Episodes

While there have been meaningful improvements in healthcare delivery over the last decade, they have not catalyzed the transformation necessary to advance health value and equity. The promulgation of health policy and the implementation of new alternative payment models have created a landscape for experimentation in value-based care, yet the seismic shift needed to facilitate long-term and sustainable improvements has yet to occur. The key enabler for the future of our industry is workforce rea...

It’s no secret that the Black community tops the list of groups afflicted by hypertension, stroke, diabetes, heart disease, kidney failure, and cancer. What the statistics do not show is the pain, misery, and despair that these conditions create—not only for the individual, but also for family and friends. As an African-American doctor, Dr. Richard Walker has studied these conditions among his patients for many years. Now, in his new book, “Black Health Matters”, Dr. Walker offers a number of co...

A bright future for the nation depends on the health and prosperity of rural America, and unfortunately, we are at a moment in time where life is not ideal in the rural heartland. Although most rural Americans are generally satisfied with the overall quality of life and see their communities as safe, we are reaching a crisis when it comes to financial insecurity, trouble accessing affordable, high quality health care, a lack of high-speed internet access, housing problems, and isolation/loneline...

The arc of the future bends in the direction of person-centered care. While payment reform is critical, our nation must also deliver whole-person care models that are exquisitely attuned to both medical and non-medical needs and intentional about addressing unique problems facing racial and ethnic minorities. The entrenched interests perpetuating the status quo of the fee-for-service, medical-industrial complex are immense; however, the pandemic is a catalyst for consumer-driven, value-based pay...

As we talk about the current zeitgeist moving us towards value and equity, we also have to think about how polarized our country is politically. Democrats and Republicans live in separate worlds, or “echo chambers,” with each side prone to bias or “motivated reasoning.” This has created an existential threat of tribalism where partisanship has turned Americans against one another. The term that best describes our strife is “political sectarianism,” or the tendency of political groups to align on...

Healthcare costs due to Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is in excess of $32 billion due to high rates of re-hospitalizations and ED visits, complex and inefficient clinical pathways during transitions of care, and intensive resource burden on clinical and administrative staff. The average cost per COPD patient readmission in the U.S. typically falls between $9,000 and $12,000. Unlike other high cost chronic conditions like CHF and diabetes, it seems that many ACOs are not as purpose...

This week we are talking about how value-based care transformation is related to the “Hero’s Journey” monomyth that was initially described by Joseph Campbell, an intellectual known for his work in comparative mythology and religion. Campbell studied religions, all of the greatest literary achievements, mythologies, folklores, and fairytales and discovered that they all involve a hero who goes on an adventure, is victorious in a decisive crisis, and comes home changed or transformed. Leaders in ...

George Halvorson is a retired American healthcare executive who served as CEO of six health plans over the last 30 years. From 2002-2013, he was the CEO of Kaiser Permanente and was listed several times on Modern Healthcare‘s “Most Influential People in Healthcare”. During his tenure at Kaiser Permanente, he led the nation’s largest nonprofit health plan and hospital system, which is also a leader in the adoption of technology to advance community health outcomes and reduce health inequities. Un...

This week is Nurses Week – a time for all of us to reflect on the contributions that nurses make to our society. During this important time of observance for one of our most valued professions in caring for those most in need, we invited Dr. Sharrica Miller to join us for an important conversation. Dr. Miller is a Cal State University, Fullerton nursing professor who teaches several nursing classes, including pediatrics, writing, research, and mentoring. But she brings more into her classroom th...

As leaders in the value-based care movement, we must think about the synergism between lifestyle medicine and traditional Western medicine. The tenets of lifestyle medicine force us to think more holistically about medical treatment and prevention. Under this construct, “Sleep is Medicine” because poor sleep is linked to obesity, heart disease, stroke, cancer, and dementia. “Exercise is Medicine” because of its impact on a healthy heart, mind, and body. “Love is Medicine” because mindfulness and...

Have you ever had an idea that you just had to make real? No matter what it took… no matter what obstacles were in your way… no matter how many times people told you no… you just couldn’t stop until it existed? Well, this is one of those stories. It begins with an idea in 1988 and leads to the first-ever autonomous AI to be approved by the FDA for diagnosis without physician input. Dr. Michael Abramoff, MD, Ph.D. is the Founder and Executive Chairman of Digital Diagnostics, the autonomous AI di...

The impact of investment activity on our industry cannot be overstated, with the velocity of capital pouring into the health sector reaching stratospheric proportions. The valuation of private equity deals in the US health care sector is nearly $100 billion dollars—a twentyfold increase from 2000 (when it was less than $5 billion). Before COVID-19, we were already seeing mass provider consolidation, expansive funding in digital health, and significant M&A activity…and the appetite for capital in...

