Sonia Handforth-Kome, M.A.

Sonia Handforth-Kome, M.A., Chief Operating Officer, has been working in medical and behavioral health care systems for over 27 years. Her first job in the medical field was in 1987, as an office manager for a physical and occupational therapy management company in North Carolina. Sonia’s experience in health system management has run the gamut from providing technical support on practice management systems and electronic health record systems, to coding, medical transcription, billing and collections, organizational change management, EHR/EPM selection and implementation, grant writing, strategic planning, advocacy and policy development; and from for-profit urban office-based specialty care to non-profit rural/frontier facility-based integrated care, including primary care, emergency care, dental, substance abuse, mental health, and alternative medicine. Sonia has worked in health systems in North Carolina, California, Alaska and Washington, and in payment systems including fee-for-service, capitated, grant-funded, and case rate. In July of 2001 she moved from an OB/Gyn physician practice in California to a position as Executive Director for the Iliuliuk Family and Health Services, Inc. community health center/frontier extended stay clinic in Unalaska, Alaska. During her time as ED of IFHS, Sonia also served on the board of the Alaska Primary Care Association (as President for five years), and on the board of the Northwest Regional Primary Care Association (as a member of the Executive Committee of that board for four years). Sonia also volunteered with many community organizations, including the Ballyhoo Lions Club and the Aleutian Arts Council, as well as serving for eleven years on the School Board, and for ten years as a Yoga instructor for the local community center. In October 2011 she retired as ED of IFHS and started consulting with local non-profits and CHCs in the state of Alaska. In June 2013 she began working for Valley Cities Counseling and Consultation, a community behavioral health center in Washington as Chief Operating officer. Sonia received her Bachelor’s degree in Physics with Honors from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and her Masters’ degree in Organization Management from the University of Phoenix in Oakland.