SilverSummit Healthplan Launches Medicaid Plan in Nevada and Introduces New Executive Leadership Team
Date: 05/22/17
LAS VEGAS/RENO, Nev. – SilverSummit Healthplan announced today new healthcare services to Nevada Medicaid and Nevada Check Up members in Clark and Washoe counties beginning July 1, 2017. In addition, SilverSummit has announced its new Nevada executive leadership team: President and CEO Garrett Leaf; Chief Medical Director Tanya Phares; and Vice President of Operations Tina Alicea.
In his new role, Leaf will oversee the managed care organization that provides health insurance to Nevada residents. SilverSummit exists to improve the health of its members through focused, compassionate and coordinated care. Leaf joined SilverSummit’s parent company, Centene, in 2014 as senior vice president of Finance for the company’s California health plan. Prior to joining Centene, he served as vice president of Enterprise Operations at Delta Dental of California, where he was the lead executive responsible for the administration of the California Dental Medicaid (Denti-Cal) Program and later led nationwide claims processing for Delta Dental. Leaf earned his bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from California State University, Chico, and was a board member of the California Capital Region chapter of the United Way.
Dr. Phares was named Chief Medical Director for SilverSummit Healthplan. In her role as Chief Medical Director, she will oversee medical affairs and provide leadership on clinical policy, programs, and quality improvement. Dr. Phares received a bachelor of arts in Anthropology from California State University, Long Beach. She completed an MPH at Tulane School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine, in New Orleans, Louisiana, and a public health fellowship at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia. She received her medical degree from Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona, California, and completed residencies in Internal Medicine at the University of California in Irvine and in Preventive Medicine with the California Department of Public Health. She is board certified in General Preventive Medicine & Public Health, and Internal Medicine and a fellow of both the American College of Physicians and American College of Preventive Medicine. She is certified in travel medicine by the International Society of Travel Medicine, and is a certified physician executive through the American Association for Physician Leadership.
Dr. Phares serves on the Prevention Practice Committee for the American College of Preventive Medicine and on the Public Health Commission for Washoe County Medical Society. She also serves as an attending physician in Internal Medicine at the University of Nevada, Reno, School of Medicine. She previously served as medical director for the post-hospital follow-up program at Renown Health. Prior to that she was founder and medical director for a travel medicine & immunization clinic in Reno, and has worked as a hospitalist and primary care physician in the Reno area.
Vice President of Operations, Alicea, served in 2012 as the CEO of FirstMed, a Las Vegas Federally Qualified Health Center, where she established compliance policy and procedures while developing a collaborative footprint for growth within Clark County between private and public businesses, as well as state and local government agencies. Since then, she was the founder and CEO of First Person Care Clinics, Nevada’s first FQHC-LAL, which has three locations in downtown Las Vegas and offers primary care, dental care, as well as a school-based clinic at Valley High School. She also was the president of International Aircraft Support Group, Inc., a defense department licensed contractor. She had sold this business to start Think Big Biz, a consulting firm specializing in the design and implementation of strategic business models through management efficiency, technology, revenue cycle management, and marketing. Alicea earned an MBA, specializing in both the Management and Operations with Advertising and Marketing emphases, from Keller Graduate School of Management in Chicago. She obtained this after receiving her bachelor of arts degree with a major in English and minors in Business and Political Science from Marquette University in Milwaukee.
"We are pleased to bring SilverSummit to Nevada and deliver on our purpose of transforming the health of our communities, one person at a time,” Leaf said.
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About SilverSummit Healthplan
SilverSummit Healthplan (SilverSummit) is a managed care plan that provides health insurance to the people of Nevada. Established in 2017, SilverSummit exists to improve the health of its members through focused, compassionate and coordinated care. SilverSummit is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Centene Corporation, a diversified, multi-national healthcare enterprise. For more information, visit www.silversummithealthplan.comExternal Link.