NC Healthcare Resource Centers
- Weight Management Registry
- Medication Management
- Health Insurance
- Employer Wellness
- Healthcare Quality
Wellness Promotion, Disease Awareness & Guidelines
For more information about these or any upcoming NCAHC initiative, please email us at: info@ncahc.org
Executive Leadership
President - Bess Ramey, CGC Account Manager, Southeast RBU North, Primary Care
Bess is a Senior Account Manager for the Corporate and Government Customers Division of Pfizer Inc. She has responsibility for the State of North Carolina. She has more than 22 years of pharmaceutical experience including sales and management positions. Bess is a native of North Carolina and received her BA degree in Biology from Wake Forest University. Bess currently resides McLeansville, NC.
President Elect - Beth Skinner, Senior Program Manager, Care Management Solutions
Beth Skinner, PharmD, RPh is Senior Program Manager, Care Management Solutions in the Payer Marketing Group at GlaxoSmithKline. In this capacity, she is team lead for the strategic development, implementation and design of customer solutions for medication adherence and respiratory disease management programs. Dr. Skinner has over eighteen years of pharmaceutical experience, including clinical trials research, sales, and disease management program development, implementation and marketing. Therapeutic area experience includes asthma, COPD, diabetes, depression, migraine, anesthesia, and STDs (HSV, HIV). Dr. Skinner is currently President-Elect for North Carolina Alliance for Healthy Communities (NCAHC) and is Co-chair of the DMAA Care Continuum Alliance - Medication Adherence Work Group. She is a speaker for the CBI and Pharmaceutical Executive's 9th Annual Patient Compliance, Adherence and Persistency conference. Dr. Skinner earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Pharmacy in 1991 and Doctor of Pharmacy degree in 1999 from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is a registered pharmacist in the State of North Carolina.
Immediate Past President - Joel Kostin, PhD
Joel Kostin is a Senior Account Executive with Magellan Health Systems. He is the 2007-2008 President of the North Carolina Alliance for Healthy Communities. Dr. Kostin has extensive experience in all aspects of the managed behavioral care industry. During his twenty-one year tenure with Magellan and its legacy companies, Dr. Kostin has held a number of positions including Senior Vice President for the Southeast Region of Merit Behavioral Care from 1996-1998. From 1991-1996, Dr. Kostin served as the General Manager of the North Carolina Regional Service Center with Medco Behavioral Care Corporation. He also served as New York Regional Vice President for AGCA Inc., from 1986-1991. Prior to working in the managed behavioral healthcare industry, Dr. Kostin was an independently licensed psychologist practicing in New York City. He received his BA in Psychology from Washington and Jefferson College in 1970 and was awarded a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the Graduate Facility of the New School for Social Research in New York City in 1979.
Secretary/Financial Committee - Peggy Fuqua Eidelman, RN, BSN, MHA, MBA
Peggy Fuqua Eidelman received a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in 1994. From her graduation in 1994 through 2000, she was employed by Forsyth Medical Center as a registered nurse, primarily in the Surgical Intermediate Care Unit. Since 1998, she has worked for Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina (BCBSNC), currently as a Quality Improvement Program Manager. In this role, she is responsible for developing disease specific programs for patients with certain debilitating conditions, such as: diabetes, heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, coronary artery disease, and hypertension. In 2006, while continuing her employment with BCBSNC, she graduated with a 4.0 from Pfeiffer University in North Carolina with a master's degree in business administration and a master's degree in health administration. During that time, she also traveled to and studied the healthcare system in Germany as it compared to that of the United States. Additionally while with this company, she has traveled to and explored the differing cultures in Austria, Spain, Italy, England, France, and Mexico. She has volunteered for the North Carolina Alliance for Healthy Communities for the past three years, predominantly with coordinating volunteer outreach programs with other non-profit organizations in North Carolina.
Members At Large
John R. Sutter
John is a Senior Regional Account Manager and Registered Lobbyist for the US Managed Markets division of Schering Plough. He has responsibility for the State of North Carolina. He has more than 25 years of pharmaceutical experience including management positions in California, Washington DC, and most recently North Carolina. He is a native of North Carolina and received his BA degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and his MBA degree from James Madison University. John currently resides in Chapel Hill.
Stokes Ann Hunt, RN,BA,CPHQ
Stokes Ann Hunt is a Quality Management Consultant with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina. She has greater than 20 years experience in healthcare quality. She has acute care, sub acute care, SNF/ICF, infection control and managed care experience. She is the past president of the North Carolina Association for HealthCare Quality and the founding president of the North Carolina Alliance for Healthy Communities. She supports her community by being an active board member of the Free Clinic of Reidsville and Rockingham County and the Annie Penn Hospital Foundation board.
Committee Chairs
Education Committee - Chris Shoffner
Chris M. Shoffner is Managing Partner of White Bear Group, a healthcare advisory firm that specializes in Value Based Benefit Design. After graduating from N.C. State University, Mr. Shoffner has spent his entire seventeen year professional career working with employers on wealth preservation and employee benefit strategies. For the last eight years, he has been focused specifically on flexible compensation and healthcare issues. Mr. Shoffner has conducted more than 200 educational sessions for CPAs, Insurance Professionals, Human Resource Professionals and Attorney’s across the US on health care related tax code and Plan Design Issues on behalf of National Association of Health Underwriters, Lorman Educational Services and SHRM.
Initiatives Committee - Paula Gately
Paula has spent her 26 year career in the healthcare field including 15 years with Baxter Healthcare where she held positions in finance, sales, marketing and account management as well as with the Zitter Group, a healthcare outcomes company. Since 1999, Paula has worked for Abbott Laboratories as a managed care account manager covering NC, VA and WVA. She has held leadership positions on Abbott's managed care Customer Marketing, Cholesterol and National Advisory boards. In 2001, she was recognized as Abbott's National Captain and also has received multiple Most Valuable Player Awards. In 2005, Paula served as president of the NC Alliance for Healthy Communities along with chairing the Educational & By-Laws committees. Currently, she is co-chair of the Initiatives Committee. She earned her MBA in Finance from the University of Miami at Coral Gables, Florida in 1981 and a BA in History from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas in 1979. She currently lives in Raleigh, NC with her husband, David, daughter Emily, three dogs and one cat.
Administrative Assistant
Amy Clapp
Amy has spent her 25-year career in office management, bookkeeping and administrative positions. Since 2004, Amy has worked part-time for the North Carolina Alliance for Healthy Communities as an Administrative Assistant. She currently lives in Greensboro, NC with her husband, Alan, and three children.
Past Presidents
2007-2008
Joel Kostin, PhD
Senior Account Executive
Magellan Health Services
jkostin@magellanhealth.com
2006
Betsy LaForge, MPH
Director, Healthcare Program Development, BCBSNC
betsy.laforge@bcbsnc.com
2005
Paula Gately
Managed Care Executive
Abbott Laboratories, Inc.
paula.gately@abbott.com
2004
Cindy Brenneman, RN, CQAUR
Director, Quality Improvement and Prevention, BCBSNC
cindy.brenneman@bcbsnc.com
2003
Julie Ann (TJ) Gouveia-Pisano
BSPharm, PharmD, BCPS
Clinical Education Consultant
Pfizer, Inc.
2002
Kathy C. Barfoot, RN, CPHQ, PAHM
Divisional Manager of Accreditation, South, UnitedHealthcare
2001
Stokes Ann Hunt, RN, BA, CPHQ
NC Association for Healthcare Quality and Quality Management Consultant
Blue Cross Blue Shield of NC