BACON from the MaineHealth ACO

Endocrinologist Stephen Babirak, MD, joins Mike and Heather to discuss how statins can lower cardiovascular disease risk in patients with diabetes, vastly improving their outcomes and extending their lives.

Learn how care managers from the MaineHealth ACO and St. Mary’s Hospital in Lewiston are collaborating to increase communication between the hospital and primary care practices to reduce 30-day readmission rates.

MaineHealth Associate Chief Quality Officer Mark Parker, MD, joins Heather and Mike to discuss a promising care variation reduction project that uses the delivery of timely lab results as a lever to improve diagnosis accuracy.

The HPV vaccine has been proven effective in preventing cancer but our vaccination rates could be higher. MaineHealth’s Dr. Melissa Keeport and Caroline Zimmerman discuss new guidelines and the role primary care can play in improving rates.

On May 22, the MaineHealth ACO will host the Working Together to Advance Value-Based Care symposium in Freeport, with health policy superstar Dr. Don Berwick headlining as keynote speaker. In this BACON episode, we take a deep dive into one of the symposium’s afternoon workshops. Focused on payment bundles for specialty care, the workshop will be led by our two podcast guests, Dr. James Powers and Sue Seekins.

In less than a year, Southern Maine Health Care reduced length of stay by thirteen percent and saved the health system nearly four million dollars. MaineHealth Southern Region Associate Chief Medical Officer Michael Albaum, MD, led the effort and shares his “recipe” for success.

One of our most popular episodes of the last year featured an interview with Memorial’s Matt Dunn, DO, discussing his primary care team’s success in increasing patient access. We replay that interview this month, as access remains both a challenge and a priority.

The ACO’s Emily Levi reports MIPS and MSSP results for our participants and the financial implications.

MHACO’s President Jen Moore introduces ours recently released 2022 Annual Report, highightig how ACO participants improved quality, reduced over-utilization, and generated substantial value-based care revenue through collaborative efforts among providers, care teams, administrators, and payer partners.

Pediatric sports medicine physicians Michele LaBotz, MD, and Sarah Hoffman, DO, join us to introduce the concept of physical literacy and share resources that primary care providers can use to assess and improve the physical literacy of their pediatric patients.

In the world of value-based care, there’s one set of diagnosis codes that carry much greater weight than all the rest: HCCs. What are HCCs and why are they so important? Scott Williams, MD, joins Heather and Mike with the answers.

Ryan Polly, MaineHealth’s VP for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, joins Heather to explore aspects of health equity and the results of a cross-cultural competency assessment completed by hundreds of MaineHealth providers.

Reducing care variation is a strategic goal for both the MaineHealth ACO and the MaineHealth system during FY24 and beyond. The ACO’s chief operating officer, Shannon Banks, joins us to introduce initiatives that the ACO board has approved for addressing unwarranted variation in end-of-life care and transitions of care.

Although the healthcare workforce is overwhelmingly female, women are underrepresented in leadership roles. This month, Mike and Heather discuss this phenomenon with Gayle Capozzalo of the Equity Collaborative. A former executive at Yale New Haven Health, Gayle provides insights into the cause of the disparity and offers a leadership pathway for women.