Care Innovation Summit: A Very Sober Assessment!

By Gregg A. Masters, MPH This session is well worth the time invested. Two veteran healthcare wonks weigh in on the fundamentals of healthcare transformation and where we stand in the glide-path towards sustainability or fulfillment of the ‘triple aim’. Former CMS Administrator and healthcare attorney turned investor Tom Scully (Bush I Administration, see Wikipedia profile) …

Care Management: A Deeper Dive

By Gregg A. Masters, MPH Earlier I was asked by Lumeris to moderate a webinar on Care Management featuring Deborah Robin, MD, MHCM Medical Director and Eric Mueller, JD, MBA, Director, Product Management. This session is an exploration into the importance and key components of Care Management. In an earlier post, Dr. Robin notes: In …

Universal American: A Sign of Things to Come?

By Gregg A. Masters, MPH Per the recent investor call [to listen via archive replay click (and register) here] the theme was perhaps best set via the following comment: We just want to stop the bleeding… Robert Waegelein When CMS issued the final rule for ACOs one of the first enterprising companies out of the gate …

The Journey to an Accountable Delivery System

By Gregg A. Masters, MPH Colleague and industry veteran Jim Hansen penned a blog post some time ago titled: ‘Accountable Care 2.0: It’s a Journey, Not a Program’, and we followed up with Jim via an interview: ‘The ACO Narrative: ‘Accountable Care 2.0 is a Journey, Not a Program’ or ‘ObamaCare is Toast’?’. Shortly thereafter …

2nd Annual Leadership Summit on Integrated Delivery Systems

By Gregg A. Masters, MPH Is the ‘old new again’? Some would say absolutely! However, there is a twist. May 7th and 8th 2014 the World Healthcare Congress (agenda here) convenes the 2nd in their leadership summit series on ‘integrated delivery systems’, alternately known as ‘IDN’s (integrated delivery networks) at the Hilton Resort on Mission …

Accountable Care Round Up

by Gregg A. Masters, MPH One of the ongoing challenges in ‘new media’ is to effectively discern the content ‘signal to noise’ ratio given the ease of publishing these days. Everyone is a potential publisher and not all curation is of equal value nor newsworthy per se. As heard at a Health 2.0 meeting some …

We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Gatekeepers: Oh Really?

Some have suggested that ACOs are a new and improved as in ‘consumer friendly’ version of their managed care predecessors – HMOs. Editor’s Note: For an excellent historical overview on the genesis of the American sick-care industry, check out ‘Health Care Coverage in the United States: A Brief History.‘ As an ‘HMO lite’ derivative of …

My Chat with Nicole Bradberry

On the anniversary of the launch of the Florida Association of ACOs and the vital role of MSOs in supporting the operations of disruptive business models chasing the sustainable healthcare ecosystem I had a round two conversation with Nicole Bradberry, President and Chief Operating Officer of Orange Health Solutions and CEO of the Florida Association …

Innovations in Healthcare Delivery: A Brookings Merkin MedTalk Series

In the physician directed and emerging ‘accountable care’ space, few have the depth and range of experience, operating success, learning curves and business model diversity than the collective enterprises associated with the vision and tenacity of Richard Merkin, MD – physician, philanthropist and visionary. In fact, with Davita’s 2012 acquisition of Healthcare Partners into it’s publically …

Healthcare Change is Not Coming. Healthcare has Changed!

Why Clinical Integration is Essential for the Future of Independent Physicians Guest post by Ben Humphrey, MD, CPE, MGO Healthcare Consulting (1,2,3) We’re past the tipping point and are proceeding headlong into new market-driven accountability for quality, cost and value. As these large-scale changes progress, physicians who want to thrive and be positioned for long-term …