Spring 2022 Conference Agenda
April 27–29
Hilton Baltimore Inner Harbor

Thursday, April 28

7:00 am – 6:00 pm

Registration Open

Key Ballroom Foyer

Breakfast Session
Right Patient, Right Intervention, Right Outcome: Strategies for more Impactful Care Management
Speakers: William Faust and Rich Parker, Arcadia, Tracy Callahan, MaineHealth ACO

Care management programs are a crucial way for ACOs to improve patient outcomes - but they require substantial investment. Join us for breakfast and a conversation about strategies to maximize the impact of limited care management resources.

Sponsored by: Arcadia

Breakfast Session
Quality, Equity, and Performance: The Secret Sauce of ACO Success
Speakers: Jack Bloise, Salient Healthcare; Alysen Casaccio, Mingle Health; Amy Landry, Mingle Health; Angela Wright, MCM Accountable Care Organization 

Health disparities will not change without focused performance management and quality improvement initiatives.  Join Salient Healthcare and Mingle Health for an early breakfast and meaningful insights to address your ACO’s health equity and bottom line.

Sponsored by: Salient Healthcare

Breakfast Session
Predictive Analytics – Practical Applications for Improved Quality and Cost Outcomes
Speakers: David Clain and Josh Gray, Health Data Analytics Institute

Predictive analytics are in reach for all ACOs, regardless of size and staffing. This session will cover strategies that ACOs are using for identifying and managing specific high risk and rising risk patient cohorts. Automated claims feeds such as BCDA are enabling personalized care profiles for every beneficiary and targeted interventions to prevent adverse events and support value-based care success. In addition, attendees who are interested may request a customized analysis which will benchmark their 2021 cost and utilization performance against those of other ACOs using next generation digital twinning.

Sponsored by: Health Data Analytics Institute

Key
11-12

8:30 – 10:00 am

Opening Plenary

Welcome: Clif Gaus, NAACOS

CMS Speaker: Meena Seshamani, Deputy Administrator and Director of Center for Medicare

Reactor Panel: Rob Fields, Mount Sinai Health System, Clif Gaus, NAACOS

Key 5-8

10:30 – 11:00 am

Break

Exhibits Open

Key Ballroom Foyer

10:30 am – 12:00 pm

Leaders in Quality Excellence Award Winners Showcase
Chair: Megan Reyna, Advocate Aurora Health
Speakers: Tabita Delisca, Summit Health; Jim Giordano, St. Joseph Health Partners ACO; Matt Gitzinger, UNC Health Care

Three ACOs selected by the NAACOS Quality Committee to receive the 2022 NAACOS Leader in Quality Excellence Award will be recognized for their outstanding efforts to improve the quality and safety of patient care and advance population health goals.  During this session, the winners will showcase their exemplary efforts in quality improvement and disseminate best practices. 

Key 3-4

10:30 am – 12:00 pm

Operationalizing DCE Compliance
Chair: Kim Busenbark, Wilems Resource Group
Speakers: Kim Kauffman, Aledade; Michelle Leslie, MaxHealth

Compliance only counts if you can prove it. The GPDC Model brought an entirely new set of challenges to value-based care compliance, and CMS has shown a readiness to audit under the Model. The same will be true for the ACO REACH Model in PY2023. This session includes industry experts from compliance, legal, and operations discussing real world implementation of DCE requirements across all areas of the organization.  Join us to learn best practices, tips and takeaways that you can implement in your own DCE and REACH ACO to ensure you are compliant and ready to prove it in an audit.

Key 9-10

10:30 am – 12:00 pm

The Future of Health is Digital Care and at the Heart of Patient Centeredness
Chair: Debbie Welle-Powell, Essentia Health
Speakers: Douglas Clarke, Medically Home; Rob Fields, Mount Sinai Health System; Kapil Parakh, Google/Fitbit

In this session will hear from experts in the field on advances in digital care from remote patient monitoring to wearable devices and innovative care models. We will explore and debate answers to the following questions: 

1. What impact has COVID had on accelerating digital care for your organization?  Please describe? (i.e. virtual care, video visits on demand,  remote patient monitoring, hospital at home programs)?
2. Describe what the care team of the future will look like with an integrated digital care strategy?
3. How have you cut through the noise and helped clinicians make care more meaningful and timely decisions through data?
4. How are you keeping patients and providers connected with digital solutions they actually want to use?

