“Healthcare must reinvent itself by realigning industry incentives to promote health and wellness,” states Kathryn Whitmore, healthcare industry expert and analytics thought leader working with Dresner Advisory Services. “We must shift from a model based on volumes, treating as many sick patients as possible, to a model of value, helping consumers remain healthy and engaged in their health yet providing them the highest quality of care when needed.  Analytics enabled by BI tools is necessary to achieve this industry transformation.”

“EHRs: Passing the Crossroads, Driving Toward Mass Acceptance” by Mark R. Smith, Editor-in-Chief, Business Monthly, March 2014.  STS Consulting Group, LLC's Kathryn Whitmore contributed insights to Mark R. Smith's article on the next steps in the adoption of electronic health records in Maryland. Consumer engagement and privacy are topics explored in this era of emerging digital health. 


Kathryn is joined in the article by expert comments from CRISP (Chesapeake Regional Information System for Our Patients) health information exchange vice president of operations Daniel Wilt, Debra Roper, director of ambulatory information systems at Anne Arundel Medical Center, Dr. Steven Daviss, chief medical information officer at M3 mental health information technology company, and Michaael McNees, president of Syndicus Inc.   

News and Events

Telemedicine Reimbursement Becomes a Reality in Maryland - Making Maryland just the 13th state in the nation to pass similar legislation, Governor Martin O’Malley signed the telemedicine bills (HB1149 and SB781) into law on May 22, 2012 after unanimous approval by the Legislature mandating that health insurers pay for telemedicine services beginning in October 2012.  Stated Delegate Susan C. Lee, District 16, one of the bill sponsors and a participant in Maryland HIMSS HIT Day 2012, “Now physicians can be reimbursed for vital health care services delivered through telemedicine, thereby allowing lifesaving services to be provided to patients in rural, remote, or underserved communities or in critical care or emergency situations such as trauma, cardiac arrest or stroke - when minutes matter."  Sponsor and Senator Catherine E. Pugh, District 40 Baltimore City, noted “I am grateful to be a part of such life changing legislation.”

Cleveland Clinic and STS Consulting Group Present to C&BI - Christopher J. Donovan, Executive Director of Enterprise Information Management and Analytics for Cleveland Clinic, and Kathryn A. Whitmore, STS Consulting Group, LLC CEO and Founder, share how Cleveland Clinic is empowering with data at the HIMSS Clinical & Business Intelligence Community of Practice on July 25, 2013.  The special presentation on "Enterprise Business Intelligence: Empowering with Data to Enable Transformation" shared how an EBI program operationalizes performance management by creating a hands-on, evidence-based culture that drives continuous innovation. The keys to successfully transform your business by empowering with data are explored.

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Kathryn Whitmore Continues Redefining how Healthcare Governs Data Assets - Continuing to provide thought leadership and healthcare stakeholder alignment on the concept of data governance, STS Consulting Group CEO and Founder, Kathryn A. Whitmore, continues to lead the transformation of how healthcare leverages data assets. She is adding value in client engagements through strategy and advisory services designed to coach organizations on how to approach data as a high value asset such as cash or supplies.


No other organizational asset is lacking an enterprise approach to managing and tracking the location and use of it across the organization. This concept is key to the healthcare transformation from a volume based model to a value based model. Kathryn predicts that organizations which embrace and learn how to apply the discipline of an organized life cycle to manage information assets across the enterprise will lead the population health management toward value and quality of care for our patients.


Governor O’Malley signs bills with sponsors Delegate Lee (Governor’s right) and Senator Pugh (Governor’s left) as well as other advocates including AHA’s Jennifer Witten (behind Governor) and Maryland Chapter of HIMSS Board Member and Advocacy Chair Kathryn Whitmore (far right).

HealthCXO Publishes Article on Cleveland Clinic Leveraging Data - Key Points are published by HealthCXO from the recent presentation by Christopher J. Donovan, Executive Director of Enterprise Information Management and Analytics at Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio, and Kathryn A. Whitmore, CEO and Founder of STS Consulting Group, an analytics and technology solutions provider based in Sparks, Maryland, at the recent 2013 HIMSS Conference and Exhibition in New Orleans, Louisiana.


"Data governance and discipline are keys to building a modern, maximally efficient enterprise business intelligence (EBI) platform for health care. The actual technology must be secondary to the organizational activities that go into building an EBI platform designed to serve the business information needs of the organization. The data, not the technology, should be the point of control."

