Why the Orca?
The Orca is the largest member of the dolphin family. Nicknamed the “Wolf of the Sea”, she has been memorialized for countless centuries in Indigenous cultural teachings, and in the imagination and media of modern western cultures.
The orca is known to Indigenous Cultures for many things, among them family, harmony, and community. They are admired for their intelligence, great athleticism and strength, and tight communication and coordination. They are known by some as the Lord or Guardian of the Ocean. Orcas are highly social, travelling in community pods that are multi-generational. Periodically, pods will come together and collaborate to accomplish a particular purpose. They travel and communicate over impossibly great distances.
In the hunt, orcas are each highly critical to the accomplishment of their objective. They rely on the competency of each other, and the success of the pod is dependent on each member’s ability to deliver in a coordinated way. While each are exceptional, they only achieve their goal when all work together and do their part to accomplish a singular shared goal.
The movement of health care to deliver on the Quintuple Aim has been too slow and too little. We believe health care is in an ocean of trouble. We believe health care needs more orcas.
Orcinus Health Solutions brings together highly competent and verifiably accomplished executives, leaders, and subject matter experts to work collaboratively with you and your organization to accomplish goals in the complex and difficult world of health care. We are a core pod of experts, and as dictated by the situation we add like-minded experts to the pod to accomplish our goal.
This pod is not about egos. It is about results.
We rely on each other explicitly.
We trust each other implicitly.
Through our expertise, our approach, and our beliefs
we can accomplish goals that others simply can’t.
We are Orcinus Health Solutions.
About Us
Kristen Woods is a certified business and executive coach focused on physician leaders who wish to enhance their executive skillset to become a trusted voice for improving the delivery of healthcare while reducing moral distress for healthcare workers and physicians.
As a coach, Dr. Woods brings forward her experience as a leader in population health and medical group operations. In her most recent corporate role, she served as the SVP of Network and Physician Experience for Southwestern Health Resources, one of three ACOs in the country to earn the Leaders in Quality Excellence Award by the National Association of Accountable Care Organizations in 2023. In addition, SWHR clinically integrated network has generated more than $150 million in Medicare shared savings while maintaining high quality scores. Prior to joining the ACO, Dr. Woods served as the President of Trinity Health Medical Group, West Michigan – a multispecialty medical group consisting of over 800 providers and 95 clinics. In this role, she has responsibility for strategy design, clinical and financial operations, and cultural integration. Previously, she held executive positions as Vice President of Mercy Health Physician Partners, Muskegon - a 250-provider medical group with 42 clinics - and Medical Director of National Solutions at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. She practiced as a family physician for 13 years prior to starting her executive career. She has extensive background in practice and organizational transformation having led the evolution to patient centered medical homes locally and the integration of a large, complex multispecialty medical group. She received her Masters of Medical Management degree from Carnegie Mellon University, Heinz School of Business and her Medical Degree from Michigan State University, College of Human Medicine.
Kristen is an avid runner, yogi, and exercise enthusiast. She enjoys spending time with her spouse, interacting with nature, and watching her children play collegiate soccer. As a curious learner and a lover of music, she has attempted to learn to play piano as an adult.
You can find Kristen on LinkedIn.