By Nick Dmitrovich
To provide a greater range of professional services to support the six pillars of NAOHP, Ryan Associates, which is the consulting arm of the association, has recently added three new experts to its roster of consultants. Dr. Lawrence Earl will be serving as the organization’s urgent care consultant as well as specializing in DOT, provider training, and clinical operations. Dr. Stewart Levy will consult on matters of population health and employer contracting. Mike Polich, MS, MBA, FNP-BC, will be replacing Roy Gerber as the new primary point of contact for consulting. Roy Gerber, who has been Ryan Associates’ point-person for consulting services for many years, is retiring and looking forward to spending more time with his family and traveling.
NAOHP and Ryan Associates expressed their appreciation for Gerber’s dedication to the two organizations and welcomed Michael Polich in taking on his new role. All three of the new consultants bring diverse and extensive backgrounds in healthcare to NAOHP, and each will be serving to support specific aspects of the association’s six primary areas of focus. Over the past few weeks, Visions had the opportunity to learn about the histories of each new consultant. Here’s a look at each consultant’s realm of expertise:
Mike Polich, MS,
MBA, FNP-BC is a Board Certified Family Nurse Practitioner through ANCC (American Nurses Credentialing Center). He has been a nurse since 1989, a Nurse Practitioner since 1999, and obtained his MBA with a focus in health care in 2011. “NAOHP is a great organization for professionals involved in occupational health. It’s an organization designed to bring people together in this ever-changing business. NAOHP offers valuable and relevant information as well as insight on all aspects of occupational health to help others achieve success.”
Polich’s scope of practice encompasses health promotion, disease prevention, diagnosis, and management of common and complex medical problems. He has a wide range of clinical experience, including family practice; urgent care; general neurology, including past certification as a Multiple Sclerosis nurse; infectious disease; retail medicine; telemedicine; and occupational and employee health. He also has extensive experience with inpatient and long-term acute care hospital rounding for patients with neurological and infectious disease disorders. Polich has been involved in occupational medicine and employee health since 2005, as well as serving as an internal clinic auditor at his previous employer for their I.S.O. certification (International Organization for Standardization) and NAOHP certification. He is involved in policy and procedure development, workflows, and general clinic standardization.
In addition to clinical experience, Polich has also conducted numerous lectures for a pharmaceutical company on migraine headaches, as well as other lectures on general health and wellness. He also achieved a certificate of training in Lean Six Sigma in 2017 and has extensive experience in quality medical documentation chart reviews.
Stewart Levy, R.Ph. slevy@naohp.com
Stewart Levy, R.Ph. is the president and founder of HealthWell Solutions, a consulting and solutions provider focused on evidence-based solutions for the prevention, detection, and management of chronic diseases. Clients include major Fortune 500 employers, insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, retail chains/clinics, business coalitions, medical fitness centers, technology firms, and health promotion organizations. “As healthcare continues to evolve to value-based care and shared savings financial models, NAOHP/ Ryan Associates is well positioned to support these innovative healthcare delivery platforms. As an example, NAOHP is expanding its consulting services to include population health and wellness to its hospital systems, clinics, and occupational health practitioners.”
Levy’s 28-year healthcare career includes senior-level sales and marketing positions in the pharmaceutical industry, including Novo Nordisk and Merck. He then became the Senior VP of Business Development with Impact Health, a national health promotion organization prior to founding HealthWell Solutions. He has published a number of articles with the American Diabetes Association and American Heart Association on the impact of evidence-based wellness programs to support the health of employee populations. Levy has served as a consultant with Health and Human Services to support Building Healthier Communities for chronic disease prevention initiatives.
In addition, Stewart has been a consultant with the Convenient Care Association for its retail clinic members, and NEBGH North-east Business Group on Health to support its employer members on its education committee. He also serves on the National Association of Occupational Health Board and the Medical Fitness Association Outcomes Committee. Stewart Levy has a Bachelor of Science in pharmacy from the University of Wisconsin and is a licensed pharmacist. He completed an MBA in marketing from Fairleigh Dickinson University.
Lawrence Earl, MD learl@naohp.com
Lawrence Earl, MD is a seasoned physician executive with over 30 years of experience owning and operating urgent care and occupational medicine centers. “There’s no other organization I know of that has the scope of resources spanning the occupational medicine world from concept and implementation of occupational medical programs to marketing and sales, quality assurance, financial analysis, and management, and everything in between.”Previously he served as COO and CMO of ASAP Urgent Care, a startup urgent care organization with four centers in the New Haven, CT area. Before ASAP, he owned and operated Immediate Medical Care Centers (IMCC) for 17 years, providing urgent care, occupational medicine, corporate clinics, DOT clinics, and other employer-based services in northern New Jersey. This group was sold to Concentra in 2010, with Dr. Earl consulting for Concentra in areas of provider training and clinical operations.
In addition to community-based urgent care, corporate health programs at Concentra andIMCC included care of worker’s compensation patients, DOT, respirator, hazmat, and executive physicals and drug screens, as well as wellness services, health fairs, disease screenings, executive travel consultations, and many other services provided at company locations.
Before acquiring IMCC, Dr. Earl was corporate medical director for HealthNet of Oakland NJ, responsible for medical operations of 14 urgent care centers in New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut. Dr.Earl is also the medical director for the National Academy of DOT Medical Examiners, an online training organization to prepare medical examiners for the NRCME, National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners exam. This organization has successfully trained 10,000 medical examiner candidates nationwide.
Donna Lee Gardner remains the senior principal with RYAN Associates. Gardner has more than 30 years of experience in model program development and has written standards, policies and procedures, and numerous manuals on program infrastructure.
Gardner has developed productivity indicators for occupational health and rehabilitation programs to enhance staffing and provide quality monitors for staff productivity. Gardner focuses on operational, financial, customer service, and quality assurance standards, has reviewed approximately 10,000 patient charts, and identified millions of dollars left on the table while monitoring documentation and coding processes. Knowledge sharing is one of her commitments to the profession and she has participated in hundreds of educational programs. Gardner has a B.S. in nursing from Salve Regina University, an R.N. from Rhode Island Hospital School of Nursing, and an M.S. and M.B.A. from Lesley College.
