Episodes

In value-based care, we have both an economic and a moral imperative. What’s at stake is so much more than saving our healthcare system. It is about ensuring the continued prosperity of our nation to ensure that we leave it better for future generations. The best indicator of whether our country is on the right path is the assurance that healthy mothers can give birth to healthy children. And those children, in turn, must be assured of good care and a sound education that will enable them to fac...

Patients who are high utilizers, also known as multi-visit patients (MVPs) or frequent flyers, whether found in the ED, inpatient units or other departments, drive up readmission rates and tie up resources. Often, clinicians and administrators hold out little hope that they can end the multi-visit cycles of these patients. Yet, by looking at a patient’s multiple visits as a symptom of a deeper problem, and then identifying and rectifying that underlying problem, clinicians can end a patient’s cy...

Three perfect storms in recent years – the health storm produced by the COVID-19 pandemic; the economic storm that resulted from its disruptions; and the social storm that followed the murder of George Floyd which sparked fresh outrage at longstanding inequities – have sharpened and added important nuances of what health care really means. The goal of health care has always been to reduce suffering, but we must now prioritize transformation in leadership now more than ever. Building trust, elimi...

It is Black Maternal Health Week, and this week’s episode provides context and value-based solutioning on how to address the alarming rise of maternal mortality in the U.S. We have horrifically poor maternal health outcomes in the African American population of our country, and it is directly attributable to a flawed design of our healthcare system juxtaposed with the presence of longstanding and systemic institutional racism. If there ever was an opportunity for improving health equity through ...

A large wooden ship encased in glass sits prominently in the lobby of Humana’s Louisville headquarters. Its placement seems out of the ordinary, until you understand its symbolic purpose. The ship symbolizes the collaboration necessary from all of those focused on member/patient well-being. We must all row together to make progress and help those we serve live their healthiest lives. Physicians. Nurses. Health coaches. Pharmacists. Health plans. And many others. Collaboration and teamwork are cr...

This week we have the honor of being joined by a world-renowned family physician and health equity expert, with deep experience in value-based care transformation, technology and innovation, and health disparities improvement. You are going to hear from the one and only Dr. Nwando Olayiwola, a leader in this Race to Value who is committed to ensuring that everyone has access to fair, high quality and equitable health and health care, no matter their background. To achieve this, she has committed...

As the healthcare industry moves towards achieving CMS’s goal of having every Medicare beneficiary in an ACO or ACO-like model by 2030, we must focus on patients in institutional settings. For long-term care patients, better care and better health means ensuring patients receive advanced care planning and regular wellness visits. And it also requires providers and facilities to work together in preventing avoidable hospitalizations and unnecessary SNF and hospice utilization. Unfortunately, the ...

The healthcare system in the United States is ailing and in need of a massive value-based transformation. While we are increasingly polarized in our politics, there is one issue on which most Americans agree: our health care system is broken. Despite spending more per capita on health care than any other country, Americans are in worse health, with lower life expectancies, higher hospital admissions, and at greater risk of suicide and maternal mortality compared to peer nations. This is largely ...

Are you ready to climb the mountain and reach new heights for a transformative future? In the “race to value”, the mountain climber must not be intimidated by the steep terrain of a broken healthcare system. Instead we must look within ourselves, while also finding inspiration from others, to keep climbing! The ultimate summit of value transformation is what drives us, but the climb itself is what matters. If you are looking for inspiration in your value journey, look no further than our guest ...

One of the most widely known and influential thinkers on management, Peter Drucker, once said, “The entrepreneur always searches for change, responds to it, and exploits it as an opportunity.” In this movement to value, it’s seems that the new players – innovators and disrupters with unbridled passion for entrepreneurialism – are going to be in the best position to be at the headwaters of a transformation in American healthcare. The financial incentives in the current model of healthcare are sim...

Disclaimer: The information provided in this podcast is purely for educational purposes and should not be interpreted as a recommendation for a specific treatment plan, medicinal plant, or course of action for medical treatment. None of the statements or ethnobotanical information in this episode have been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The purpose of the information conveyed in this podcast is simply to explore the ancient healing practices of indigenous cultures. Please c...

Implementing value-based care can help providers improve patient health and reduce care costs, but it also presents the opportunity to explore new and emerging areas of research in breakthrough treatments that can revolutionize healthcare as we know it today. Embracing such a paradigm shift is for the mindful, who acknowledge that certain aspects of medicine are not working as intended. If we are to truly attain better patient outcomes at a lower cost, we must consider emerging areas of research...

