Episode 289: Using Technology as a Lever w/ Jeanne de Vries Sands

Dive into the dynamic world of business transformation with Jeanne de Vries Sands, the Chief Information Officer for Summit BHC. With over 20 years of experience, Jeanne is an inspiring leader who blends technology with customer expectations to deliver optimal solutions at scale. Jeanne’s extensive background spans various healthcare, payer, administrative, technology, and specialty business models and software. Tune in to hear how she leverages partnerships both inside and outside the company to drive innovation and achieve transformative results.

Bio: Jeanne de Vries Sands is a healthcare executive who has spent over 20 years solving complex problems through partnerships at healthcare providers, payers, and systems across the country.  Jeanne has led both large and small technology teams, quickly delivering solutions that solve crucial and important healthcare challenges. 

Jeanne is the Chief Information Officer at Summit Behavioral Healthcare (SBHC), a national leader in providing inpatient mental health and substance use disorder treatment across the United States.  Headquartered in Franklin, Tennessee, and founded in 2013, SBHC provides care to thousands of patients every day at their 37 inpatient hospitals across 20 states.  Jeanne joined SBHC in 2022 as their first CIO and in 2023 implemented across the organization a singular Electronic Health Record to increase clinician satisfaction, enable data driven care, promote operational efficiencies and most importantly to support Summit BHC’s mission of “Improving the Lives We Touch”.

Prior to and during the COVID pandemic, Jeanne led the digital experience for a $10B integrated delivery system, aligning the company’s strategy with a roadmap that identified short- and long-term opportunities.  These efforts resulted in a TeleHealth presence prior to COVID, tens of millions of dollars in revenue delivered during the pandemic, and almost $2M in external grants to further support these efforts.  Jeanne is an advocate for meaningful change in healthcare and she views technology as a key differentiator and accelerator in this adoption journey.

Jeanne’s Something Extra: “I think for me, Lisa, it’s all about passion.”

Guest Links:

– Lisa Nichols, Host
– Jenny Heal, Executive Producer
– Joe Szynkowski and Landon Burke, Marketing Support
– Portside Media, Podcast Engineer

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