Physicians Discuss Telemedicine Use and Reimbursement in Maryland - Kathryn A. Whitmore, STS Consulting Group, LLC CEO and Founder, presented on the ‘Maryland Telemedicine Law and Physician Impact’ at the Annual Meeting of the Maryland Association of Osteopathic Physicians held at the Gaylord Hotel in National Harbor, Maryland on December 5-8, 2012. She facilitated an Innovations Panel Discussion including: George Bone, MD, Internal Medicine, Practitioner, Entrepreneur, and Owner, Integral Health Care, Inc.; Mary Fuska, Telehealth Operations Manager, Children’s National Medical Center; Rajender Gattu, MD, Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, University of Maryland Medical Center; and Lillian Somner, DO, Psychiatric Services for Virginia Health and Wellness Center in Aldie and Amen Clinic in Reston, Virginia.

HIMSS Presents at CHIME StateNet Community - Kathryn Whitmore presented to the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) StateNet Community on behalf of the advocacy activities of the Maryland Chapter of HIMSS.  The presentation entitled “Navigating the Maze: Advocating for Health IT in the Statehouse” provided a Maryland update to national StateNet Community Webinar program participants.

Make your HIT voice heard on Capitol Hill - Please join the Maryland Chapter of HIMSS and STS Consulting Group, LLC at the Annual National Health IT Week being held in Washington DC. Join the Policy Summit where policy meets action ... and you can tell your story to federal policymakers.  Public and private healthcare constituents work in partnership to educate industry and policy stakeholders on the value of health IT. With Meaningful Use now providing the way forward in the adoption of electronic health records, there is no better time for the health IT community to come together under one umbrella to raise national awareness! One voice. One vision.

Kathryn Whitmore Moderates for Alegent Health at Annual HIMSS Conference - Kathryn Whitmore served as moderator for Alegent Health's presentation entitled "An Enterprise Intelligence Journey: Strategic Transformation from Data to Action" at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) Annual Conference and Exhibition held in Las Vegas.  Dr. James C. Reichert, Enterprise Intelligence Leader, and Duane T. Carbullido, IT Operations Director for Enterprise Intelligence and eHealth, presented how Enterprise Intelligence is an operational center of excellence at Alegent Health and leverages data as an enterprise asset enabling transformational change and strategic imperative fulfillment.  

The presentation was selected to be designated as a CHIME (College of Healthcare Information Management Executives) educational session as well as to be streamed live to a virtual audience as part of the Virtual HIMSS12 pilot.  Kathryn Whitmore has partnered with Alegent Health for several years and assisted them with their initial Enterprise Intelligence Roadmap as well as providing advisory services on their implementation and transformation initiatives.

“For the Electronic Health Record: Crowd Swelling Around EHR Bandwagon” by Mark R. Smith, Editor-in-Chief, Business Monthly, March 2012.  STS Consulting Group, LLC's Kathryn Whitmore contributed insights to Mark R. Smith's article on the adoption of electronic health records in Maryland along with expert comments from Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, secretary of the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, CRISP (Chesapeake Regional Information System for Our Patients) health information exchange President David Horrocks, Jessica Kahn, technical director of health IT for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in Baltimore, and Mike McNees, president of Syndicus Inc.

Cleveland Clinic Shares Insights on EBI Program at Health TechNet - A recent Health TechNet meeting addressed questions regarding data such as:  "How can data be translated into useful information?" and "What do we do with all this data we have now captured?"  Among others, the meeting featured Michael Zuschin, a Director in Cleveland Clinic's Enterprise Business Intelligence (EBI) Program.  He presented an overview of the implementation of the EBI Program as well as real examples of how data is being translated into useful information to improve quality and reduce cost.  Mike was introduced by STS Consulting Group, LLC CEO and EBI consulting partner, Kathryn Whitmore.

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Kathryn Whitmore Presents at the AMGA Annual Conference -  Kathryn Whitmore presented with Christopher Donovan, Executive Director of Enterprise Information Management and Analytics, Cleveland Clinic, at the American Medical Group Association (AMGA) Annual Conference in Las Vegas.  The ‘Learning from the Best’ conference theme was addressed by their presentation on “Enterprise Business Intelligence” (EBI)  that explored the strategy and lessons learned at Cleveland Clinic in designing and implementing an automated data warehouse as the foundation for dashboards utilized across the enterprise.  The presentation was the first of a two-part series with the second part presented by A. Marc Harrison, M.D., M.M.M., Vice Chair, Professional Staff Affairs and Director, Medical Operations for Cleveland Clinic in conjunction with Andrew W. Proctor, MS, Administrative Director, Medical Operations.

