Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Dr. Cheryl Rucker-Whitaker, CEO of Complete Care Management Partners. Dr. Whitaker is used to breaking new ground, focusing on care management before care management was cool; focusing on solving the problems by focusing at the root cause. Understanding data and the financing of healthcare came with an awareness that was just appalling to Dr. Whitaker – health disparities were evident long before the pandemic and she has made it her life’s work to address them. This includes meeting people where they are like the southside of Chicago. Yes, of course, as an African American physician she has had many people who did not believe she was capable or qualified and the subtle shade or disrespectful comments are more numerous than she can count. Guess what? Dr. Whitaker knows what she is talking about, she has done her homework, and feels it is important to do the work to become expert. Her advice for women? Get involved, join your professional societies, and work at being expert in your field.

Dr. Cheryl Whitaker is a practicing entrepreneur in search of innovative solutions for underserved communities and economic inclusion for such business. She is currently CEO of Complete Care Management Partners LLC, a delegate care management entity providing care management for the most difficult to reach members. She is a senior medical advisor to MyBexa, an innovative breast screening technology, a member of the board of directors of Equality Health, a consultant to Health2047, Inc., and a member of the Hyde Park Angels.

She was Founding Chairman and CEO of NextLevel Health, a medicaid health insurance company dedicated to helping underserved populations access and manage Medicaid services. At the time, they were only 1 of 2 Black owned medicaid companies in the United States. This innovative for-profit company used a rigorous population health data-analytics approach to help coordinate extensive patient services provided through a geographically co-located Culturally Competent Care Management Team model.

Her expertise includes executive management, building and leading high performing teams, change management, organizational transformation, leveraging IT to transform practice.

From 2011-2013, she served as the inaugural chairman of the Illinois Health Information Exchange Authority, where she guided the State’s effort to create secure data exchange for health information. From 2009 to 2011, she worked as a Senior Program Officer for the Chicago Community Trust, overseeing strategy for all health-related grants—including efforts related to healthcare reform and the health information exchange. She also served as a faculty member at Rush University Medical Center.

Dr. Whitaker earned a medical degree at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and a Master of Public Health in Health Policy and Management from the Harvard School of Public Health. She completed her clinical training in internal medicine at Stanford University and University of California San Francisco, and a fellowship in health services research at Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine. She is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, Fellow of the Institute of Medicine Chicago, The Chicago Network, The Economic Club of Chicago, Women Business Leaders of the US Healthcare System, and Founding Member of Chief.

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