As President and CEO at Health Forward Foundation for more than five years, Qiana Thomason has continued to impact the community health of Kansas City – something she’s been doing for more than 20 years. While she was influencing the community and earning leadership expertise in other ways early in her career, the time Thomason spent serving Behavioral Health patients at Swope Health was crucial to her path.
Life-long connection
Thomason’s journey to Swope Health began long before she was employed at the health center. Along with her family, she was a patient at Swope Health from a young age.
“My family was rich in legacy but low on funds and assets, so I was a child of the safety net system,” Thomason said. “I was a Swope Health kid, so my journey to Swope Health started very young in life.”
After college, Thomason worked as a social worker then transitioned to a role in the United States Senate in the early 2000s. As Deputy Director/Health and Human Services Liaison for U.S. Senator Jean Carnahan, she became connected with Swope Health – which opened the door for her to work at the health center.
“I worked with the west side of the state with that role and engaged with health IT companies, hospitals, advocacy groups, and Federally Qualified Health Centers like Swope Health. I was introduced to members of the Swope Health leadership and when Senator Carnahan lost the election, I was asked to consider an opportunity at Swope Health,” Thomason said.
While she never imagined working at Swope Health, in 2003, Thomason was honored to get the opportunity to do so for eight years.
“Getting to work at Swope Health was a nothing short of a blessing, and it was a full circle moment. Leading at Swope Health felt like home because I spent so much time there as a kid,” she said. “I had a proximate affinity for the organization and the population it served in the community because I was among them.”
Her reign at Swope Health
In her first three years at Swope Health, Thomason was the program manager for mental health court diversion – a specialized court that assists individuals with mental health conditions who had misdemeanor charges. Kansas City was only the fifth city across the nation to implement this program at the time, and she led the initiative at Swope Health.
“While we weren’t the only place where mental health court patients went for mental health treatment, Swope Health was essentially the quarterback, if you will, that administered the program,” she said. “We would enroll individuals in the program, track their progress, and go to court with them.”
In addition to leading the program, Thomason also managed a case load.
“Nonprofit leaders and middle managers must walk and chew gum at the same time, so it was very capacity building. I liked that I could keep my clinical skills strong while also being an administrator and leader,” Thomason said. “After a few years of leading the program and scaling it to multiple circuit court jurisdictions throughout the Kansas City region, I was asked to consider the director of clinical operations opening in the Behavioral Health department.”
Thomason accepted the new role, becoming a senior leader for Behavioral Health. She held that position from 2006-2011.
“I led operations internally, which helped me grow as an administrator. I wrote grants, created the budget, and led the team focused on certification and reaccreditation,” she said. “It was a lot, but I enjoyed the time.”
Beyond Swope Health
After a successful eight-year run, Thomason decided to move on. She left to become Director of Clinical Operations at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City. She eventually worked her way up the ranks, becoming Vice President of population health solutions and community health.
“I wanted to learn how health care was financed and paid for, so I took a leap to the corporate side,” Thomason said. “I felt like a fish out of water at one point, but during that time, payers were trying to understand how to power population health. I had done that at Swope Health, so I understood things from an integrated community perspective that payers generally don’t.”
In 2019, Thomason learned about an opening for President and CEO at Health Forward Foundation, a community health philanthropic organization that provides funding, supports community-based solutions, and advocates for policies that address social determinants of health – such as housing, civic engagement, and employment. She applied for, was offered, and accepted the position, and is thriving in the role thanks to the collective experiences gained in her previous roles, her deep network throughout Kansas City, and new insights from the philanthropic perspective.
“It’s a wonderful blend of all the things I’ve done throughout my career. I have an aerial view of how health happens and how it’s shaped,” she said. “We may not understand it at the time while we’re living it, but we can look back in retrospect and say I see why I was planted where I was planted. Everything builds on the next opportunity.”
Health Forward Foundation and Swope Health are partner organizations.
“We’re proud to walk alongside Swope Health as a funder – but we don’t see our role as just a funder; we see ourselves as a partner of what Swope Health has achieved, is achieving, and will achieve,” Thomason said. “We know that our community members rely on Swope Health, so I’m grateful to see that it continues to stand tall and meet the moment for our communities with distinction and improve their health.”
