Mark Andrew Casanova, MD, FAAHPM
Hospice and Palliative Medicine
Baylor Scott & White Health

Shannon Huggins (Moderator)
Senior Vice President, Contract Strategy and Population Health
Methodist Health System

Jerri A. Locke
Director of Healthy Aging
Methodist Health System, Dallas

Niki D. Shah, MHSA, MBA, CCHW
Vice President of Community Health
Baylor Scott & White Health

Paula Turicchi, FACHE
Chief Strategy Officer
Parkland Community Health Plan

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Speakers Bios:

Dr. Mark Andrew Casanova has completed board certification in Internal Medicine and Palliative Medicine. He graduated from Internal Medicine residency training in 2003, at which time he became involved with the clinical ethics consultation service at Baylor University Medical Center (BUMC), and has provided numerous clinical ethics consultations since then. In 2004, he and a team established the BUMC Palliative Care Consultation Service. Now known as the Supportive and Palliative Care Service, the team was recognized for excellence by the American Hospital Association with a Circle of Life Citation of Honor in 2007. In 2011 Dr. Casanova took over responsibility as the Chairman of the Supportive and Palliative Care and the Institutional Ethics Committee at BUMC. In 2011 the BUMC Supportive and Palliative Care Service became the first palliative care program in Texas and one of the first 10 in the country to become Joint Commission certified. He continues to maintain a component of his general Internal Medicine practice. Dr. Casanova lectures on issues related to clinical ethics and palliative medicine, and has also lobbied the Texas state legislature on similar topics, on behalf of the field of medicine and patients.  Additionally, Dr. Casanova enjoys involvement with organized medicine, to include being the 2020 president of the Dallas County Medical Society, as well as serving on multiple councils and committees of the Texas Medical Association. Most recently, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Casanova had served on a variety of advisory committees, including at the Dallas County level, up to the State level, serving on the TMA COVID-19 Taskforce.

Shannon Huggins is currently Senior Vice President, Contract Strategy and Population Health for Methodist Health System. She began with Methodist in 2002 and has responsibilities for non-governmental payor contracting and relations on behalf of Methodist facilities, joint venture organizations, transplantation services, Accountable Care Organization / CIN and physician groups.  Additionally she has operational responsibilities for the population health services.   She also oversees the bundled payment projects within Methodist Health System.  Shannon has designed and implemented contracting and pricing strategies for Methodist.  MPCACO has successfully achieved for Medicare over $100 million in savings for the 8 years in participating in this program – an achievement only 14 other ACOs across the nation also have.  The ACO also performed in the top quartile of ACOs who achieved savings in quality metrics.

Shannon has over 29 years of experience in contracting, payor relations, population health, financial analysis and decision support.  Prior to Methodist, Shannon served in several roles at Baylor All Saints (formerly All Saints Health System) in Ft. Worth and various roles in a profit hospital organization. She has served on various civic boards and is currently President of the Alumni Association for her alma mater the University of the Ozarks.  Civically, she was selected to be in Leadership Dallas class of 2014.  Also, Shannon currently serves on several Board of Directors as a representative for Methodist Health System.  She earned her BS in Marketing/Finance from University of the Ozarks and her MS in HealthCare Administration from Texas Woman’s University.

Jerri A. Locke currently serves as the director of Healthy Aging at Methodist Health System in Dallas, a position she has held for more than 20 years. Her career includes teaching elementary school, sales and marketing at AT&T, working with individuals with disabilities, all which provided the foundation for her current position with Methodist.

During her tenure at Methodist Health System, she has used the opportunity to improve the health and welfare of the older adults in the community by offering a wide variety of programs. The goal of all programs is to keep the older adults engaged, educated, and connecting with others.

Rather than view the pandemic as a barrier, the Methodist Generations members have had access to 30 -40 different programs each month all via Zoom. Classes have ranged from drawing to organizing to health and education presentations.

She recently presented at the National Council on Aging on “Isolation is Killing our Older Adults” and “Staying Relevant in a Changing Aging World”. 

Jerri is continually looking for ways to increase the number of participants by finding unique topics and services of interest to the members. Within the next five years, she hopes to find new partners to enhance the mission of the healthcare system, embracing the goals of the ACA, and recognizing the challenges of a quickly growing aging society as the Baby Boomers age.

Niki D. Shah, MHSA, MBA, CCHW, is the Vice President of Community Health at Baylor Scott & White Health.  Niki is an experienced healthcare executive with the passion, ambition and skills to transform communities and improve outcomes through innovation, partnerships, strategic development and focused execution.

Paula Turicchi, FACHE is the Chief Strategy Officer at Parkland Community Health Plan.

Parkland Community Health Plan offers Medicaid (STAR/CHIP) managed care to more than 200,000 members in a seven-county area in and around Dallas.  In her role, Paula strives to make a difference for patients and their families by strengthening the business of the organization through processes, systems, partnerships, and new ventures. She has a passion for finding innovative ways to eliminate barriers to care, including financial, language, health literacy, and housing challenges.  She has more than 30 years of experience in the healthcare industry and previously served as the vice president of hospital operations and administrator of Women and Infant’s Specialty Health (WISH) at Parkland Health & Hospital System, where she oversaw operations for one of the largest maternity services in the United States. In addition, Paula was instrumental in the design and construction of the new Parkland Hospital facility and the Moody Center for Breast Health. Paula was a 2018 Texas Hospital Association Leadership Fellow and has co-authored several journal articles in collaboration with UT Southwestern physicians. She is board certified in healthcare administration by the American College of Healthcare Executives and holds a Master of Healthcare Administration from Trinity University and a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Arkansas.

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