If there’s anything I’ve learned in 40 years as a dean, CEO and president, it’s that we each need our own toolbox for an optimistic future. I recently retired as president of Thomas Jefferson University and CEO of Jefferson Health to pursue my passion for using technology to reduce costs and address health disparities. As I step away from a career as dean of two medical schools, CEO of three academic health systems and president of a university, these are my reflections on that toolbox for optimism. My message to you: Make sure your toolbox is full. My toolbox has always included music. Read More >

I’ve been a DJ for 50 years and a doctor for 40 years, so every Friday during the pandemic, I sent a playlist to our employees to remind them that art and music and humanity are still alive and well, despite the tough times each of us was experiencing. What I said repeatedly to my employees: We should listen to “The Message in the Music” (the O’Jays, lyrics by Philly’s own Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff). When I left Thomas Jefferson University and Jefferson Health, I gave an interview to the Philadelphia Business Journal based on songs in my toolbox, that I want to share with my colleagues and friends in the industry. Read Less ^

This talk speaks to payor-provider alignment in the MA space. Read More >

It’s March, 2032. A mutant strain of an RNA encapsulated virus has been afflicting people in Australia. Of course, people old enough to remember, especially healthcare workers, the dark days of early 2020 and the COVID 19 crisis immediately panicked….for a second…and then they smiled. Because they knew healthcare had evolved from a broken, fragmented, expensive, inequitable “sick care” system to a “health assurance” system where there is payor-provider alignment and much of a patient's care happens at home.

We are witnessing healthcare’s “Amazon moment.” If you are a provider and think you’re going back to a business model solely based on hospital revenue and not relevant to people who want care at home, you will be out of business. If you are an insurer and think you can just be the middle man between the hospital and the patient, you’ll be irrelevant. If hospitals believe that innovation can just be this cute little thing that they do in the background, but the real business is getting “heads in beds” they will never recover from the pandemic of 2020-2022 losses. This keynote will highlight several post pandemic strategies, including:

1) New creative partnerships between community partners, health systems and payors as we move from “sick care” to “health assurance.” The fragmentation between payors and providers was replaced by a "radical collaboration through vehicles such as Medicare Advantage

2) The fastest growing demographic, seniors, redefined health provision through demanding and receiving healthcare in an understandable and connected manner. We will cite the results of the first "patient owned, primary care driven health system in a large senior community."

3) How providers handle data today will make or break patient trust in the future.

4) Technology can start to address health disparities but it must be applied strategically.

5) The most prized skills for physicians will be empathy, communication and self-awareness in the digital age.

6) How population health, predictive analytics and social determinants move from philosophy to the mainstream of clinical care, payment models and medical education. Read Less ^