‘Eating Glass?’: A DaVita Healthcare Partners Hiccup or Impending Physician Integration Implosion?

By Gregg A. Masters, MPH   When Modern Healthcare somewhat ‘matter of factually’ and rather tersely reported the sudden [unexpected?] change in C-suite leadership at the DaVita acquired foray into physician global medical risk management (i.e., Healthcare Partners) of Craig Samitt, MD, I wondered what back-story this announcement might portend?  DaVita the market leader in End Stage …

‘Fear and Trembling’ or Simply ‘Lonely in’ Seattle?

By Gregg A. Masters, MPH The old is new again… I’ve been writing and tweeting about this theme for some time now. It was aptly offered as contextual insight via Nicole Bradberry of MZI Healthcare /Orange Solutions and CEO of the Florida Association of ACOs. Many have similarly echoed this ‘deja vu’ theme when discussing the roll-out …

Catching Up with Farzad Mostashari, MD: An Aledade Preview at HiMSS 2014?

By Gregg A. Masters, MPH The HealthInnovation Media footprint was again on the ground at Health Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS) 2014 in Orlando, Florida. One of the privileges I enjoy as producer and creator of all digital content generated is I get to tag interesting people to put in front of the camera including …

Former ONC Director Farzad Mostashari, MD Launches @AledadeACO

By Gregg A. Masters, MPH On July 8th 2011 I penned a blog post titled: Waiting for ACOcor? pondering the question of whether this time will be different in the managed competition positioning dynamics we’re likely to witness post roll-out of the Affordable Care Act. Afterall, the ‘chassis’ on which to graft if not build an …

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 …

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 …

The Medicare Shared Savings Program: Class of 2015

By Gregg A. Masters, MPH The clock is ticking and the CMS continues its community outreach via their series of National Provider Calls on the application process for ACOs interested in submitting for the Medicare Shared Savings Program. The deadline for the class of 2015 is approaching with the next call scheduled for Tuesday, April …

An ACO ‘Deck-o-Topia’ at HiMSS14

By Gregg A. Masters, MPH This is the fourth year in  row that I have participated in the largest annual gathering of parties in interest to the health informatics ecosystem. From payor to provider to regulator to vendor to the patient and/or consumer of healthcare services, there is always much flare to consider, discard or assimilate.  …

It’s All About the Network

By Gregg A. Masters, MPH 2014 has kicked off to a challenging pace and doesn’t look to let up any time soon! Over at Health Innovation Media where we follow health innovation from ‘idea to business model’ including accountable care platforms, ‘apps’ or infrastructure plays,  Dr. Pat Salber, CEO of early mover in the ‘rewards …

The Accountable Primary Care ACO

By Gregg A. Masters, MPH At the recently concluded 4th Annual Accountable Care Organization Congress held in Los Angeles one of the sessions I attended was offered by Tom Doerr, MD, Director of Innovation Research, and Deborah W. Robin, MD, MHCM, Medical Director, of Lumeris respectively, titled “New Hope for Primary Care: The Accountable Primary …