Tara Herington
Vice President
Cardinal Health Sonexus™ Access and Patient Support
Expanding Patient Access
Tara Herington’s passion for patients began long before her current role as VP of Cardinal Health Sonexus™ Access and Patient Support. Her work as a bedside nurse taught her about the needs of patients. Subsequent roles at Novartis and Regeneron allowed her to serve a greater number of patients.
Today, she maintains her commitment, caring for more than 250,000 patients through Sonexus, one of the industry’s most well-established patient hubs. Her ability to recognize ways the right technologies have the greatest impact on patients’ lives continues to contribute to the company’s most impactful solutions. Highlights of her accomplishments include:
- Sonexus Benefit Source: This electronic benefit verification/electronic prior authorization (eBV/ePA) solution reduces therapy approval time from weeks to hours.
- Connect Point 360: A secure, online portal expedites access and reimbursement for patients and HCPs.
- Natural Language Processing: This tech resource pulls data from recorded calls with patients to uncover meaningful insights.
Tara also has steered Sonexus through significant operational and business improvements. She helped pilot Birdie, an employee training platform that combines brain science, gamification, and adaptive microlearning to provide continuing employee education. Her balanced scorecard measurement system has led to improved patient support. Even before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Tara had already championed a virtual workforce model, which allowed Sonexus to hire staff without geographic constraints. The model enabled a seamless transition when shutdowns prevented in-office work.
In addition to driving business results, colleagues appreciate Tara’s influence on company culture. She hosts regular internal discussions to support diversity and inclusion. One team member says, “Tara has brought a camaraderie to Sonexus that has been especially important in keeping the team motivated during COVID and the recent Texas storms. Her transparent and supportive leadership style has helped the Sonexus team to weather the challenges of the past year with resilience and positivity.”
It’s interesting to think that Tara’s ability to improve the outcomes of hundreds of thousands of patients around the world began with the interactions between one patient—and one exceptional nurse.
