Healthcare Digital Transformation

Dustin Smart

I turn healthcare digital and transformation portfolios into measured business value: deciding which bets get funded, building the business cases behind them, standing up the governance that keeps them honest, and proving the value landed.

Seven years inside a Fortune 25 payer. Before that, a CEO and COO who carried the P&L.

St. Louis, Missouri  ·  Open to remote  ·  VP and above

$260MAnnual digital demand owned, across 86 major investments
$800MValue portfolio planning across 18 business areas
400+Websites and mobile apps under performance analytics
12 ptsP&L swing from net loss to net gain in two years, as CEO and COO

What I do

Portfolio strategy & governance

Deciding what gets funded and why. Intake, prioritization, business cases, and the governance that survives contact with a real operating budget.

Value realization

Benefit models that hold up after launch. Measuring whether the investment actually moved the business, not just whether the project shipped.

Operating model & transformation

Building the machine behind the portfolio: how work enters, how executives align, how decisions get made at enterprise scale.

Track record

2019 to present

Centene Corporation

Vice President, Digital Value & Performance. Rose from Manager of Innovation to VP across seven years at a Fortune 25 payer serving roughly 1 in 15 Americans. Now own the enterprise digital portfolio: $260M in annual demand, the business case discipline behind it, and the analytics organization that measures whether it worked.

2006 to 2019

Nextra Health

Chief Executive Officer, then President and COO, after leading managed care and technology. Carried the P&L through a turnaround: 7% net loss to 5% net gain in two years, revenue up 22%. Negotiated national MCO contracts and built Medicaid quality improvement products from nothing.

2001 to 2006

Quip Digital

Founded and ran a digital studio. Built web, commerce, and campaign work for AT&T, the St. Louis Cardinals, Medicine Shoppe, Warner Brothers, and a long tail of local businesses.

What I am looking for

The role

VP and above in transformation, enterprise portfolio, or digital strategy. Business side, not engineering delivery. I want to own the portfolio and the value case, not run a product management organization.

The place

Health plans, health systems, and value-based care organizations. St. Louis metro, or genuinely remote. I am not relocating.

Get in touch

The fastest way to reach me is email. Happy to talk through a portfolio problem whether or not there is a role attached.