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O’Connor Health Care Communications
Do your readers wonder "what's the catch?" Do you need fresh quotes and insights for your stories? Call us or send an e-mail today. We are a seasoned industry analyst with nearly 25 years experience in the health care industry.
We've seen phony coalitions and descriptions of "solutions" that range from partially accurate to outright false. Remember the Emperor and his clothes? Well, we know when he has clothes, no clothes, what's in his closet and where his closet is.
We have appeared on national television and have written articles for a wide variety of consumer publications and industry trades. These include the Wall Street Journal, the Oxygen Channel, Glamour Magazine, Woman’s Day HealthPlan Magazine (formerly HMO Magazine), Healthcare Informatics, Infocare, Business and Health, Managed Care Journal, Journal of Employee Benefits, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, The Seattle Times, Puget Sound Business Journal, Seattle Magazine and Washington CEO. A regular column also appears in the Seattle Times.
Call or e-mail us if you need an analyst's lively insights for your story:
Kathleen@oconnorhealthanalyst.com
or call 206-217-9430
Kathleen O’Connor, author of The Buck Stops Nowhere: Why America’s Healthcare is All Dollars and No Sense
Biography
A twenty-year plus veteran of the health care industry, Kathleen O’Connor is recognized nationally as a leading analyst and consumer oriented-advocate of health care reform. She is an accomplished writer, speaker and consultant who speaks three languages: English, Japanese and Health Care.
She writes a regular column for The Seattle Times and is publisher of The O’ConnorReport: Insights and Commentaries on Health Care Today. Her first op-ed for The Seattle Times in February 2000 was one of the most widely read and widely distributed columns since their founding in 1856.
The Buck Stops Nowhere: Why America’s Healthcare is All Dollars and No Sense is Kathleen’s first independent commercial book, having worked on two others—Alzheimers’ Caregiver Strategies for Support (University of Washington Press) and Girls to Grandmothers for SAFECO Corporation. Thus far it is proving to be equally as successful as her first-op piece for the Seattle Times. Even before the book was available in stores and to the press it gained the attention of Gartner, Inc., one the top IT Consulting firms in the world. Upon reading it, Gartner immediately booked O’Connor as the lead Mastermind Interviewee at Gartner, Inc.’s 2002 Healthcare Business and IT Summit in Boston. O’Connor’s ideas about health care, as described in The Buck Stops Nowhere, will form the basis of the interview. Previous Mastermind Interviewees include Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer of Microsoft, Larry Ellison of Oracle, Scott McNealy of Sun Microsystems, and C. Michael Armstrong of AT&T.
Armed with courageous vision and penetrating insight, her ability to translate complicated health care information into everyday English makes Kathleen a rare commodity. Not only has she written stories and cover stories for a wide-variety of national publications, including leading industry publications: HealthPlan Magazine (formerly HMO Magazine), Healthcare Informatics, Infocare, Business and Health, Managed Care Journal, Journal of Employee Benefits, and others, but her articles have also appeared in regional business and consumer publications, such as Puget Sound Business Journal, Seattle Magazine and Washington CEO.
She has been quoted as an industry expert in national consumer magazines such as Glamour Magazine and Woman’s Day, and has been featured as an industry analyst on “Pure Oxygen” the news program of Oxygen Cable Channel. Her articles have also appeared in The Seattle Times as well as The Seattle Post Intelligencer.
Her Glossary of Healthcare Terms and Definitions is now in its 3rd printing, with over 30,000 copies sold.
With a Bachelor’s degree in Japanese Area Studies and a Master’s Degree in Japanese and Comparative Governments, Kathleen has held a variety of executive-level positions in nearly every sector of the health care industry: profit, non-profit, and academic, as well as being an entrepreneur. Her managerial expertise lies in marketing, strategic communications, community relations, start-ups and business development. She is the Founder and President of a national non-profit women’s health organization: W.H.E.R.E (Women for Healthcare Equity through Reform and Education). She is a graduate of Leadership Tomorrow, Class of 1985, a leadership training program sponsored by The Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce and United Way and was one of the founding class members in The Community Leadership Program sponsored by The Kettering Foundation, the Kellogg Foundation and the National Association of Community Leadership Programs (1996-99).
