Christina Beach Thielst

An freelance administrator with a passion for improving healthcare!

Christina Thielst is a skilled and capable hospital and healthcare administrator and entrepreneur with a deep desire for continually improving the health of the community being served. Her strengths include:

*operations and the management of systems and processes required for any efficient and effective organization;
*providing leadership to the organization's human capital and management of financial resources;
*relationship building with physician, employee, consumer and other stakeholders;
*governance and board development;
*planning, assessment and evaluation of strategic initiatives;
*continuous and systematic performance improvement; and
*establishing governance and operational structures and systems needed for health information exchange (HIE) regional health information organizations (RHIOs)
*planning for use of social media tools in healthcare environments.

Christina’s expertise with HIE and RHIOs began in 2004 when she worked with Dr. David Brailer and local leaders to move the Santa Barbara County Care Data Exchange from a loose collaborative to a formal organizational structure as a 501(c)3 corporation. This experience lead to her serving as editor of the HIMSS guide for establishing a RHIO and being the invited 2007 columnist on Technology for the Journal of Healthcare Management. She is currently a member of the HIMSS Guide to Participating in a Health Information Exchange Workgroup. In April 2007, she received the "Spirit of HIMSS" award.

Christina received a Bachelors degree in Social Science/Management from Louisiana State University and a Masters of Health Administration from Tulane University, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. She is also a Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives and a member of Health Care Executives of Southern California, Health Information Management Systems Society, Rural Telecon and the California Health and Human Services Health Information Exchange Committee.

Presentations:

"What's Up Doc?", Forum on Healthcare, Santa Barbara, CA, August 21, 2009.

"RHIOs in Motion", Collaborative Communications Summit, November 2007, Beverly Hills, CA.

“Regional Health Information Networks and Organizations: Connecting Your Rural Community to Improve Healthcare”, Rural Telecon 2006, September 2006, Little Rock, Arkansas.

“Regional Health Information Networks and Organizations: Connecting Your Community to Improve Healthcare” , MedSeek Client Congress, May 2006, San Antonio, TX

“Establishing a Regional Health Information Organization”, ACHE Congress on Healthcare Management, March 30, 2006, Chicago, IL.

“Electronic Medical Records Are Here! Is Your Group Ready for the Technology Revolution?”, SCPIE Companies Medical Group Administrator Seminar, November 17, 2005, Los Angeles, CA

Publications:

Currently in Production: Thielst, Christina Beach: Use of Social Media in Healthcare, Health Administration Press, anticipated release January 2010.

Thielst, Christina Beach; Journal of Healthcare Management, Invited 2007 Technology Columnist. Chicago: Health Administration Press.

Thielst, Christina Beach; Jones, LeRoy E: Guide to Establishing a Regional Health Organization. Chicago: HIMSS, 2007.

Thielst, Christina Beach: Forming a RHIO? Guide to Establishing a Regional Health Information Organization. Santa Barbara: 2006.