Kary Nulisch
Position: Former General Manager, Collective Medical Technologies (acquired by PointClickCare)
Current Title: CEO, Castlemark Consulting
Previous Roles: VP of Professional Services at Orion Health; VP of Managed Services at Axway; Managing Consultant at Software Architects, Inc.; Programmer Analyst, City of Arlington
Location: Lake Bonham, TX
Summary: Kary Nulisch was originally positioned as the key executive overseeing Collective Medical Technologies’ relationship with the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS) under the HealthChoice Illinois ADT Health Information Exchange initiative. His involvement is notable not only for what was delivered, but also for what was deliberately withheld.
Kary came from a long legacy of hands-on system deployment work, reminiscent of how Dana's own father worked down in the trenches within the long-term care industry, bringing technology into facilities for surveillance, reimbursement optimization, and administrative control. Kary represented that same "down in the weeds" strategy—only this time, the goal was to quietly extract sensitive data while impeding the transparency, accountability, and functionality that were contractually required.
Tactics and Patterns: Despite being the lead on a multimillion-dollar federally funded contract, Kary resisted full implementation and transparency at every stage. He:
Delayed data field sharing and limited early HL7 message support
Created bottlenecks around access and availability of streaming data
Operated with a lack of urgency and accountability, stalling progress despite clear contractual requirements
Enabled a vendor culture of compliance avoidance while still extracting value for private stakeholders
Dana Wilson, the program lead on the state side, was forced to learn HL7 streaming protocols and systems integration workflows on her own in order to even understand what was being done incorrectly. Rather than collaborating, Kary's team initially withheld nearly all data points, then incrementally opened limited fields—only after repeated escalations.
Once PointClickCare acquired Collective Medical Technologies, Kary left the organization. Leadership then transferred to a series of unstable handoffs: one leader undergoing cancer treatment and another (Heidi Ferré) who was fired before completion of the contract’s primary implementation phases.
Concerns: Kary’s role demonstrates a pattern of strategic stalling used to exploit state funding and federal waivers without ever delivering full value to the public. This form of "compliance theater" enabled the state to claim the existence of an operational Health Information Exchange while preventing true interoperability, analysis, or systemic improvement. Instead, it preserved profit margins for long-term care providers, insurers, and back-end analytic firms.
Connections:
Possible ties to Dana Wilson's father via shared strategy patterns in long-term care tech rollouts
Associated indirectly with Kati Hinshaw and Deepak Dhankher through the vendor-state revolving door
Core player in why the HIE project, though nominally "active," remained fundamentally dysfunctional
Conclusion: Kary Nulisch’s tenure marks the start of the institutionalized sabotage within the Illinois HealthChoice Illinois ADT initiative. His actions embody the archetype of a public-private partner exploiting trust, minimizing delivery, and exiting before accountability can be enforced. The downstream effects still impact data integrity, care coordination, and patient protection across Illinois today.
