CPAN: (Community Oncology Alliance Patient Advocacy Network)
COA: (Community Oncology Alliance)
Rose B. Gerber, Director of Patient Advocacy/9 Year Breast Cancer Survivor
Community Oncology Alliance, Washington, DC
Rick Frame, Medical Chairman CPAN
Dr. Frame had early exposure to medicine through his father, Dr. Boy Frame. It was through patient telephone calls that Dr. Frame received his first education in how to talk to difficult, sick and challenging patients, a lesson he never forgot. After completing his undergraduate degree at Kalamazoo College, Dr. Frame trained for medical school at Wayne State University in Detroit. After graduating medical school as the youngest in his class, Dr. Richard Frame trained at Henry Ford Hospital under the guidance and direction of his father for four years, the last as Chief Resident.
It was on his first rotation in his internship where Dr. Frame served on the Oncology ward. It was there that he developed an interest and passion in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer patients. Dr. Frame gravitated to and thrived on helping complex and challenging cancer patients and their families.After Internship Residency and Chief Residency, Dr. Frame moved to Salt Lake City where he received his Oncology Fellowship at the University of Utah in 1987. Outdoor activities of skiing, fishing, rock climbing and motorcycle riding were also part of his decision.
During his professional career, Dr. Frame has worked in several Oncology practices in and around Salt Lake City. It was there that his passion for helping cancer patients both in and out of the office developed. Dr. Frame served as President of the American Cancer Society, Utah Division for two years. His primary emphasis during that time was in patient services such as Cancer Support Groups, Road to Recovery and Look-Good Feel-Better programs.
Dr. Frame was the first physician in Utah to participate with a men’s cancer fishing retreat called Reel Recovery. Two or three times a year, Dr. Frame and other doctors from his practice take a dozen men cancer patients fly fishing at a retreat in Central Utah. During these retreats, men have an opportunity to share their feelings and open up in ways that are not always possible in an exam room. While some would say it is just another excuse for Dr. Frame to go fishing, many of the men who returned from these retreats say it was the best experience of their lives! Dr. Frame has been with Utah Cancer Specialists in Salt Lake City, Utah since 2002, where he serves as a practice partner. Dr. Frame was a founding member of the Men’s Cancer Support Group at Utah Cancer Specialists. Dr. Frame served medical missions with primary focus on cancer patient care in Australia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
He was invited to serve on the Community Oncology Alliance Board of Directors in 2007. There, Dr. Frame was chosen as the medical chair person for CPAN (Community Oncology Alliance Patient Advocacy Network). Here Dr. Frame is taking his patient advocacy experience to the next level. He hopes to educate patients and their community oncology cancer practices about the severe challenges ahead for all those concerned about cancer care. His primary focus is to provide as much cancer treatment for all cancer patients as possible.
Bo Gamble, COA Director of Strategic Practice Initiatives
Prior to his current role as COA’s Director of Strategic Practice Initiatives, Bo served as the Practice Administrator at Southeastern Medical Oncology Center in Goldsboro NC for 13 years. Bo’s healthcare roots include being a male orderly in a Western NC hospital, middle management in two different hospitals, Director of Client Services for a hospital IT company and a few years as an independent consultant. He has been in healthcare for 30 years with the last 13 being in cancer care. Bo believes that cancer care must be a “calling” and he cannot imagine doing anything else. Hobbies include running, bike riding, hanging out at the beach and playing with his grandkids.
Mary Kruczynski, Director of Policy Analysis, COA
Mary Kruczynski has over thirty years of broad-based general management experience encompassing a number of areas from engineering to medicine. Because of her unique skill set, Mary Kruczynski is often tasked with the challenges left unmet by others. Mary Kruczynski is experienced in inside sales, small business start-up, advices on how best to bring a new drug to market, insurance contract negotiations, legislative affairs and public policy, reimbursement, administrative functions, leasehold improvements and relocation, public speaking, medical practice consulting, federal healthcare policy analysis and commentary, broad scale lobby/rally organization, professional medical conference coordination, liaison to government agencies tasked with implementing and monitoring federal policy, fund raising, and major initiative launches within the community oncology at large. Mary Kruczynski’s responsibilities have included the total revamping of a number of medical billing offices, initiation and incorporation of other practices into one entity, office automation, establishment of internal protocols for charge capture and reimbursement and educational teaching seminars for staff and patients. Mary Kruczynski is the Director of Policy Analysis and sits on the Board of Directors of Community Oncology Alliance, a grassroots advocacy group for the preservation of community cancer care, provides input to a number of pharmaceutical and consultant advisory boards, program advisor and faculty presenter for Reed Elsevier and Innovative Medical, accredited by The Stanford University School of Medicine and has contributed to numerous publications, including Oncologistics Magazine, Community Oncology Journal, Oncobiz, Oncology Issues, and CR Magazine.
Ted Okon, Executive Director, COA
Mr. Okon began his career in the health care industry more than 25 years ago, working for several major companies, including Warner-Lambert/Parke Davis (now part of Pfizer), Merck, and IMS America, in a variety of marketing and management positions. His interest in developing more accurate and practical health care information led him to co-found Medical Marketing Group, Inc. (MMG), a company that pioneered the use of sophisticated databases to provide utilization patterns on prescription pharmaceuticals. Subsequently majority owned by Medco Containment Services, a leading drug benefit manager, MMG was instrumental in helping Medco change its passive drug-distribution business to a value-added, cost-containment model.
Mr. Okon’s experience with the practice of oncology led to initiatives exploring the application of information technology to improve how information is collected from and provided to patients at the point of care. He also developed new disease management approaches and contributed to a new model for clinical research in cancer. In collaboration with Dr. Lee Schwartzberg and Dr. Kurt Tauer, both oncologists, Mr. Okon founded 2 companies, Supportive Oncology Services, Inc. (SOS), and Accelerated Community Oncology Research Network, Inc. (ACORN). He has served as CEO of both companies.
Mr. Okon has first-hand experience with cancer care delivery systems throughout the world. He has traveled extensively to the United Kingdom, India, China, Singapore, and the Middle East to understand their existing cancer care delivery systems and to assess opportunities for bringing American cancer care and oncology clinic operations to those parts of the world.
Mr. Okon currently serves as Executive Director of the Community Oncology Alliance (COA), a nonprofit organization whose mission is to protect and foster the community-based delivery of oncology services. Founded by community oncologists to advocate for patients and providers in the community oncology setting, COA is currently working to strengthen the nation’s cancer care delivery system and patients’ access to quality, affordable cancer care.
Mr. Okon frequently addresses professional audiences interested in understanding the trends in oncology, especially relating to reimbursement issues, politics, and public policy. He regularly meets with members of Congress and other policy makers on health care and cancer care delivery issues. He is the author of numerous articles on clinical and reimbursement issues in cancer.