She has also served on numerous health care commissions, committees and advisory boards, including the White House Women’s Conference Circle (1996-2000); National Medicare Coverage Advisory Commission, Department of Health and Human Services (1999-the present); Women’s Health Advisory Committee, Region X, US Public Health Service (1996-present); Advisory Panel, Center for Excellence in Women’s Health, University of Washington (2000-present) and Advisory Board, Dental Health Services (1999 to present). In the past she has served as member of the Washington Alzheimer’s Disease Association and the King County Board of Mental Health.
For sustenance, she is the President of The Rotary Club of Fremont: “The Fun Club” the first Rotary of the Millennium. It meets in a brewery (Hales Ales), from 5:30 to 7 p.m., where they drink beer, eat pizza and do good for the world and their community.
Kathleen is a Navy Junior and was raised on Route 66. She has lived in California (Long Beach, Monterrey, San Diego and Desert Hot Springs), Virginia (Norfolk, Chincoteague and Arlington), Florida (Pensicola and Jacksonville), Japan and now Washington State. She spent her high school years in Gifu, Japan and settled in Seattle when she started college at the University of Washington. When she is not spearheading the national debate on health care reform, Kathleen writes poetry, lazes in the San Juans, cooks meals for meandering conversations, is learning to sail and kayak and is finalizing her book of poems about her and her son.
Professionally, she is flipping a coin on whether her next x-ray of the health care system will focus on mental health or elder care.
And, when the world gets too much and it is a nice day, she can be spotted cruising the streets of Seattle or Washington State with the top down in a Pepto-Bismol Pink (not Mary Kay) convertible with white leather interior and top, so she can learn to laugh again, which is, after all, the best prescribed medicine and tonic for the soul.
And she writes this book, so we can all have a tonic relief for our health care system.
- Mr. David Garets, Group Vice-President at Gartner Inc., is available to the press to answer questions about Kathleen O’Connor, The Buck Stops Nowhere and Gartner, Inc. Mr. Garets may be reached via email at dave.garets@gartner.com or by phone at 360-563-5780.
- Kathleen O’Connor is now scheduling telephone and in-person interviews with members of the media. While based in Seattle, Ms. O’Connor travels constantly and may be in your area soon. Contact Ms. O’Connor’s PR representative, Jennifer Senkler (206-282-5811x2 or jennifer@palequail.com) to schedule an interview. An east coast press tour is also scheduled for mid-April to coincide with the author’s speaking engagement at Gartner’s 2001 Healthcare Business and IT Summit. Another book tour is being scheduled for May in San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego.
- Kathleen O’Connor has been selected as a Mastermind Interviewee at Gartner, Inc.’s 2002 Healthcare Business and IT Summit in Boston. Ms. O’Connor’s ideas about health care, as described in The Buck Stops Nowhere, will form the basis of the interview. Previous Mastermind Interviewees include Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer of Microsoft, Larry Ellison of Oracle, Scott McNealy of Sun Microsystems, and C. Michael Armstrong of AT&T.
- In light of the recent surge of support from organizations like Gartner, and other corporate and health care organizations, the contest outlined in Chapter 8, Build the Best for the Health of Our Nation, has been modified. There will now be two contests – one for corporate and health care organizations and the other for university students. Participants in the former will pay a $1000.00 tax-deductible fee to enter the contest. These entrance fees will, in turn, be placed into a scholarship fund for the winner of the student competition.
- We anticipate raising enough funds to award up to $50,000.00 in scholarship money. The winning plan of each contest will be formally presented to a Congressional delegation during an awards banquet. We are in the process of writing the final rules and applications procedures which will be ready by early February. For information about how you can participate, please call Kathleen O’Connor at 206-217-9430 or e-mail contest@oconnorhealthanalyst.com.
- Whenever a book is ordered through—or in conjunction with—a qualified non-profit health care, civic or membership non-profit organization, Kathleen O’Connor will donate $1.00 per book to that organization. A list of qualifying organizations is in the process of being developed and will be posted on our web site by January 31, 2001. Please visit: www.oconnorhealthanalyst.com
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