Katherine A. Schneider, MD, MPhil, FAAFP, serves as Chief Executive Officer of Delaware Valley Accountable Care Organization.
On April 7th, Dr. Schneider will serve on the panel "Building Strong Provider/Payer Relationships Through Collaboration" at Becker's Hospital Review 11th Annual Meeting. As part of an ongoing series, Becker's is talking to healthcare leaders who plan to speak at the conference, which will take place on April 6-9, 2020 in Chicago.
To learn more about the conference and Dr. Schneider's session, click here.
Question: Where do you go for inspiration and fresh ideas?
Katherine Schneider: For inspiration, I go “inside” -my organization tells a “value story” at the beginning of every meeting, concretely illustrating how we are making a difference to patients directly and indirectly through leading change throughout the continuum of care. For fresh ideas, I go outside. Outside my organization, outside my region through national networking, outside healthcare altogether (not just other industries but also the arts), and as frequently as possible I literally go outside to keep the blood flowing!
Q: What do you see as the most exciting opportunity in healthcare right now?
KS: The design and deployment of new care models, facilitated by meaningful alternative payment models that break the silos and habits (and outcomes) driven by fee for service. I’m not talking about layering an app onto the status quo. I’m talking about a redesign of the team, the setting, and all the tools around what the patient needs, versus what the providers or payment system needs.
Q: Healthcare has had calls for disruption, innovation and transformation for years now. Do you feel we are seeing that change? Why or why not?
KS: There has absolutely been change taking place incrementally but at a faster pace over the past several years – I’m referring specifically to widespread system change on the ground, not innovations in science or niche disruptors which are the usual focus. It differs from region to region. In Greater Philadelphia, for example, in the past five years we have gone from virtually no infrastructure supporting a coordinated care model to widespread data exchange between providers (including in the previously siloed post-acute space), and widespread investment in primary care transformation from both within the market and from outside. Much of this has been driven by a gradual shift in payment models. I do believe that the traditional healthcare industry is now facing an unprecedented level of investment from non-traditional players, some of whom are already moving people’s cheese significantly, and this is only going to accelerate.