Premier healthcare alliance Experts to Discuss Reform Challenges Regarding Reimbursement, Bundled Payment, and Payor Alignment in October

CHARLOTTE, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Premier healthcare alliance industry experts will share insights across the nation in this month on the challenges of reform, including reimbursement cuts, bundled payment contracting, and payor arrangement alignment.

Premier is a provider-owned performance improvement alliance of more than 2,700 U.S. hospitals and 90,000 other sites helping healthcare providers improve their patient care and finances. Each month, Premier member and executive experts speak around the country to inform, advocate for and support care delivery reforms.

Keith J. Figlioli, Premier senior vice president of healthcare informatics will be a general session speaker at IBM’s Information On Demand (IOD) 2012 conference in Las Vegas on October 22. He will discuss how Premier partnered with IBM to build the PremierConnect™ technology platform, which alliance members nationwide use to make decisions based on a holistic combination of healthcare information and analytics. The platform is also an enabler for providers to interact as one in communities of common interest, sharing learnings, data and strategies based on thousands of patient outcomes that can be used to benefit treatment anywhere.

Premier, an InformationWeek 500 technology innovator, maintains the nation’s largest database of clinical, financial and outcomes information. The comprehensive database contains information from 1 in 4 U.S. hospital discharges, 2.5 million real-time clinical transactions daily and nearly $43 billion in annual purchasing data.

On the next day of the IBM IOD conference, Premier’s Chief Technology Officer Denise Hatzidakis, IBM representatives and alliance members from Carolinas HealthCare and Texas Health Resources will speak during a panel on managing population health with integrated information.

Also on October 22, Blair Childs, Premier senior vice president of public affairs, and Durral Gilbert, Premier president of supply chain services, will participate in a panel during the Healthcare Supply Chain Expo in Orlando. Childs will introduce former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) at the opening keynote. Childs will also moderate a state of the industry panel discussion about how healthcare reform legislation has affected providers and other organizations, as well as provide an outlook into the future of the industry. In addition, David Edwards, Premier vice president of supplier relations and contract uptake will participate in a panel discussion about strengthening ties between suppliers and group purchasing organizations.

Premier Performance Partners Vice President of engagement and delivery, Joe Damore, will speak during the National Accountable Care Organization (ACO) Congress in Los Angeles on October 31. He will discuss the current state of the journey to accountable care and population health management in aligning payor arrangements with new delivery models.

Damore will also address accountable care during the Michigan Hospital Association’s Governance Leadership Forum on October 8. He will lead a general session about ACOs and the changing healthcare market using data-driven examples regarding ACO development, how to bridge fee-for-service with accountable care, population health management strategies, and ways to prepare for value-based purchasing.

In addition, Marv Feldman, RPh, MS, Premier managing principal of pharmacy consulting and senior director of medication management, will co-host a concurrent session at the forum on the ACO framework for pharmaceuticals and provide recommendations for providers in this space alongside the Dartmouth Institute, American Medical Group Association and National Pharmaceutical Council.

This month, Premier will host a number of Advisor Live^® webinars, which are free and open to the public. Following is a list of upcoming webinars. Visit the Premier events website for more information and to register.

• Developing an effective community health needs assessment – October 10 from 2-3 p.m. ET: Join Scott D. Rule, JD, vice president, planning and analysis, JPS Health Network, and Brent Hardaway, Premier vice president, integrated care and delivery, for an interactive discussion on how to navigate this assessment process, develop and execute a customized plan for your community’s health, and make critical strategic decisions as the industry moves toward population health management.
• The role of pharmaceuticals in the ACO environment – October 16 from 2-3 p.m. ET: This panel will discuss how medications play a critical role in a value-based environment such as an ACO. Speakers include:
  • Robert Dubois, National Pharmaceutical Council
  • Gary Plank, Marshfield Clinic
  • Gregory Kotzbauer, Dartmouth Institute
  • Jerry Penso, American Medical Group Association
  • Marv Feldman, Premier healthcare alliance
  • Scott Pope, Premier healthcare alliance
• The future of the healthcare supply chain: connecting data, knowledge and people – October 24 from 2-3 p.m. ET: This program will include an overview of supply chain trends and topics from Premier's fall 2012 edition of the Economic Outlook.

A special Modern Healthcare virtual conference will highlight successes at East Alabama Medical Center, a Premier member. Hospital executives will discuss how they got ahead of reform and made last year their best financial year ever. This complimentary event is eligible for 4.5 ACHE Qualified Education hours of credit towards advancement or recertification in the American College of Healthcare Executives. Register here.

On October 24, John Maher, a principal Premier performance partner, will discuss bundled payment during the California Association of Healthcare Purchasing and Materials Managers meeting. The next day, Mark Hiller, Premier vice president of innovative solutions, will provide insight on bundled payment contracting during the Milliman Health Care Symposium in Miami.

Moreover, Premier executives will attend regional HFMA meetings in seven different states to give updates on health reform, address aligning new delivery models and payor arrangements, provide insight on how to minimize the effects of reimbursement cuts, and discuss the connection between labor productivity and quality.

About the Premier healthcare alliance, Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award recipient

Premier is a performance improvement alliance of more than 2,700 U.S. hospitals and 90,000 other sites using the power of collaboration and technology to lead the transformation to coordinated, high-quality, cost-effective care. Owned by hospitals, health systems and other providers, Premier operates a leading healthcare purchasing network with more than $4 billion in annual savings. Premier also maintains the nation's largest clinical, financial and outcomes database with information on 1 in 4 patient discharges. A world leader in delivering measurable improvements in care, Premier works with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Premier also has an office in Washington. https://www.premierinc.com. Stay connected on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.