CMS' Tony Rodgers to Keynote Sept. 6-7 Accountable Care Symposium

ONC's Aaron McKethan, NCQA's Margaret O'Kane among speakers at Care Continuum Alliance’s "Realizing the Potential: Improving Population Health in Accountable Care."

WASHINGTON, D.C.—As physicians nationwide prepare for new models of accountable care that emphasize whole patient health and wellness, a Care Continuum Alliance symposium Sept. 6 to 7, 2011, will demonstrate how population health management tools and resources support providers as they move toward these new delivery models. The two half-day symposium sessions immediately precede the Care Continuum Alliance annual meeting, The Forum 11, in San Francisco.

Tony Rodgers, deputy administrator and director, Center for Strategic Planning, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, will present the keynote Sept. 6, "CMS Moves Toward Accountable Care." Rodgers, who oversees the agency’s development of Medicare accountable care organization (ACO) regulations, has more than 30 years of health care executive management experience in public hospital systems, health plans and Medicaid.

"The vision for more accountable care is at the heart of the health care transformation Mr. Rodgers champions at CMS, and his leadership insight is certain to spur substantive discussion," said Care Continuum Alliance President and CEO Tracey Moorhead. "The symposium’s speakers will present a framework for considering the vital role of population health management across commercial and federal accountable care models."

The symposium is part of the Care Continuum Alliance learning series, "Realizing the Potential: Improving Population Health in Accountable Care." The series convenes nationally recognized thought leaders to explore the core activities of population health management: assess and stratify patient populations, deliver health and wellness solutions and measure and report health outcomes.

Paul Wallace, MD, senior vice president and director of The Lewin Group’s Center for Comparative Effectiveness Research and former health and productivity management programs medical director for Kaiser Permanente’s national Permanente Federation, will chair the symposium.

Panel topics and speakers for day one are:

"Federal Policy Initiatives toward Accountable Care," featuring:

• Aaron McKethan, PhD, national program director, Beacon Community Program, Office of the National Coordinator for HIT, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
• David Sayen, regional administrator, Region IX, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

"Evolving Care Models: Medical Centers as Population Health Managers," featuring:

• Terry McGeeney, MD, MBA, FAAFP, president and CEO, TransforMED
• Saum Sutaria, MD, director, McKinsey & Company

"Outlook for Physician-led Care Models," featuring:

• Peggy O'Kane, president, National Committee for Quality Assurance
• Ed Murphy, MD, Advisor, TowerBrook Capital Partners LP, past CEO, Carilion Clinic and member, NCQA ACO Task Force
• Diane Rittenhouse, MD, MPH, associate professor, Department of Family and Community Medicine & Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies, University of California, San Francisco

Day two of the symposium will feature a series of case studies that spotlight the use of population health management tools and resources to achieve accountable care requirements and quality goals. Sessions include:

• "Realizing the Potential: Assessment Tools - What to Look for; What to Expect," featuring Jason Z. Rose, MHSA, vice president, Quality & Care Management, MedAssurant Inc.
• "Realizing the Potential: Risk Management - Programs that Improve Population Health," featuring Richard S. Chung, MD, chief clinical officer, APS Healthcare.
• "Realizing the Potential: Using Data to Improve Patient Health, Population Health," featuring Gary Zegiestowsky, CEO, Informatics Corporation of America; and Dexter W. Shurney, MD, MBA, MPH, medical director, Employee Healthcare Plan, Vanderbilt University and Medical Center, assistant professor, Vanderbilt School of Medicine.
• "Realizing the Potential: Collaborative Case Studies," featuring Randall Williams, MD, CEO, Pharos Innovations; and Mark Skubic, vice president, government relations, Park Nicollet Health Services.

Symposium registration and more information are available at:

http://www.carecontinuum.org/theforum11/program_AC_symposium.html

The Symposium follows two webinars to launch the series, including a July 28, 2011, presentation, "Realizing the Potential: Assessment and Stratification Tools for Accountable Care Populations"; and an Aug. 9, 2011, session titled, "Provider Strategies for Population Health in Accountable Care: Implementing Solutions, Measuring & Reporting." Earlier this year, the Care Continuum Alliance published a toolkit on population health management resources for accountable care organizations - its initial offering in the broader initiative now continuing with the learning series. The toolkit is available as a free download from the Care Continuum Alliance website, http://www.carecontinuum.org.

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About the Care Continuum Alliance
The Care Continuum Alliance represents more than 200 organizations and individuals and aligns all stakeholders along the continuum of care toward improving the health of populations. Through advocacy, research and education, The Care Continuum Alliance advances population-based strategies to improve care quality and value and to reduce preventable costs and improve quality of life for individuals with and at risk of chronic conditions. Learn more at http://www.carecontinuum.org.