countries across our network share their thinking, experience and solutions to develop fresh perspectives and practical advice.

“PricewaterhouseCoopers” refers to PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP or as the context requires, the PricewaterhouseCoopers global network of other member firms of the network, each of which is a separate and independent legal entity.