1. Describe your role in Beacon Health and a typical day for you.
A large portion of my time is spent ensuring that we are meeting the obligations of our agreements with payers, employers, vendors, and participating organizations and that these entities are also fulfilling their commitments and obligations. As COO, I'm involved in negotiating these agreements and then once secured, establishing, and implementing a plan to support the arrangement.
I also spend considerable time leading, coordinating, and integrating operational functions across the broad spectrum of services under the Beacon Health umbrella, including network management, communications, wellness, data analytics, and project management. Woven throughout this is the continuous process of developing and implementing the strategy that guides us all every day.
2. What in your background has prepared you for this leadership role in Beacon Health?
Population health encompasses so many elements from my past experience that have been extremely helpful navigating this new care delivery model. For example, my coding background is very relevant to understanding the reimbursement methodology and impact that diagnostic conditions have on the overall cost of care. The revenue cycle background has provided a solid foundation relative to how claims are generated, processed, and paid and this has been extremely helpful as we try to ingest and analyze claims data into actionable information. I think most of all, my experience working with providers when I was director of physician practices at EMMC. Relationships are very important as we make this transition from volume to value. Creating trusting relationships that build upon my previous experience with many of these practices has been very important to me. Having real life experience re: how a physician office functions and the many different roles within a practice, along with how the EMR is used is very valuable in understanding how we can make improvements that will be effective and sustainable.
3. What do you see in the future for healthcare, and for ACOs?
We must continue on this journey from volume-based care to value-based care as the U.S. cannot sustain healthcare expenditures accounting for 16.9 percent of its GDP. We will explore and lead discussions around bundled payment opportunities, MACRA/MIPS evaluations and a continued focus on providing high quality care at a lower cost for the populations we serve, one patient at a time. We may not be called an ACO but we believe our work will continue.