Kathryn A. Whitmore Interviews with Health Data Management on Population Health - STS Consulting Group CEO and Founder interviews with Joseph Geodert on the Phillips acquisition of population health software vendor Wellcentive. The industry is in a time of flux and more acquisition and consolidation is expected.  In the article published by Health Data Management, Kathryn likes the early signs of the merger.


“Given Wellcentive’s leadership in population health management tools and Philips’ global reach in patient-focused healthcare technologies, I think they will mesh well and rapidly gain market share assisting health systems in transitioning to value-based quality of care models,” she notes. “Connecting the consumer by smartphone to contribute to this information hub in the cloud is a critical success factor improving an individual’s health and a largely untapped source of information in the journey toward population health and value-based care.”




Kathryn Whitmore Collaborates with Howard Dresner on Healthcare Analytics - In conjunction with the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society Conference (HIMSS14), Dresner Advisory Services announced that the Wisdom of Crowds® Business Intelligence Market Study will explore the unique Business Intelligence (BI) needs of the healthcare industry. “We’re very excited to expand our annual survey to provide an in-depth look at BI usage and trends within the rapidly changing healthcare industry,” said Howard Dresner, founder and chief research officer at Dresner Advisory Services. ​​

Kathryn Whitmore Jointly Receives TDWI Award with Cleveland Clinic - Kathryn Whitmore jointly received The Data Warehousing Institute (TDWI) 2011 Best Practices Award with Cleveland Clinic, as their solutions partner, for their innovation in  Performance Management. Ms. Whitmore, a nationally recognized thought leader in Enterprise Business Intelligence (EBI), accepted the award on behalf of STS Consulting Group with Christopher Donovan, Executive Director EBI and Fiscal Services for Cleveland Clinic. The Best Practices Awards winners were honored at the TDWI World Conference in San Diego at the Manchester Grand Hyatt Hotel.


TDWI's Best Practice Awards program is designed to identify and honor companies that have demonstrated excellence in developing, deploying, and maintaining BI and DW applications.  “As a thought leader in the business intelligence space, TDWI is pleased to honor forward-thinking organizations that have developed and implemented innovative solutions,” said Richard Zbylut, president of TDWI. “This year’s Best Practices Awards winners showcase the best work being done in our industry, and TDWI is happy to help share that work with a broader audience.”

Kathryn Whitmore is Recognized as National HIMSS Advocate of the Year - During the 11th Annual Public Policy Breakfast at HIMSS13, the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society awards Kathryn Whitmore, Advocacy Chair of the HIMSS Maryland Chapter Board, as Chapter Advocate of the Year.


Kathryn was recognized for demonstrating exceptional leadership in advocating for health information technology (HIT) within her state. Kathryn has led the charge in planning and executing  State HIT Advocacy Days in Maryland which has brought advocacy to the forefront of her Chapter’s priorities.  She continues to lead the way in building relationships with the state legislature for the advancement of HIT as an enabler to healthcare industry transformation.

Kathryn Whitmore and Cleveland Clinic Present at Annual HIMSS Conference  - Kathryn Whitmore participated in a presentation with Cleveland Clinic at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) Annual Conference and Exhibition in Chicago entitled Enterprise Business Intelligence: What’s “Powering” Your Dashboard?.  Christopher Donovan, Executive Director of Enterprise Information Management and Analytics, Cleveland Clinic, shared the history and evolution of their Enterprise Business Intelligence (EBI) Program as he presented the strategy and lessons learned in creating a trusted enterprise information resource to facilitate performance management excellence.  Cleveland Clinic’s EBI Program is the emerging gold standard in healthcare.  Ms. Whitmore has consulted on EBI Program strategy and design for years providing expertise in shaping this conceptual performance management and cultural transformation model emerging in healthcare. 

Kathryn Whitmore Moderates for Catholic Health Initiatives at HIMSS14 - Kathryn Whitmore, CEO and Founder of STS Consulting Group, serves as moderator for CHI's presentation entitled Bronco Buster's: Making eMeasures Work at the HIMSS14 Annual Conference and Exhibition held in Orlando, Florida on February 23-27, 2014.  Ann Shepard, RN-BC, MSN, vice president and national chief nursing informatics officer for CHI presented along with James Kouba, senior consultant and chief solutions architect for Encore Health Resources in Houston, Texas. Kathryn Whitmore is expert on Enterprise Intelligence roadmaps and governance initiatives.