Smarter Care Connections: Recent Episodes
Virginia Center for Health Innovation
Summary: This episode of Smarter Care Connections is the sixth and final episode in our special series celebrating VCHI’s 10th Anniversary. Our guests this week are a triple threat. That’s right, we have three amazing guests – Aneesh Chopra, Dr. Ibe Mbanu, and Meredith Touchstone. They each bring unique expertise and perspective to our work. […]
Summary: This episode of Smarter Care Connections is the fifth in our special series celebrating VCHI’s 10th Anniversary. Our guests this week are Marcos Dachary and Kyle Russell. Marcos, Kyle and their respective teams provide data and analytics support that fuels much of VCHI’s work. Our Guests: Marcos Dachary Marcos Dachary is a principal and […]
Summary: This episode of Smarter Care Connections is the fourth in a special series to recognize VCHI’s 10th Anniversary. Our guests this week are Richard M. Hamrick, III, MD, MBA and Len Nichols, PhD. Dr. Hamrick was a founding board member of VCHI and is still very involved in our work and Dr. Nichols is […]
Summary: This episode of Smarter Care Connections is the third in a special series to recognize VCHI’s 10th Anniversary. Our guests this week are Drs. Dan Carey and Dr. Mark Fendrick, both of whom have a long history working with the VCHI team. Our Guests: Daniel Carey, MD, MCHM Dr. Daniel Carey is currently the […]
Summary: This episode of Smarter Care Connections is the second in a special series to recognize VCHI’s 10th Anniversary. Our guests this week are Nancy Agee and Debbie Oswalt, two founding board members of VCHI. Our Guests: Nancy Howell Agee Nancy Howell Agee is president/CEO of Carilion Clinic, a $2 billion not-for-profit, integrated healthcare system […]
Summary: This episode of Smarter Care Connections kicks off a special series leading up to the Virginia Center for Health Innovation’s 10th Anniversary celebration in May 2022. For those who are new to us, in January, VCHI officially marked 10 years of improving the value of healthcare in Virginia. This podcast series will feature many […]
On this episode of Smarter Care Connections, Steve Horan, PhD, CEO of Community Health Solutions and member of the Smarter Care Virginia evaluation team is back to interview John Mafi, MD and Michelle Rockwell, PhD on their research on the impact the COVID 19 pandemic had on both low and high value care.
In this episode, Smarter Care Virginia lead evaluator Dr. John Mafi chats with colleague and fellow low-value care crusader, Dr. Ishani Ganguli on her research around low-value care cascades and reducing low-value care at the health system level. The two discuss the importance of clinician feedback; communication strategies to reduce low-value care; how local health system culture can sink low-value care reduction efforts; and the importance of considering the harmful care cascades that can result from even one low-value health service.
In this episode, VCHI President & CEO, Beth Bortz talks to Nancy Giunto, executive director of the Washington Health Alliance about the approach they have taken to report on and improve health value in Washington state.
In this episode, Smarter Care Virginia team member Steve Horan, PhD, CEO of Community Health Solutions, chats with Dr. T.A. Lucktong and Jane Colwell at Carilion Clinic about their approach to reducing low-value pre-0perative testing. They share detailed insights into what has and hasn't worked for their team.
Summary: In this episode, Smarter Care Virginia team member Steve Horan, PhD, CEO of Community Health Solutions, chats with members of Ballad Health’s Smarter Care leadership team about their great success so far in reducing PICC line insertion for late stage CKD patients.
Our Guests: Pavan Annamaraju, MD Dr. Pavan Annamaraju, MD is a board-certified Nephrologist and the Lead Physician for Nephrology Quality Initiatives at the Ballad system. He serves as the subject matter expert and consultant for the National Kidney Foundation of Virginia advancing Chronic Kidney Disease programs in the state, collaborating with the Virginia Department of Health through the Center for Disease Control (CDC) sponsored InnoVAte grant. His efforts are focused on raising awareness, prevention, and treatment among chronic kidney disease patients with special attention to the population of Southwest VA. Dr. Annamaraju is designated as a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, American Society of Nephrology, National Kidney Foundation, and among others, for his contributions to patient care and medical education. He is the Physician Champion – instrumental in implementing the PICC line initiative at Ballad Health system – a low-value measure identified in our Smarter care Virginia program.
Allison Rogers Allison Rogers is the Senior Vice President of Strategy & Value-Based Services for Ballad Health, a 21-hospital integrated health care system serving 29 counties in Tennessee, Virginia, Kentucky and North Carolina. She oversees the strategic planning processes for the health system (which includes all facilities and entities) as well as development of system-wide initiatives such as population health, analytics, value-based contracts, digital/virtual health and health information exchange. She also coordinates the health system’s performance management system, certificate of need/certificate of public need activities, and market share analyses as well as oversees data governance and the enterprise program management office. She is a member of American College of Healthcare Executives as well as the Society for Healthcare Strategy and Market Development.
