Remedy recently hosted our 2016 National Innovation Collaborative, the fifth and largest event in the company’s history. The conference, which was held on November 14 -15 in Philadelphia, brought together 337 healthcare professionals from across the nation, representing more than 70 different acute care hospitals, PGPs, SNFs, HHAs, and more for a multi-day celebration of the successes and challenges of bundled payments.
Our speakers shared considerable insight on policy and care redesign alike. Keynote speaker Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, one of the architects of the Affordable Care Act and a longtime proponent of bundled payments, delivered a thoughtful speech on the benefits and savings that have been rendered to both patients and providers through bundled payment programs, and laid the case for their enduring place in healthcare, public and private.
This sentiment was echoed by Amy Bassano, the Deputy Director of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, who gave an inside look into how the responsive relationship between the government and providers has allowed bundled payments to flourish so rapidly and function so effectively. Additionally, presentations from Remedy’s Steve Wiggins, provided further perspective on how we have grown and matured as a company through the infancy of the BPCI initiative, and how our unique approach to bundled payments will propel us into the future.
True to the theme of ‘Redesigning Episodes of Care,’ the bulk of the Collaborative focused on specific actions that clinicians and program administrators can take in support of care redesign, and numerous frontline clinicians weighed in on their experience in bundled payments. Notably, Dr. Steve Pantilat, a palliative care expert from University of California, San Francisco gave an incisive presentation on the value of palliative care for severely ill patients. He touched on the experiences that many patients’ families and physicians share around the end of life as rationale for a compassionate but systematic approach to palliative care.
Chief Medical Officer Win Whitcomb offered an illustration of the difference between a high-value and low-value episode of care, and listed the specific high-value practices that clinicians and organizations can take to ensure that patients experience the former. Remedy also had the opportunity to sit down with our partners’ frontline clinicians for breakout sessions that addressed topics such as post-acute care, next site of care selection, orthopedic bundles, and reporting and analytics.
The event was an important milestone for the Transitional Care Institute, as many attendees were introduced to our most recent resources, including NSOC selection and palliative care resources through our speakers and panelists. It also served as a testing ground for our new Transitional Care Institute App, which attendees used to network, provide feedback, and engage with speakers’ topics before and after their sessions. Overall, reception for the app was overwhelmingly positive, with 4 in 5 users expressing interest in using the app to aid in their care redesign efforts beyond the conference, and the feedback they provided will help us to make future events even better.
Remedy would like to thank all who contributed to the collaborative for your hard work on behalf of our partner communities, which makes powerful connective moments like this possible. We can’t wait for our continued collaboration.