Cristie Upshaw Travis is Chief Executive Officer of the Memphis Business Group on Health, a business coalition with 25 employer members and affiliates providing healthcare benefits to approximately 100,000 residents of the MidSouth. Since joining the Memphis Business Group on Health in December, 1994, Ms. Travis has spearheaded the development of a new MBGH philosophy statement, developed the quality measurement strategy, facilitated publication of the Memphis Health Plan Report Card and Memphis Hospital Report Card, lead the roll-out of The Leapfrog Group hospital patient safety survey and improvement initiative in Memphis, recruited health plan and hospital participation in the Leapfrog Hospital Reward Program, engaged physicians in practice pattern evaluation and quality improvement, helped prepare physicians for performance measurement and reporting and pay-for-performance, and identified specific strategies to advance MBGH on its path to value-based purchasing.

Prior to joining the Memphis Business Group on Health, Ms. Travis was a healthcare consultant for over 15 years, working with clients in the area of healthcare planning and marketing. Ms. Travis is the Immediate Past Chair of the Board of Directors for The Leapfrog Group and serves as Vice Chair of the Board of Governors of the National Business Coalition on Health, both located in Washington, DC. She also serves on the National Commission on Prevention Priorities in Washington, DC; the National Transitions of Care Coalition in Little Rock, Arkansas; and is Immediate Past Chair of the Board of Directors for the Healthy Memphis Common Table. She is currently serving as Project Director for the Healthy Memphis Common Table’s “Aligning Forces for Quality: Memphis Regional Market Project,” a pilot project of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s national initiative to dramatically improve care for the chronically ill.

She has her Master of Science in Hospital and Health Administration from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.