Amit Vashist, MD Amit Vashist, MD, a practicing hospitalist physician dual boarded in Internal Medicine and Psychiatry serves as the Senior Vice President and Chief Clinical Officer focusing on clinical quality and safety, value-based initiatives to improve quality while reducing cost of care, performance improvement, and oversight of the enterprise-wide clinical delivery of care. Additionally, he oversees all aspects of physician credentialing, medical staff governance, peer review, and provides administrative oversight of the Ballad Health Clinical Council. He also serves as the Ballad clinical leader for the Smarter Care Virginia project.
Resources: Smarter Care Virginia
Ballad Health
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Summary:In this episode, Smarter Care Virginia team member Steve Horan, PhD, CEO of Community Health Solutions, chats with Gerard Filicko, . Gerard is the lead for VCP’s Smarter Care Virginia work. Gerard shares how VCP’s culture and ongoing improvement efforts have helped them get off to a good start. Additionally, Steve and Gerard discuss how traditional FFS can be a barrier to LVC reduction – especially for primary care.
Our Guest: Gerard FilickoGerard Filicko is the Vice President of Clinical Integration for the HCA Capital Division, and Executive Director of both Virginia Care Partners LLC and the Virginia Care Partners ACO. He is responsible for overall leadership, strategy and visioning for these two physician-led organizations with over 900 providers and value-based contracts totaling $1.1B in medical spend for 200,000 patients.
Gerard began his career as a hospital executive with HCA Healthcare in 1987. In 1996, Gerard started his own physician management company. For the next 20 years, he worked side-by-side with both primary care and specialty physicians throughout the Southeast, helping to enhance the operation, care delivery and profitability of their medical practices. He returned to HCA Healthcare in April 2017.
Gerard is a graduate of the University of Virginia, and earned a Masters in Health Administration from the Medical College of Virginia/VCU. He has been the volunteer Legislative Liaison for the Virginia Medical Group Management Association since 2011, and was honored with the prestigious “Legislative Liaison of the Year Award” from National MGMA in 2018. He serves on the MGMA Government Affairs Council, the Medical Society of Virginia Advocacy Committee, and the Leadership Council of the Virginia Center for Health Innovation.
Resources:Virginia Care Parners (website)
Virginia Care Partners – overview (PDF)
Summary: In this episode, Smarter Care Virginia team member Steve Horan, PhD, CEO of Community Health Solutions, chats with Drs. Neeta Goel, Warren Levy, and Tushar Patel with Inova and Signature Partners. Dr. Goel is the lead for their organizations participation in Smarter Care Virginia. She and her colleagues give us a peek into how they have worked together to tackle the project goals.
Our Guests: Neeta Goel, MD Dr. Neeta Goel is a board-certified family physician and currently serves as Chief Medical Officer of Ambulatory Services at Inova. In this role, Dr. Goel leads Inova’s ambulatory initiatives for safety, quality, and experience and helps lead the care delivery redesign. Dr. Goel also serves as physician leader for Inova’s clinically integrated network, Signature Partners, leading the growth strategy related to physician and payor partnerships.
Over the years, Dr. Goel has served in several leadership positions, including chair of one of the organizational ACO Boards and chair of various quality and population health committees. She currently serves as a board member of Signature Partners ACO and chairs its quality committee. This year, Dr. Goel is President-elect of the Virginia Academy of Family Physicians. In this role, she strives to improve the overall health care of citizens of Virginia.
Throughout her professional career, Dr. Goel has focused on delivering the highest quality care and enhancing patient experience for her own patients. As a quality leader, she has been instrumental in designing and implementing population health strategies, and initiatives focused on improving quality and reducing the cost of care.
Dr. Goel received her medical degree in India and completed a family medicine residency at the Medical University of Toledo in Ohio. She has been in practice since 2002.
Tushar G. Patel, MD Dr. Tushar G. Patel is a board-certified internist. He graduated from medical school in India and completed an internal medicine residency from Cook County Hospital, Chicago, Illinois. After his residency, Dr. Patel provided primary care services to a small rural community in Southwest Virginia for 25 years. During this time, he also served as a Chief-of-Staff and medical director of the chemical dependency unit at a local hospital and was medical director of Tri-County health clinic, which provided free care to the community.
In 2011, Dr. Patel moved to Northern Virginia and joined Inova Primary care group, where he currently provides primary outpatient care and serves as a part-time hospitalist physician at Inova Fair Oaks Hospital. He enjoys providing cost-effective care with an emphasis on the prevention of diseases and their complications. He has a special interest in population health management.
Dr. Patel is a board member of Signature Partners ACO, and a member of the Signature Partners Quality and Clinical Integration Committee. He also serves as Chair of the Credentialing and Compliance Committee.
Warren S. Levy, MD Dr. Warren S. Levy is a Board Certified cardiologist who has been an interventional cardiologist and now practices general cardiology and also serves as President and Chief Medical Officer of Virginia Heart. He has a special interest in coronary artery disease and risk modification including exercise and weight reduction. Dr. Levy serves in many leadership positions both locally and on a national level, directs a Physician Leadership Development Program through the INOVA Health System and is often heard and seen on local radio and television offering expert opinion and commentary.
