Cindy Ryan Ernst is the director of communications at the Integrated Healthcare Association, responsible for communications, operations and human resources. With over 25 years of experience in the healthcare industry, Ms. Ernst has a strong background in healthcare marketing, brand management, product development and management, account management, and financial underwriting.
Prior to joining IHA, she was a director of the Self-Funded Program in National Product Development at Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, responsible for the development of the first administrative services only business model at Kaiser Permanente.
Previously, Ms. Ernst was vice president of marketing at CareScience (now part of the Premier healthcare alliance), a leading provider of care management technology and services to hospitals and health systems. While at CareScience, she was the chief marketing officer responsible for corporate marketing and product management, and led a national rebranding initiative.
Ms. Ernst launched her career with Aetna, Inc. as a financial analyst underwriting mid-market and national accounts. She moved from underwriting to field account management where she was director of customer relations in northern California managing the account services team for national purchasers. She was then promoted to marketing strategy head in the western states, responsible for marketing, communications, product management, proposal unit, advertising and sales support.
Ms. Ernst received her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration at Notre Dame de Namur University.
“The major achievement is bringing large health plans, medical groups, NCQA and PBGH together to produce a statewide state-of-art quality report card based on best of class features.”