ChenMed is a family-owned, physician-run organization that was created to better serve low-moderate income elderly patients. Starting in 1985, Dr. James Chen created ChenMed as a one-stop shop where physicians are held accountable for their patients, and now ChenMed operates over 100 senior health centers across the US. The full-risk, capitation model of ChenMed aligns economic incentives where preventative value based care is the foundational framework. However, what really allows ChenMed to tr...

We have reached a milestone moment, as we are celebrating 100 episodes of the Race to Value – the nation’s leading podcast on value-based care transformation in the country! In this special episode, Dr. Eric Weaver and Daniel Chipping conduct a countdown of the Top 10 episodes so far, playing select clips from the most downloaded Race to Value episodes. They also discuss the recent launch of the Institute for Advancing Health Value (formally known as The Accountable Care Learning Collaborative)...

Jeff Micklos is the Executive Director of the Health Care Transformation Task Force, an industry consortium that brings together patients, payers, providers and purchasers to align private and public sector efforts to clear the way for a sweeping value transformation of the U.S. health care system. Under Jeff’s leadership, the Task Force provides a critical mass of business, operational and policy expertise from the private sector that, when combined with the efforts of the Centers for Medicare ...

The Physician Organization of Michigan Accountable Care Organization (P.O.M. ACO) is a statewide ACO in the Medicare Shared Savings Program that has saved the Medicare Trust Fund more than $199 Million to-date. It is a physician-led partnership in operation since 2013 that supports more than 5,000 providers serving approximately 60,000 Medicare beneficiaries. P.O.M. ACO aligned with the University of Michigan Health System, whose Faculty Group Practice participated in a Medicare demonstration pr...

On February 24th, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) revealed the highly-anticipated fate of the Innovation Center’s (CMMI) Direct Contracting model options, announcing a redesign of the Global Professional Direct Contracting (GPDC) Model and the permanent cancellation of the Geographic Direct Contracting (“Geo”) Model. The revamped and rebranded GPDC model—now called Accountable Care Organization Realizing Equity, Access, and Community Health (ACO REACH)— aims to better reflect ...

This week, we have as your guest the legendary Dr. Robert Pearl, a Stanford University professor, Forbes contributor, bestselling author and former CEO of The Permanente Medical Group. Coming off of his bestselling book, “Uncaring: How the Culture of Medicine Kills Doctors and Patients” and a series of articles in Forbes about “Breaking the Rules of Healthcare”, Dr. Pearl describes the key economic and cultural forces that will reshape healthcare in the post-pandemic era. He highlights the flawe...

Joining us on the podcast this week is Dr. Clive Fields, the Co-Founder and Chief Medical Officer for VillageMD. Dr. Fields is a leader of high influence in the value economy, having been named to Modern Healthcare’s lists of the 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives and the 100 Most Influential People in Healthcare. His company, VillageMD, is a leading, national provider of value-based primary care services that partners with physicians to deliver high-quality clinical care and better patient...

Patient Engagement is of paramount importance in value-based care. Healthcare organizations are increasingly turning to solutions that promise more targeted patient outreach, more coordinated care management, and more potential for patient self-support in between care episodes. These solutions fall under a broad umbrella that can be described as patient relationship management, or PRM – and despite its name, it’s much more than a rebranding of customer relationship management for healthcare. Tr...

Allison Brennan is the Senior Vice President of Government Affairs for the National Association of ACOs (NAACOS) in Washington, D.C. where she helps develop and advocate for policies to benefit ACOs. In this special bonus episode, she provides an extensive update on health policy and directly addresses the critics of the Global and Professional Direct Contracting (GPDC) Model. This episode was recorded and released on February 16, 2022 in order to address the alarming concerns related to the po...

This week we are honored to have as our guest, the legendary John W. Bluford III. Mr. Bluford is a nationally known healthcare innovator who has been recognized by Modern Healthcare and Becker’s Hospital Review as one of the Most Influential People in Healthcare. Mr. Bluford is the Founder and President of the Bluford Healthcare Leadership Institute (BHLI) – a nonprofit organization focused on value-based care leadership to eliminate health care disparities. BHLI provides an intense professional...

Our guest this week is Micky Tripathi, the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, where he leads the formulation of the federal health IT strategy and coordinates federal health IT policies, standards, programs, and investments. As the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) chief, Micky Tripathi is advancing healthcare interoperability to support value-based payment and improved health equity. Before taking the helm of the ON...

This week on our show we have Dr. Terry Knapp – Founder, Director, and Chief Medical Officer of CareSpan Holdings, Inc. Dr. Knapp has a storied 50-year record of achievement in health care and business. His company CareSpan provides a comprehensive, integrated digital healthcare “Clinic-in-the-Cloud” solution by creating unfettered access to care for the underserved, with an emphasis on the care of chronic illness. Dr. Knapp has devoted his life to working with native peoples throughout the worl...