Key
11-12

12:00 – 1:30 pm

Lunch Plenary

Speaker: Dana Safran, National Quality Forum

Dana Safran will give an update from NQF's perspective on the future of quality measurement as the country moves to value-based care.

Key Ballroom
5-8

1:30 – 2:00 pm

Break

Exhibits Open

Key Ballroom Foyer

2:00 – 3:30 pm

Critical Policy Updates for ACOs
Chair: David Pittman, NAACOS
Speakers: Maria Alexander, Mount Sinai Health System; Rob Daley and Alyssa Neumann, NAACOS

In this session, NAACOS staff will review key policy issues affecting ACOs. Highlighting critical policy updates from CMS and Congress, the session will outline what ACOs and Direct Contracting Entities (DCEs) need to know in 2022 and discuss updates to the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP), Direct Contracting (DC), and Quality Payment Program (QPP), among other issues.

Key 3-4

2:00 – 3:30 pm

Annual Wellness Visits for Accountable Care Organizations 
Chair: Jen Perloff, Institute for Accountable Care
Speakers: James Barr, Atlantic Health System ACO; Whitney Denin, Nebraska Health Network; Nathan Moore, BJC ACO

More and more ACOs are using annual wellness visits (AWVs) as an opportunity to engage with patients around prevention and chronic condition management. This is particularly valuable for geriatric patients who may have multiple chronic condition, frailty, cognitive impairment or other conditions that make it difficult to effectively engage with the healthcare system. This session will focus on ACOs who are using different techniques to engage primary care providers and their staff to implement AWVs. We will discuss the use of a structured AWV protocols, work follow, what to do when you encounter cognitive and physical limitations in ACO patients. Participants are encouraged to bring clinical and operational questions for this panel of physicians, nurse practitioners and AWV experts. 

Key 9-10

2:00 – 3:30 pm

Expected Costs: Principles of Benchmarking in Medicare, MA, Commercial, and Medicaid
Chair: Travis Broome, Aledade
Speakers: Mike Barrett, Collaborative Health Systems; Jamie Reedy, Summit Health; Karen Wilding, Nemours

An ACO exists to outperform expectations in health and in costs. In this session, you will learn the principles of setting benchmarks for different payers including the different considerations of each. Learn why one payer may value historical performance (lower costs than last year) over relative performance (difference between health care providers) while another may go in another direction. 

Key
11-12

3:30 – 4:00 pm

Break

Exhibits Open

Key Ballroom Foyer

4:00 – 5:30 pm

Peer to Peer Exchanges
New this year: The peer to peer exchanges will be affinity groups during the spring conference.  These groups will enable peers in similar professional roles to connect and discuss issues of common concern and solutions.  The five categories for ACO members at our spring conference include:

1. Executive facilitated by Jen Moore, Maine Health ACO
1. CEOs, CFOs, Executive Directors, Chief Value Officers, and others who oversee the ACO’s finances, budget, strategy, contracting
2. Clinical facilitated by Nina Taggart, Lehigh Valley Health Network and Richard Feifer, LTC ACO
1. CMOs, CNOs, Pop Health Officers, and others who manage patient care,  and clinical care redesign.
3. Data and Analytics facilitated by Jessica Walradt, Northwestern Medicine and Rick Forester, Privia Health
1. Managers within ACOs who are responsible for integration, using data to analyze performance, creating and integrating data from sources like EMRs, claims and registries
4. Operations facilitated by Kathleen Harris, Banner Health and Tony Reed, ChristanaCare
1. Managers and others who oversee day-to-day aspects of running an ACO such as building provider networks, engaging patients, practice transformation, and implementing projects to achieve the ACO’s financial and strategic goals.
5. Quality facilitated by Yates Lennon, CHESS and Megan Reyna, Advocate Aurora Health
1. Managers and others who implement initiatives designed to improve, measure, and report the quality of care in an ACO.

