Palmer Evans, MD

 Palmer Evans, MD, from the Tucson Medical Center, is a Senior Advisor for the South Arizona Accountable Care Organization – one of three CMS ACO pilots. Dr. Evans provided an overview of ACOs, ACO development and Medicare trends that are driving the need for reform. He explained that within guiding principles, health care reform will require commitment, investment and risk. “In the end,” Dr. Evans said “improving collaboration, quality, efficiency and patient-informed choice are simply the right things to do.”

Guy Masters

Guy Masters serves as Senior Vice President at the Camden Group. He described how new health care payment and delivery systems will work and reviewed lessons learned from early adopters of Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs). Mr. Masters presented a “Healthcare Reform Strategy Check List”, divided into five parts: 1) Reduce operating costs; 2) Prepare for bundled payments; 3) Prepare for an ACO (delivery system); 4) Invest “smart” in IT and Care Models; and 5) Assess your market, stay close to payer activity, follow the money, help set the rules.

Kathleen M. Griffin, PhD

Our first speaker this morning was, Kathleen M. Griffin, PhD, National Director, Post Acute and Senior Services for Health Dimensions Group. She described the fragmented nature of individual health care entities in today’s world. Dr. Griffin went on to explain several reasons why partnerships between hospitals/health systems, physicians and post-acute providers will be essential in the new world of health care delivery and payment. “There are no lone rangers in health care future,” she said. “Your risk is mine; my success is yours.”