Care Synergy is a network of not for profit community-based hospice, home health, and palliative care organizations serving Colorado’s Front Range.

Tim Bowen is the President and CEO of Care Synergy, a non-acute network of four legacy not for profit hospice, home care and palliative care organizations serving more than 1500 patients/families each day along the Front Range in Colorado. Prior to Care Synergy, Tim was the President of Haven Hospice, a regional hospice organization based in Gainesville Florida.

He has more than 35 years’ experience in the hospice, home care and palliative care industry in management and leadership positions in both not for profit and for-profit hospice corporations on a regional and national basis. Over his career, Tim has successfully developed more than thirty-five de novo hospices, built and operated eight freestanding inpatient hospice care centers, as well as facilitated the acquisition and merger of numerous hospice and home care organizations.

Prior to Haven Hospice, Tim was the National Hospice Director for Staff Builders Health Care Services and National Director of Hospice Development for Olsten Kimberly QualityCare both for profit publicly traded corporations.

Tim holds a Master’s degree in Social Welfare from the University of California at Berkeley and a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology from the University of San Diego.

He has been an active member of the National Hospice & Palliative Care Organization and the Council of Hospice Professionals since 1988 serving on various committees, including the Standards and Accreditation Committee as well as the Managed Care Advisory Committee.

Throughout his career, Tim has served in numerous leadership positions in state hospice associations including the Board of Directors for the California State Hospice Association and the Florida Hospice and Palliative Care Association, where Tim served as President of the association for two terms from 2001-2003. Currently, Tim serves as a board member for the Home Care and Hospice Association of the Rockies.

Tim co-founded the National Hospice Executive Roundtable, an industry group of thirteen chief executive officers from preeminent legacy not for profit hospice, home care and PACE organizations located across the country.

O’Brien joins Care Synergy with more than 15 years of progressively senior roles in human resources, most recently as the vice president of human resources for InnovAge of Denver.

She holds a B.S. in human resources management from Colorado State University and is a certified Professional in Human Resources (PHR). Before leading human resources for InnovAge of Denver, she was vice president of human resources for SitusAMC and MountainView Financial Solutions.

Tim Bowen, CEO and president of Care Synergy, said O’Brien “brings a wealth of experience and knowledge in building, managing, engaging, empowering and coaching employees and teams to achieve high levels of performance.”

Care Synergy is a nonprofit organization supporting affiliated home health, palliative and hospice care providers including The Denver Hospice, the Colorado Visiting Nurse Association, Pathways in northern Colorado, and Pikes Peak Hospice and Palliative Care.

The organization provides services along the Front Range of Colorado from Colorado Springs to Fort Collins. Every day, Care Synergy affiliates serve more than 1,200 hospice patients and more than 1,000 home health and palliative care clients.

In the role of vice president of human resources, O’Brien will collaborate with the affiliates to develop and implement effective, innovative strategies to meet the business needs of the organizations and grow the impact of their services.

With nearly 20 years of extensive experience in information systems management, process improvement, customer service, managed care organizations and provider markets, John M. Blaschke joined Care Synergy in October 2015 as the organization’s first Chief Information Officer.

With hands-on experience with both hardware and software, an intimate knowledge of the managed care sector and a strong customer satisfaction orientation, John is charged with creating a world class IT platform to support Care Synergy’s growing family of community-based hospice providers as they continue to grow and transform to meet their not-for-profit missions in an increasingly competitive and integrated healthcare marketplace.

Prior to coming to Care Synergy, John spent more than 13 years at the TriZetto Corporation, a leading national healthcare IT solutions firm based in Denver that provides regional and national managed care organizations with core administrative IT services ranging from claims processing and eligibility to care management, utilization management and disease management. At TriZetto, John most recently served as Associate Vice President and General Manager, in which he was responsible for all aspects of product and service support for a large regional health system located in Texas. During his tenure at TriZetto, John was responsible at various times for hardware and software support, application management services, account management, sales management, consulting services and customer service.

John’s background also includes substantial experience in IT consulting, including more than a half-dozen years with Accenture (formerly Andersen Consulting). His consulting clients numbered both local and national health insurers; his responsibilities included site system integration, consumer-facing web portals and benefits support. John also led new technology deployment, process improvement and system innovations for his clients.

Earlier in his career, John guided a process re-engineering initiative for a national emergency physicians management group that included deployment of new systems to support better work flow efficiencies leading to increased customer satisfaction. He also worked for Colorado’s Medicaid program on an initiative that examined opportunities to improve efficiencies and obtain better rates through an open competitive bidding process.

John received his Bachelor’s in Economics from The Colorado College in Colorado Springs and a Master’s in Public Health from the University of California, Los Angeles, with an emphasis in Health Policy & Management.

