Experts available for comment on new medicare contracts that drive health care hookups

TOPIC:

So-called "accountable care organizations" or ACOs might change the way that the agency running Medicare does business. An article in the Indiana Business Journal explains that the new health reform law requires the agency to sign new "shared savings" contracts with ACOs and gives examples of how these organizations work. ACOs can begin doing business with Medicare in January 2012.

Because ACOs must include primary care physicians to serve Medicare patients, notes the article, Indianapolis-area hospitals are scrambling to integrate their services and those of hundreds of local physicians into "clinically integrated" networks so they'll be eligible to bid on one of the new Medicare contracts. The article gives a number of examples of how these relationships are progressing.

There is a certain amount of pressure for doctors to sign on with a hospital system sooner rather than later. According to the article, "Physicians don't all have to sell their practices to hospitals to join these networks; they can sign affiliation agreements that leave them independent or form a joint venture with a hospital system. But experts say the pressure is on physicians to choose a hospital system as soon as possible—even though the rules of accountable care organizations and shared savings contracts have not all been written."

http://www.ibj.com/new-medicare-contracts-drive-health-care-hookups/PARAMS/article/21197

EXPERTS: ExpertSource can offer several highly qualified experts to comment on this story:

Susan DeVore, Premier Healthcare Alliance

Expertise: Group purchasing, healthcare quality/finance/technology/economics/supply chain, GPO, safety, pay for performance, reimbursement, Medicare, HAIs

Profile: Susan D. DeVore is president and CEO of Premier Inc. Prior to her role as president and CEO, DeVore was chief operating officer of Premier, leading Premier's four business units - Premier Purchasing Partners, LP; Healthcare Informatics; Premier Consulting Solutions; and Premier Insurance Management Services Inc. Prior to serving as COO of Premier, DeVore was president of Premier Purchasing Partners, which provides group purchasing and supply chain services, technologies and solutions to Premier's member hospitals and other providers. She led the purchasing division to its position as a leading GPO in the industry, with more than 2,200 members and $33 billion in purchasing volume. DeVore has vast healthcare experience encompassing a wide variety of skills in strategy, large-scale operations transformation, quality improvement and financial management. Her leadership was instrumental in Premier's recognition as a 2006 recipient of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award and the 2007 Charlotte Ethics in Business Award. She spent more than 20 years with Cap Gemini Ernst & Young (CGEY) as a senior healthcare industry management practice leader and member of the executive committee for the North American consulting organization. She also led high-tech, manufacturing and other business units of CGEY, giving her a broad understanding of business issues and solutions across multiple industries. Those experiences, coupled with her prior experience in hospital finance, bring proven skills in leading, managing and understanding healthcare strategy, quality, operations and finance. DeVore has been named to Modern Healthcare's list of the 100 Most Powerful People in Healthcare and to the magazine's list of the Top 25 Women in Healthcare. She was a recipient of the 2007 Top 25 Women in Business by the Charlotte Business Journal. She also is also a member of the board of HGPII (Healthcare Group Purchasing Industry Initiative), of which Premier is a member. And she serves on the board of Global Healthcare Exchange (GHX), of which Premier is an owner. GHX provides an open and neutral electronic trading exchange to improve the procurement-to-payment process in the healthcare supply chain. DeVore is involved in the Charlotte community as a Member of the Master of Health Administration Healthcare Management Advisory Board in the Department of Public Health Science at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and serves on the board of the Arts & Science Council.

Leon Lamoreaux, Priority Health

Expertise: Medicare & Medicaid expert - over 20 years experience in health insurance company

Profile: Leon D. Lamoreaux is vice president of government programs (Medicare and Medicaid). During his 21 years in health care, Leon has held positions with a number of health care organizations including Intermountain Health Care, The Regenee Group, Excelluse Blue Cross Blue Shield and WellPoint. Leon also teaches MBA courses and other graduate courses at University of Phoenix.

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