Dr. Levy first became interested in medicine and cardiology working his way through college at the local VA hospital. For him, “the greatest joy and honor we have as physicians is to make a significant impact upon the lives of our patients and their families by improving their quality of life, their health and ultimately extending life through life saving measures.”
Dr. Levy earned his medical degree with honors from the George Washington University School of Medicine, going on to complete his residency and fellowships there in general and interventional cardiology.
Resources: Smarter Care Virginia
Summary:This is the first episode in a series of profiles featuring our Smarter Care Virginia clinical leaders. In this episode, Smarter Care Virginia team member Steve Horan, PhD, CEO of Community Health Solutions, chats with Dr. Moss Mendelson (Sentara Quality Care Network) and Kyle Russell (Virginia Health Information). Dr. Mendelson and Kyle share how they worked together to customize the low-value care reports that Dr. Mendelson is using to share feedback with his clinicians on the Smarter Care Virginia low-value care measures.
Our Guests:Moss Mendelson, MDDr. Moss Mendelson is a medical director for the Sentara Quality Care Network (SQCN), serving on the organization’s board of directors. SQCN has more than 3,000 providers in Hampton Roads, Charlottesville and Harrisonburg as well as affiliations with Sentara Heatlthcare hospitals and the Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters. Dr. Mendelson is an ABEM certified emergency physician and was a partner in Emergency Physicians of Tidewater for over 20 years. He is also board certified in clinical informatics. Dr. Mendelson is leading Sentara and SQCN’s efforts in Smarter Care Virginia.
Kyle RussellKyle Russell oversees analytical reporting and strategic planning for all data collection programs administered by Virginia Health Information (VHI). He joined VHI in 2013 and has previously held roles in data analytics and administration for the Virginia All Payer Claims Database (APCD) program. Kyle began his career in revenue cycle management for Hospital Corporation of America (HCA), where he helped supervise operations in several back-end departments including insurance verification, billing, and claims collection. Kyle holds a Masters of Science in Decision Analytics and a Bachelors of Science in Finance from Virginia Commonwealth University where he was a Dean’s Scholar awardee.
Resources:Smarter Care Virginia
Sentara Quality Care Network
Virginia Health Information
Summary:In this episode VCHI President & CEO, Beth Bortz talks with her fellow National Task Force on Low-Value Care member, Dr. John Keats. Dr. Keats and Beth discuss the role health plans can play in reducing low-value care. Dr. Keats shares how Cigna has led in this work through a number of initiatives, including policy changes around Vitamin D screening.
Our Guest: John Keats, MDJohn Keats, MD serves as Cigna’s National Medical Director for Affordability and Specialty Partnerships. A practicing Obstetrician and Fellow of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), Dr. Keats is the course director for ACOG’s post-graduate course entitled Quality and Safety for Leaders in Women’s Health Care. In addition, he serves as a site reviewer for ACOG’s Voluntary Review of Quality of Care program and is a member of that program’s national steering committee. Dr. Keats is an ex-officio member of ACOG’s national Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Committee. He received his MD from Brown University and completed a residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at UCLA Medical Center.
Dr. Fendrick leads the National Low-Value Care Task Force and is a faculty member of Smarter Care Virginia.
Resources:How Cigna aims to limit healthcare spending increases to mirror the consumer price index
Summary:In this episode, VCHI’s President & CEO Beth Bortz chats with Secretary Daniel Carey, MD about how the commonwealth is prioritizing the reduction of low-value health services. Secretary Carey is currently a Vice Chair of VCHI’s board and is co-chair of the Smarter Care Virginia Employer Task Force.
Our Guest: Secretary Daniel Carey, MDDaniel Carey, MD, MHCM, was appointed Secretary of Health and Human Resources by Governor Ralph Northam in January 2018. Prior to his appointment, Dr. Carey worked as a cardiologist and served as Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer at Centra, where his responsibilities included information technology services, patient quality and safety efforts, performance improvement initiatives, and functions of the medical staff at Centra’s 3 acute care facilities.
Dr. Carey held numerous leadership positions after joining Cardiology Associates of Central Virginia in 1997, which Centra later acquired in 2006. In 1998,, he became Medical Director of the Acute MI Program, and went on to serve as Director of the Cardiac Cath Lab and Medical Director of the Stroobants Heart Center. Dr. Carey then went on to become the President/Chief Physician Executive of the Centra Medical Group.
Dr. Carey has special interest in medical leadership, and in addition to his roles at Centra, has also served as President of the Lynchburg Academy of Medicine, the Medical Society of Virginia and the MSV Foundation.
In his current role, Dr. Carey is passionate about expanding access to affordable health care for Virginians; improving the Commonwealth’s behavioral health and developmental services programs; and making meaningful progress on issues such as substance use and addiction, women’s health, and children’s issues.
A long-time Virginia resident, Dr. Carey graduated from the University of Virginia and Harvard Medical School. He received his Master of Health Care Management from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. He served for 15 year in the U.S. Air Force in both active duty an reserve status, earning the rank of Major. He currently resides in Richmond with his wife Kim, who is a registered nurse. In his spare time, Dr. Carey is a regular at Richmond’s Downtown YMCA.
Resources:Smarter Care Virginia – Employer Task Force