John, his wife, and children reside in Littleton, Colorado.

Dawn Darvalics is a healthcare executive with over 18 years of experience in hospice and palliative care. Dawn’s career includes working for national hospice and palliative care providers, non-profit community-based hospices, and international consulting firms including KPMG and Arthur Anderson.

In the role of President at Pikes Peak Hospice and Palliative Care, Dawn is responsible for advancing the organization’s mission to care for all in need of expert hospice and palliative care services in the Colorado Springs area. Pikes Peak Hospice and Palliative Care is an affiliate member of Care Synergy’s network of non-profit home health, palliative care, and hospice organizations across Colorado’s Front Range. Prior to being named President of Pikes Peak Hospice and Palliative Care, Dawn worked at Care Synergy and The Denver Hospice, leading quality, compliance, and education initiatives.

Dawn began her career in end-of-life care at VITAS Healthcare where she served for 10 years. At Vitas, Dawn was the national general manager of VITAS Palliative Care Solutions. In this role, Dawn launched the palliative medicine division. She was responsible for standing up palliative medicine practices across the company and overseeing operations including centralized practice support. Prior to that Dawn served as Interim General Manager of VITAS’ Chicago Central Program, led the implementation of VITAS’ electronic medical record system across the company, and was Associate General Manager of the South Florida region.

Prior to joining VITAS, Dawn worked for Arthur Andersen and KPMG Business Consulting’s change management and performance improvement divisions. She focused on large-scale change management initiatives, such as enterprise resource planning software and shared services center implementations.

Prior to arriving in Colorado, Dawn worked at Aspire Health based in Nashville as Senior Vice President and Executive Director of the Aspire Institute, the company’s internal learning and development department. She focused on aligning learning and development with organizational objectives. Dawn also served as an executive management consultant for Ohio’s Hospice Incorporated, the Visiting Nurse Service of New York, and Caring Foundations where she focused on improving the quality of care through operational optimization.

Dawn holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology with a minor in Business Administration and a Master of Science degree in Instructional Systems from Florida State University. She is a Certified Project Management Professional and PROSCI Change Practitioner.

Ernesto Lopez is an accomplished healthcare executive with over 20 years of healthcare leadership experience. Most recently he served as President and Chief Executive Officer at Hospice of Washington County in Maryland; a community based, non-profit hospice and palliative care organization. Prior to that, he served in the same capacity for a large non-profit, faith-based hospice provider that is part of the AdventHealth System; and is considered the largest Medicare provider in the country. Lopez’s healthcare experience also includes hospital Chief Nursing Officer and Chief Operating Officer for two different community-based hospitals within the AdventHealth Network of Central Florida.

Lopez earned a Master of Business Administration from Nova Southeastern University and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Miami. He has been an active member of several designated and professional associations including the American College of Healthcare Executives through which he has attained Fellow status (FACHE) as wells as being selected as a Thomas C. Dolan Diversity Scholar this past year.

Lopez is passionate about the work and mission of The Denver Hospice and is excited to be a part of the Denver community.

With over 20 years of experience in healthcare leadership, administration, operations, marketing and communications and fundraising and development communications, Evan Hyatt is the President of Pathways.

Hyatt previously served as CEO/president of Pathways from 2008 through 2016, and is re-joining the organization following a role as the Vice President of Marketing and Development at Care Synergy, Pathways’ supporting organization.

Hyatt began his career with Pathways as its marketing manager in 2001 when the organization was known as Hospice of Larimer County.  At the end of 2016, he left Pathways to become the Executive Director of Operations for Kaiser Permanente in Northern Colorado.  Then, following a brief stint with Banner Hospice, Hyatt joined Care Synergy in 2019.  Altogether, he has more than 18 years of experience in hospice and palliative care at Pathways and Care Synergy.

In the role of president, Hyatt will be responsible for the day-to-day operations of Pathways as well as collaborating with its board of directors to guide the mission, strategic objectives and growth of the organization. 

Dr. Pradeep Rai, MD, joins Care Synergy as Chief Medical Officer and also assumes the role of Medical Director at The Denver Hospice (TDH). In his capacity as CMO, Dr. Rai will oversee clinical operations across Care Synergy’s network of hospice, palliative care, and home health affiliates, including TDH, Pikes Peak Hospice, Pathways Hospice, and the Colorado Visiting Nurses Association (CVNA).

With over a decade of healthcare leadership and quality assurance experience, Dr. Rai has previously served as Medical Director for prominent organizations such as Magnolia Medical, Team Select Home Health Care, and Pro Health One. His professional credentials include being a Diplomate of the American Board of Addiction Medicine (DABAM) with certifications from the National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners (FMCSA) and the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry (AAAP). Actively engaged with key medical associations, Dr. Rai contributes to the advancement of healthcare standards through his involvement with the American Medical Directors’ Association and the Colorado Medical Directors’ Association.