5:30 – 6:30 pm

Reception

Exhibits Open

Key Ballroom Foyer

Friday, April 29

7:00 am – 1:00 pm

Registration Open

Key Ballroom Foyer

7:30 – 8:15 am

Breakfast Session
Adapting Your ACO Strategy and Analytics in a Post-Pandemic Environment
Speakers: Jonah Broulette, Brent Jensen, Matt Kramer, Anders Larson, and Sarah Quinn, Milliman

In this session, we will dig into issues in value-based-care brought on by the pandemic and how ACOs can respond to each challenge. In particular we will discuss:

• How will ACO financial benchmarks and performance be impacted as we emerge from the pandemic? Where are the potential hidden dangers and opportunities, and how can ACOs strategically use changes brought on by the pandemic to improve financial performance and patient care?
• How do ACOs think about and project financial performance coming out of the pandemic?
• How do ACOs best position themselves in value-based arrangements with commercial payers? What are some of the potential pitfalls in contract structures, and how can ACOs best negotiate an arrangement in which they will succeed while improving patient outcomes?

Our experts and analytic tools have helped organizations navigate changes in the ACO landscape over the past 12 years, from the introduction of the MSSP to MACRA to the Pathways to Success rule changes.  We understand that strategies must adapt and change in response to these major systemic changes, and the COVID-19 pandemic is no different.

Sponsored by: Milliman

7:30 – 8:15 am

Breakfast Session
Developing Advanced Clinical Pathways for High-Risk Disease Across Your Post-Acute Network
Speaker: Phyllis Wojtusik, Real Time Medical Systems

As the baby boomer population ages into retirement, it is estimated that Medicare enrollment will catapult to 80 million beneficiaries by 2040. This generation is not only living longer, but they also present more complex healthcare needs. According to the National Council on Aging, 80% of older adults have one chronic illness while nearly 70% have two or more – meaning more people than ever will rely on our nation’s healthcare delivery system. Drill down further and you’ll see that 40% of Medicare patients hospitalized for injury or illness are discharged to post-acute care (PAC). Unfortunately, up to 25% of them, particularly those with chronic diseases, are readmitted to acute care within 30 days. These conditions are costly with cancer, heart disease, diabetes, obesity, COPD, and kidney disease driving 75% of healthcare spending and readmissions. 

These findings demonstrate the critical importance of developing clinical pathways between acute and post-acute providers for chronic disease management and prevention of high-risk readmissions. As hospitals and ACOs try to manage patient outcomes across the network, adopting a standard of care on both the medical and functional sides is crucial. This session focuses on how defining standardized care strategies and leveraging live PAC EHR data can identify and prioritize high-risk patients in the post-acute setting, lower avoidable readmissions, achieve better patient outcomes, and reduce total cost of care.

Sponsored by: Real Time Medical System

7:30 – 8:15 am

Breakfast Session
Ensuring Equity for Vulnerable Patients and Perspectives on ACO REACH’s Role in Addressing It
Speakers: Mark Reardon and Valinda Rutledge, UpStream; Brian Silverstein, Innovaccer

Description : A panel discussion around ways providers can comprehensively analyze and measure social vulnerability and various means to drive health equity for underserved populations. The discussion will also cover the latest evolution of Direct Contracting and share opinions on various model features like governance thresholds, risk-sharing options, and more

Sponsored By: Innovaccer

8:30 – 9:30 am

Plenary

Speaker: Liz Fowler, Deputy Administrator and Director of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, will give her insight into CMMI models that support value-based care.

Key Ballroom
5-8

9:30 – 10:00 am

Break

Exhibits Open

Key Ballroom
Foyer

10:00 – 11:30 am

Direct Contracting and ACO REACH: Expected Policy Changes for 2023
Chair: David Pittman, NAACOS
Speakers: Andrew Allison, On Belay Health Solutions; Gary Jacobs, VillageMD; Melanie Matthews, PSW and MultiCare Connected Care; Corey Rosenberg, CMS

In February, CMS announced it would evolve the Direct Contracting model into ACO REACH. REACH includes numerous improvements that NAACOS has repeatedly advocated for that current participants and applicants need to understand. This panel will review policy changes coming in 2023 along with perspectives of DCEs reacting to those changes. This panel is intended both for current model participants and those looking to gain a better understanding of the program. 

