Hartford Business Journal

HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | JUNE 29, 2026 27 POWE R 25 | HE ALTHCARE Through innovation, collaboration, and physician alignment, Lisa continues to help shape the future of value-based healthcare and patient-centered care. Lisa Trumble, MBA SoNE HEALTH President & CEO The SoNE Team Applauds you! SoNE HEALTH President & CEO, Lisa Trumble, MBA, is recognized as a healthcare thought leader by CT's media and business community. R. Kyle Kramer serves as CEO of Day Kimball Health, overseeing the strategic, operational and financial direction of the hospital system, which serves about 70,000 residents across 13 towns in northeast Connecticut. Since joining the organization in 2020, Kramer has focused on physician alignment, specialist recruitment and expanding service lines, including orthopedics, to maintain access to care in the region. Over the past year, Day Kimball Health advanced a strategic affiliation with UConn Health aimed at expanding services, strength- ening clinical collaboration and improving long-term sustainability. The organization also participated in Connecticut's Rural Health Transformation Program grant appli- cation process, which helped secure a $154 million federal grant in the program's first year to support healthcare access and quality improvements. Kramer said ongoing workforce shortages, rising costs and changing reimbursement models remain major industry challenges, but also present opportunities to create a more integrated and sustainable care model for rural communities through partnerships, expanded specialty care and innovation. If you could change one thing in the healthcare industry, what would it be? If I could change one thing, it would be ensur - ing universal access to primary care. Strong primary care is the foundation of a healthier population, supporting prevention, early detection, early intervention and ultimately better outcomes. Expanding access would reduce disparities, lower long-term costs and create a more effective, patient-centered healthcare system. R. Kyle Kramer CEO Day Kimball Health Employees: Over 1,000 Education: Bachelor's degrees in finance and marketing, University of Texas at Austin V imal Mehta is co-founder and CEO of BioXcel Therapeutics and serves on the company's board of directors. He has more than 25 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology in- dustries and has led the development and commercialization of therapies targeting unmet medical needs. Mehta co-founded BioXcel LLC in 2006 and BioXcel Therapeutics in 2017, leading the company through its 2018 initial public offering and the Food and Drug Adminis- tration approval and commercial launch of IGALMI, a treatment for acute agitation associated with schizophrenia and bipolar disorders. Earlier in his career, he held senior busi- ness development roles at pharmaceutical companies and served as an assistant pro- fessor at UT Southwestern Medical Center. Over the past year, BioXcel Therapeutics advanced plans to expand the use of IGAL- MI beyond clinical settings. The FDA accepted the company's applica- tion to allow at-home use of the therapy for patients with schizophrenia or bipolar disorders, and BioXcel has expanded its leadership team and commercialization efforts in anticipation of a potential launch. If you could change one thing in the healthcare industry, what would it be? I would like to see a more forward-looking regulatory environment that recognizes and accelerates innovation, particularly from smaller biotechnology companies. A more supportive approach from the FDA, with clearer pathways, could help bring transformative therapies to patients faster, while enabling emerging companies to more efficiently advance innovations to market. Vimal Mehta CEO BioXcel Therapeutics Education: Ph.D. in chemistry, Uni- versity of Delhi, India; Postdoctoral fellowship in chemistry, University of Montpellier, France P atricia A. Sirowich is founder and president of Shelton-based PBIRx, an independent pharmacy benefit consulting and auditing firm that helps employers, unions, hospitals and health plans control prescription drug costs and oversee pharmacy benefit managers. She launched the company in 1993 after identifying concerns about pricing prac- tices and transparency in the pharmacy benefit management industry. Sirowich was one of the founders of Express Scripts and has more than 35 years of experience in pharmacy benefits. Her work focuses on helping employers and other clients manage prescription drug benefit costs. Over the past year, PBIRx expanded its visibility through speaking engagements at regional conferences, which Sirowich said also gave clients an opportunity to discuss their experiences with the company's services. Looking ahead, Sirowich said a key chal- lenge will be keeping pace with changing laws and regulations affecting pharmacy benefits, as well as evolving pricing strat- egies among pharmacy benefit managers amid increased scrutiny. If you could change one thing in the healthcare industry, what would it be? The main thing I would change in health- care is more transparency and laws to enforce that transparency along with more requirements for full detailed disclosure to patients, clients and physicians. The Medicare fees paid to physicians is appalling. Patricia A. Sirowich Founder & President PBIRx Employees: 45

• Cover