DHCFP Leadership

Ms. Bierman comes to the State of Nevada from The Guinn Center for Policy Priorities, where she served as the Director of Health Policy. Prior to her work with The Guinn Center in Las Vegas, Ms. Bierman served as Assistant Director, Division of Medical Services (Medicaid) for the Arkansas Department of Human Services. She earned her Juris Doctorate and Master’s of Public Health degrees from the University of Arkansas while working in dual roles as a Legislative Analyst and a Law Clerk for the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Office of General Counsel. Ms. Bierman has completed both the Henry Toll Fellowship Program, Council of State Governments and the American Society on Aging’s Leadership Academy Program.

Ms. Phinney is a Nevada native, and has been in State service since 1998. Ms. Phinney has a Master’s in Public Health with a concentration in Health Services Administration; as well as a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations. Cody started with the mental health programs doing quality assurance. She has been an agency manager and managed the Federal Community Mental Health Services Block Grants. She has an extensive background working in health and human service programs, including program and division oversight at the executive level in Nevada State government. Cody has developed a strong background in program oversight, quality assurance and performance improvement.

DuAne has nearly 20 years of experience in field of behavioral and public health. He is currently the Deputy Administrator over Medical Programs and Community Based Services for the Nevada Division of Health Care Financing and Policy commonly known as Nevada Medicaid. He was worked in the public sector in both Indiana and Nevada in both State Court Administration and the Department of Health and Human Services. His work in the private sector included overseeing the project development and implementation strategy for the 2013 publication of the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) Criteria. DuAne received his Bachelor’s in Science in Family Studies from Miami University and a Master’s in Management from Indiana Wesleyan University. He is also ABD degree status in the Organizational Leadership Doctoral Program at Indiana Wesleyan University. All his post graduate work has focused on leadership practices within varying healthcare settings. He has been published in multiple journals for his work in intersecting the role of behavioral change within healthcare.

Phil Burrell comes to the State of Nevada from Texas where he served as hospital administrator for strategic development and financial operations. Prior to that Mr. Burrell served as Director for the Pennsylvania hospital association, leading efforts in health policy and advocacy for more than 250 hospitals and health systems. Mr. Burrell has his Master’s in Healthcare Administration from Texas State and Master’s in Healthcare Systems Engineering from Lehigh as well as a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration from Trinity. He is currently pursuing his doctorate for Population Health Studies at Thomas Jefferson University. Mr. Burrell also serves on the board for the Industry Advisory Council at Lehigh University.

Sandie Ruybalid has been with the DHCFP since 2002. She began her career with the State of Nevada in 1994 in Workers Compensation Insurance and has over 25 years of experience in the Healthcare Insurance industry, with a focus on Medicaid Management Information Systems (MMIS). She was appointed to her role as Chief IT Manager in 2019 and oversees the Division’s Health Information Technology and Electronic Health Record programs, Project Management Office, Business Process Management Unit, IT Operations, Information Security Officer, Application Development Team, in addition to the Division’s outsourced MMIS Vendors. She was the Project Director for the Division’s successful MMIS Modernization project which went live February 2019. She was appointed by Governor Brian Sandoval as a Management representative on the Employee-Management Committee and served as the Co-Vice Chair. She received her Certificate of Public Manager designation in April of 2016.