Meet Our Bryan Health Connect Team
Bryan Health Connect team members are ready to assist members and potential members with services to help navigate the changing health care environment.
Please call or email us at 402-483-8891 or Bryan_Health_Connect@BryanHealth.org
Ben Sparks, MBA
President
Ben Sparks, MBA is President of Bryan Health Connect, a Nebraska-based physician-hospital organization (PHO) of more than 2,000 providers across the state. He also serves as the President of BESHP inc. a joint-venture between Bryan Enterprises and Sanford Health Plan created to offer Medicare Advantage plans in Nebraska. Ben joined Bryan Health in 2021, joining Bryan Health Connect in 2024. Ben works in partnership with providers, payors, and employers to deliver innovative solutions to groups and individuals across the state. Ben also serves as president of Bryan Health Connect, ACO, which is a partnership of providers focused on delivering value-based cost and quality improvement to over 90,000 Nebraskans.
Ben has more than a decade of leadership experience focused on strategy and health care finance. Prior to Bryan Health Ben worked most recently at UnityPoint Health as the Executive Director of Finance and Network Performance, where he was responsible for the growth and financial performance of an ACO with over 350,000 covered lives. Ben holds an MBA from the University of Iowa and a BA of Political Science from Iowa State University.
Jessica Heckman, MD
Vice President of Medical Affairs
Jessica Heckman, MD, has a key role in building strong and collaborative relationships with providers, payers and large, self-funded employers. Dr. Heckman will champion physician and advanced care practitioner alignment strategies to support the PHO & ACO annual goals and objectives in the value-based health care environment.
Hilary Behrens, MS
Population Health Operations Director
Hilary provides the vision, strategic direction, and leadership for population health and value-based care operations. She is responsible for creating, maintaining and implementing initiatives focused on improving quality, reducing costs, and improving health equity for our members and their patients. Hilary builds and leverages positive working relationships with leaders across numerous partner organizations to successfully implement population health initiatives.
Sherry Radford, MSN, RN
Clinical Operations Manager
Sherry leads and implements all value based care management services including chronic care management, behavioral health integration services and care navigation programs. She collaborates with organizations to ensure a cohesive and meaningful approach to quality care. This includes supporting teams to effect change through exceptional telephonic and on-site care coordination platforms. Sherry also offers consultative services to effectively improve population health and achieve successful care management outcomes.
Colby Kruse, MS
Payer Relations Administrator
Colby leads all third party payer contract negotiations and all other contract related discussions with payers. He also provides consultation in all areas of payer and provider relations.
Tyler Frost
Senior Contracting & Risk Data Analytics
Tyler Frost serves as the key quantitative payor contracting expert for Bryan Health Connect, which includes creating tools, models, and analysis to evaluate agreements with payors, recommending and modeling proposed changes, and assessing the impact of contract and operational changes on financial results.
Heidi Lauenstein, MBA, MSN, RN
Senior Member Engagement Manager
Heidi provides consultative services to BHC member clinics in managing the overall health of populations. She also works collaboratively with member clinics to improve quality and decrease costs through assessment of clinical performance, identification of gaps in best practice, and recommend improvement methods to transform patient care processes and improve quality outcomes.
Tina Ryan
Population Health Quality Improvement Advisor
Tina provides consultative services to BHC member clinics in managing the overall health of populations. She also works collaboratively with member clinics to improve quality and decrease costs through assessment of clinical performance, identification of gaps in best practice, and recommend improvement methods to transform patient care processes and improve quality outcomes.
Michaela Geiser, MPH
Population Health Quality Improvement Advisor
Michaela provides consultative services to BHC member clinics in managing the overall health of populations. She also works collaboratively with member clinics to improve quality and decrease costs through assessment of clinical performance, identification of gaps in best practice, and recommend improvement methods to transform patient care processes and improve quality outcomes.
Sharon Leners, BSN, RN
Grant & Clinical Linkage Coordinator
Sharon is responsible for management of grant programs, providing a population based perspective on ways to improve chronic disease prevention and management, accomplished by collaborating and creating linkages between the clinical, community, and public health sectors. Sharon also works collaboratively to align strategies with local, state, and national initiatives and to align strategies with other Bryan Health Connect initiatives.
Julie Fletcher
Member Relations & Support Specialist
Julie manages new membership, managed care contract payers and provides administrative support to the Bryan Health Connect team. She also has significant involvement with insurance payer and self-funded employer contracting processes.
