Jim Dutton VP Product Development, GNS Healthcare

GNS Healthcare, provider of big data analytics in health care, announced the appointment of three executives.

Bill Thornburg has joined the company as VP of product management, Jim Dutton as VP of product development, and Lance Stewart as VP of payer business development.

“These appointments will help GNS apply the power of big data analytics to some of the most persistent and costly challenges in health care,” says Colin Hill, CEO and co-founder, GNS. “Big data analytics can unlock the knowledge that health plans need to dramatically impact population health outcomes on a large scale.”

Thornburg, Dutton, and Stewart join GNS during a period of growth for the company. In August, GNS announced the first deployment of its big data-driven solution, Meaningful Adherence, to 1.6 million Regence members in Idaho, UT, Washington, and Oregon. Meaningful Adherence optimizes health plan interventions intended to improve medication adherence by selecting and matching individuals to interventions based on the opportunity to prevent costly complications. The approach consistently delivers a net reduction in cos, with savings from averted emergency room visits and hospital admissions outweighing the combined costs of interventions and additional drug spending.

Thornburg, who leads GNS product management, brings healthcare industry enterprise software product marketing and management experience to the company. Prior to GNS, he was SVP of solution marketing and product management at Medicision, a provider of population health management solutions. Previously, he was VP of product management and solution marketing at OptumInsight, a provider of analytics, technology, and consulting services to the health care industry and part of UnitedHealth Group. He holds a Master’s degree in business administration from the University of CO.

 Dutton, who leads software development for new GNS products, brings a mix of executive and technical leadership experience to the company. Before joining GNS, Dutton was chief architect and VP of engineering at Caringo, a cloud storage company. Prior to that, Dutton served as CEO of Traq Wireless. He holds a Master’s degree in computer science from the University of Texas at Austin.

Stewart, who is responsible for expanding the company’s work on behalf of health plans, is a health care information technology veteran whose experience spans the health care ecosystem. He most recently led sales and strategic client relationships for the payer and infomediary markets at emids, a provider of healthcare business intelligence services and solutions. Prior to that, he was a senior sales executive at McKesson Health Solutions, where he had a special focus on care management solutions. He previously served Merck in multiple strategic roles, most recently as director of national accounts for integrated health systems. While at Merck, his responsibilities included medication adherence and clinical quality programs. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Tulsa.