Cassandra Willis-Abner

Director of Service of Excellence
Regents of The University of Michigan

Cassandra Willis-Abner is the Corporate Director of Service Excellence and Assistant Hospital Director for Operations at the University of Michigan Health System. She is responsible for designing, implementing and directing transformational strategies to achieve ideal experiences for patient, family and employee stakeholder groups. Besides leading a department of internal performance consultants and skilled trainers, she is also responsible for Entrance Services and Hospital Communications and Information Services.

In her previous role as Director of Managed Care Operations, Cassandra was responsible for the operational and administrative activities associated with U of M’s Hospitals and Health Center’s managed care contractual agreements, representing over $650 million annually in professional and facility related charges. Cassandra led a department of four divisions: Enrollment Services, Provider Network Development, Referrals and Authorization Services and Training and Education.

Prior to joining UMHS, Cassandra led the claims processing, enrollment process, claims inquiry and coordination of benefits departments in a 120,000 member health plan. She has also been the senior leader for Medical Practices for an urban hospital system and has experience in Strategic Planning.

Cassandra is maize and blue through and through. She earned her Bachelors Degree (in Organization Psychology) from the University of Michigan and also her Masters Degree in Health Services Administration from UM’s School of Public Health.

She is on the board of several community based organizations in the metro Detroit area to include a Federally Qualified Community Health Center-- The Wellness Plan Health Centers, New Center Community Mental Health Services and Southfield Ravens Pop Warner Football and Cheer Association.

She is married to Lawrence Abner and is the mother of Jay (13) and Kelsey (11).

Check out the incredible speaker line-up to see who will be joining Cassandra.

Download The Latest Agenda

Day 2

Wednesday, March 12th, 2014

13:20 PX Leaders Interactive Roundtable Discussions

Table 1 : Leadership Accountability Best Practices

Moderator: Grace Ibe, Senior Director, Service Excellence and Culture Development, Dignity Health

Table 2: Using Patient Comments to Guide Improvement

Moderator: Jan Althouse, Patient Satisfaction Coordinator, Cook Children’s Healthcare System

Table 3: The Human Service Conundrum…How Far Do We Go?

Moderator: Sharon Parker, Director of Patient Advocacy, University of Hackensack Medical Center

Table 4: The Connection Between Patient Expectations And Satisfaction

Moderator: Julie Becker, DBA, RN, VP, Patient and Family Experience, Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare

Table 5: What You Need to Know About CG-CAHPS

Moderator: Susan Osborne, RN, MSN, MBA, VP Patient Experience, Piedmont Healthcare

Table 6: Improving Nurse Communication

Moderator: Megan King, Director, Patient Experience, Geisinger Health System

Table 7: Best Practice Use Of Lead Indicators To Achieve Rapid And Sustained PX Improvement

Moderator: Joel High, Performance Improvement Coach, TruthPoint

Table 8: Keeping Patients Engaged With Virtual Health Assistants

Moderator: Thomas Morrow, MD, Chief Medical Officer, NextIT

Table 9: Aromatherapy for the Clinical Setting: Reduce Anxiety and Improve Patient Satisfaction

Moderator: Caryn Gehlmann, Certified Clinical Aroma Therapist, Beekley Medical

Table 10: Translating Patient Data Into PX Improvements

Moderator: Cassandra Willis-Abner, Director, Service Excellence,University of Michigan Hospitals and Health Centers

Table 11: Translating Patient Experience Work For Your Staff

Moderator: Gregory Berney, MSW, Senior Manager, Patient Experience, Cone Health

14:30 Presentation: Creating Team Connections Through The Go Blue! Daily Huddle

An organization’s success depends on fully engaging employees and retaining high performers using consistent, transparent and open communication. Making meaningful connections with and across teams is a major factor in positive organizational culture. A

brief, daily gathering of teams is an extraordinary way to improve morale and engagement, reduce turnover, demonstrate transparency, establish ownership, facilitate interaction, and develop daily learning and problem solving opportunities. The Go Blue Daily Huddle serves as a tool to accelerate integration of daily conversations into units and across the health systems.

Objectives:

• Learn about UMHS’s Go Blue Daily Huddle

• Understand how this communication tool helps

improve Team Connections

• Simulate an actual huddle to see how easy it is