Dr. Rai’s educational background is highlighted by specialized training in burn surgery at Jacobi Medical Center/Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Care Synergy’s President and CEO, Tim Bowen, expresses gratitude for Dr. Rai’s appointment, noting his leadership experience, commitment to clinical excellence, and compassionate care, which uniquely qualify him to lead the exceptional team of physicians and nurse practitioners at Care Synergy.

Tricia Ford, an accomplished healthcare leader with more than 25 years of hospice experience covering operations, sales, business development and management, is Care Synergy’s first Senior Vice President of Operations. In support of Care Synergy’s shared services model supporting member not-for-profit hospices, Tricia is responsible for strategic planning, direction and management of patient care-related shared services, group purchasing and group contracting, as well as other initiatives that benefit Affiliate members.

Prior to joining Care Synergy, Tricia worked with a variety of hospice, home health and post-acute providers as a consultant and independent contractor, specializing in supporting aging in place and preventing hospital re-admissions.

Tricia previously worked as a Vice President for the fast-growing New Century Hospice, for which she was responsible for hospice operations at six New Century locations in Colorado, Texas and Louisiana. She also helped lead and manage the transition when the company was acquired by another provider. She joined the growing New Century from UnitedHealth Group’s Optum Hospice and Palliative Care, where she served as Chief Operating Officer for eight years. With responsibility for strategic planning and creating an infrastructure to build a national hospice and palliative care organization through acquisition and de novo initiatives, Tricia had responsibility for an 800-employee workforce and revenue and profitability across the division. She also managed Optum’s relationships with two not-for-profits, The Dream Foundation and the National Hospice Foundation, with which Optum worked and to which Optum directed memorial contributions made in the name of its hospice patients.

Earlier in her career, Tricia was Executive Vice President of GeriNet, a leading healthcare organization that specializes in providing post-acute care for frail and vulnerable patients in skilled nursing facilities and home environments, and its Hospice Touch subsidiary. One of the largest hospice providers in Orange County, California, Hospice Touch was one of the first hospice programs in the nation to integrate with managed care organizations and physician medical groups. Tricia assumed her first operational role as Western Regional Vice President for Odyssey Health Care, in which she was responsible for a six-state region with revenues of $57 million and nearly 600 employees.

Tricia began her hospice career as a Hospice Sales Representative for Vitas Healthcare in Dallas, Texas, and subsequently was promoted to Director of Admissions & Sales for start-up programs and then was named Director of Admissions & Sales for Vitas’ long-established anchor program in Dallas.

Throughout her career, Tricia has been actively involved in not-for-profit organizations serving the communities in which she lived and worked. She currently serves on the Executive Leadership Council of Colorado State University, her alma mater. In previous professional postings Tricia represented her employer on the Hospice Advisory Board of the Dream Foundation and the Board of Trustees of the National Hospice Foundation of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization.

A graduate of Colorado State University, Tricia earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Human Development and Family Studies–Geriatrics from the college of Health and Human Sciences.

Alley brings more than 25 years of financial management experience across the healthcare, aerospace, and maritime industries. Most recently, Alley operated as the senior director of financial planning and analysis for United Rotorcraft at the Air Methods Corporation. At United Rotorcraft, he led the development of the company’s long-range plan and strategy including its financial reporting and annual budget process. He was previously acting as chief operating/financial officer for i4-Insight, a Lloyd’s Register Company.

From 2015 to 2021, Alley served as a regional vice president of finance and operations at InnovAge PACE where he oversaw operating, performance, and administrative management for the company’s Colorado region. His responsibilities included direct profit and loss (P&L) management, compliance, operations, quality, and customer service accountability for delivering senior healthcare services through the PACE (Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly) program. PACE provides nursing home eligible seniors with wrap-around healthcare services that allow seniors to live independently in their own homes and communities for as long as it is safely possible.

Pat Mehnert has a master’s degree in nursing and nearly 25 years of experience in hospice and palliative care. She has held various quality, compliance, and clinical leadership roles in addition to clinical nursing experience at the bedside for many years.

Pat has been director of Corporate Compliance and Risk Management for Care Synergy for a little more than two years. As Vice President of Quality, Compliance, and Education, Pat will be combining the oversight of Quality, Compliance, and Education in order to work collaboratively with all affiliates to identify and implement best practices and continually improve in these areas. Pat also will be providing in-depth statistical analysis of the metrics and results of the publicly reported scores, complaints, and patient/family satisfaction surveys; be accountable for the oversight of and improvement in all publicly reported quality and outcomes initiatives in hospice and palliative care; and make recommendations for updating policies and procedures.