Key 3-4

10:00 – 11:30 am

Transforming Care for ACO Success
Chair: Stephen Nuckolls, Coastal Carolina Quality Care
Speakers: Laura Balsamini, Summit Medical Group; Thomas Kim, Sound Physicians; Norine Tamborino, Triad HealthCare Network

Learn how providers have achieved success in value based contracts by working with their partners to enhance and transform the care they provide.  In this session you will learn successful strategies and programs your peers have implemented to help them meet their objectives.

Key 9-10

10:00 – 11:30 am

Building an ACO Post-Acute Network: Effective Strategies for Contracting, Network Utilization, and Performance Monitoring
Chair: Cheryl Moses, Physicians of Southwest Washington
Speakers: Jessica Martensen, Essentia Health; Tony Rodriguez, UNC Health Care; Lynn Siedenstrang, MultiCare Connected Care

This session will cover strategies on how to effectively build a preferred post-acute network including how to manage length of stay, and re-admissions to achieve quality goals.  Panelists will share their experience in creating a network and the tools they used to achieve improved health outcomes. 

Key 11-12

11:30 – 11:45 am

Break

Exhibits Open

Key Ballroom Foyer

11:45 am – 1:15 pm

Navigating the Jumble of Quality Metrics Across Contracts
Chair: Daniel Hyman, AllCare Health Alliance
Speaker: Ashish Parikh, Summit Medical Group; Carrie Nelson, Advocate Aurora Health

In this session, speakers will present the various quality metrics that are tracked by payers and highlight the volume of metrics as well as the differences among similar metrics in both specifications and goals.  They will present approaches to navigating these metrics based on both clinical and financial value and how these are incorporated into the compensation for providers.  

Key 3-4

11:45 am – 1:15 pm

Harnessing Episodes of Care to Drive Specialist Physician Engagement
Chair: Rob Mechanic, Institute for Accountable Care
Speakers: James Barr, Atlantic ACO; Thomas Kloos, Atlantic ACO, Optimus Healthcare Partners; Frank Opelka, American College of Surgeons; Jen Perloff, Institute for Accountable Care

Better engagement and alignment of specialists inside of ACOs has potential to improve the efficiency and quality of care delivery. Specialist services account for substantially more spending than primary care and often involve expensive facility-based care and ancillary services. Limited published and anecdotal evidence suggests that relatively few ACOs have made significant progress with specialist alignment. Specialists prefer payment models that are directly related to the services they provide rather than total cost of care. This session will focus on how episodes of care can be used to measure the performance of specialist physicians and design incentives within total cost of care models.

Key 9-10

11:45 am – 1:15 pm

Equity As VBC Strategy
Chair: Rob Fields, Mount Sinai Health System
Speakers: Louisa Holaday, Mount Sinai Health System; Maria Wilson, Oak Street Health

Many organizations are trying to develop programs and standards to drive equitable outcomes. Value-based organizations of all types are often viewed as potential vehicles for this work but results in this area have been mixed. In this session, we will review how to frame the equity discussion not just as a moral imperative but a strategic one and how to build operations and strategies that we hope will lead to the outcomes we are all striving for.

Key 11-12

1:15 – 3:30 pm

Lunch

Town Hall Discussion with CMS Leaders
Moderator: Allison Brennan, NAACOS
Speakers: Meghan Elrington-Clayton, CMMI: John Pilotte, CMS; Aucha Prachanronarong, CCSQ 

This session includes a town hall format and is an important way for ACOs and CMS to have an open dialogue about important Administration priorities, the shift to value-based care, and the Medicare ACO program, including discussion on evolving policies and how ACOs and DCEs fit into CMS’s overall goal of improving Medicare payment and healthcare delivery. This is an excellent opportunity for ACO and DCE executives to pose questions and receive answers directly from CMS leaders and to hear the newest developments straight from the agency.

Key Ballroom
5-8