Rhonda Henschel, MBA, Director of Managed Care and Quality at Minnesota Oncology, was recently named as one of three finalists for Minnesota Business Magazine’s 2015 Emerging Health Care Leader Award. Henschel will be honored at a celebration dinner on October 29 where the category winner will be announced.

Beginning as a medical technologist for Minnesota Oncology 11 years ago, Henschel has worked her way up from the laboratory to a leadership position on the organization’s senior management team. In 2014, she assumed a newly created role of Director of Managed Care and Quality and is now responsible for development and implementation of managed care goals and objectives, innovative clinical programs to enhance quality, and policies and procedures to facilitate care delivery.

"In the rapidly changing world of healthcare, Rhonda has emerged as an innovative and goal-oriented leader," said Minnesota Oncology President Dean Gesme, MD. "In her first year as Director of Managed Care and Quality, she has consistently improved operations, impacted business growth, and maximized profits through her achievements in practice development, cost reduction, productivity/efficiency improvements, and cultivating physician and staff relations. Plus, she always has a smile and keeps patient care squarely in first place no matter what she pursues."

Among Henschel's achievements is leading Minnesota Oncology's efforts to achieve recognition by the Quality Oncology Practice Initiative (QOPI®) Certification Program, an affiliate of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). The QOPI® Certification Program (QCP™) certifies oncology practices that meet nationally recognized standards for cancer care. The QCP staff and steering group members then verify through on-site inspection that the evaluation and documents are correct and that the practices met core standards in areas of treatment, including treatment planning, staff training and education, chemotherapy orders and drug preparation, patient consent and education, safe chemotherapy administration, monitoring and assessment of patient well-being. In addition, she has played a key role in designing and implementing new programs such as methods to generate revenue and meet Commission on Cancer requirements including Survivorship, Palliative Care, and Advance Care Planning.

“The reason Minnesota grew to be a world leader in health care is because of the people who worked hard to make it so,” said Minnesota Business Editor in Chief Steve LeBeau. “We are proud to honor the people and companies continuing that tradition, and who are leading it to new heights.”

The nomination process consisted of a 3 month period where nominations were solicited and submitted through the Minnesota Business web portal. Once nominations closed, they were collected and distributed to an internal review team. Since we collect an average of 200 nominations for each of our signature events, the internal review team is responsible for narrowing down the nominations in each category to the top five. These top five are then submitted to an external judging panel, which consists of industry experts across all professional platforms. Judges for the 2015 Leaders in Health Care Awards include Dave Dickey, CEO of Second Story Sales; Shaye Mandle, president and CEO of LifeScience Alley; and Elizabeth Patty, senior director of development for children’s health at the University of Minnesota Foundation, among others.

Winners will be announced at an October 29, 2015, celebration to be held at Crowne Plaza in St. Paul.