The healthcare industry is facing immense financial pressure. Staffing shortages, skyrocketing labor costs, continuing supply chain disruptions, inflation, rising interest rates, and volatile markets are pressuring both revenue and expenses for provider organizations. These economic challenges, however, are an opportunity to catalyze value-based care. The promise of value in health can lift up communities through improved clinical outcomes, reduced disparities, financial rewards associated with ...

The message from state and federal regulators, healthcare leaders, and our society-at-large is being heard loud and clear: Health equity is a moral imperative. A cultural zeitgeist for health equity has been awakened in the collective consciousness of all ethnicities in the context of COVID-19 health disparities and the ongoing fight for civil rights and social justice. The economic imperative for equity is also too big to ignore, given that inequities in the US health system cost approximately...

Physicians are looking for novel solutions to streamline and improve care delivery in our ever-changing industry. They already don’t have enough time to do all that they want, and they are always being asked to do more! They want more time with patients, but the fee-for-service machine demands they see more patients more quickly. It’s a system that demands more and more and offers less to accomplish it. But there is potential for more success via risk-based reimbursement in value-based programs ...

Nearly 75% of Americans are overweight, including 42% who have obesity. The pandemic has heightened the problem, since many of us find comfort in food, and delivery services like Door Dash and Uber Eats make it easier than ever to consume calories while barely getting off the couch to answer the door. This obesity epidemic has huge implications on value-based care due to the impact it has on chronic morbidity, increased mortality, and unrelenting demands on the utilization of limited healthcare ...

This week on the Race to Value you will hear from Dr. Neil Wagle, the Chief Medical Officer at Devoted Health. This is a company we have been wanting to profile on the podcast for quite some time! Devoted Health is a healthcare company that designs Medicare Advantage plans for seniors; however, they are so much more than just a MA plan. Devoted Health has built a different model of care that starts with knowing their members on a personal level and earning their trust. By focusing on each member...

Did you know that an estimated 80 million Americans currently lack access to dental care? As oral health is essential to the overall health and well-being of an individual, the high volume of those without access can have potentially devastating health consequences such as an increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, diabetes, and adverse pregnancy outcomes. Oral health can also influence eating habits and sleep patterns, which in turn can adversely impact both ph...

Paying it forward begins in the heart. Leaders who use their gifts in the service to others are those who understand that value given is value added. By every measure of success, Dr. Shawn Griffin has become one of the most impactful physician executives in value-based care transformation. And his story is all about how he recognized his unique gifts and built amazing teams to improve population health outcomes. Additionally, his sharing of best practices and key learnings with others across th...

Did you know that musculoskeletal care is one of the biggest challenges facing the value transformation of healthcare? Musculoskeletal healthcare spending is rising at an unsustainable rate – having doubled in the last decade! Many of these procedures (such as knee replacements and spinal fusions) contribute to overspending on care that is not even needed, as it has been estimated that only 50% of MSK procedures are evidence-based. The rising costs ofmusculoskeletal care is now a top cost driver...

For all of you leaders out there on a value-based care journey, it is not lost on any of you that health value has become synonymous with health equity. We are at an inflection point in our society in the recognition that everyone needs a fair and just opportunity to attain their highest level of health. Achieving this will require ongoing societal efforts to address injustice, overcoming socioeconomic barriers to health, and eliminating preventable health disparities. But we cannot do that as a...

The Quadruple Aim of physician satisfaction is such an important aspect of value-based care. In the predominant world of fee-for-service reimbursement, physicians are struggling and burned out. Consequently, over half of all doctors won’t even recommend medicine as a career. This negative shift in wellbeing is important to understand because the attitudes and feelings of doctors bear directly on the way they treat patients. A recent Harvard report calls physician burnout “a public health crisis ...

Are you ready for the risk-based tsunami on the horizon? If you are a frequent listener to this show, you understand just how seismic this shift to value-based care really is and why we need the right culture, people, processes — fueled by capital – to spawn care delivery innovation. It is in reimagining care delivery that we can truly deliver on the aims of improved outcomes, lower cost, better patient experience, and equity for all populations. Joining us in this Race to Value this week are tw...

The Health Care Payment Learning & Action Network (HCP LAN or LAN) is an active group of public and private health care leaders dedicated to providing thought leadership, strategic direction, and ongoing support to accelerate our care system’s adoption of alternative payment models (APMs). The LAN mobilizes payers, providers, purchasers, patients, product manufacturers, policymakers, and others in a shared mission to lower care costs, improve patient experiences and outcomes, reduce the barriers...