Becker’s asked C-suite executives from hospitals and health systems across the U.S. to share their most recent value-driven wins.

The 59 executives featured in this article are all speaking at the Becker’s Healthcare 13th Annual CEO+CFO Roundtable on November 3 – 6, 2025 at the Hilton Chicago.

To learn more about this event, click here.

If you would like to join as a speaker or a reviewer, contact Mariah Muhammad at mmuhammad@beckershealthcare.com or agendateam@beckershealthcare.com.

For more information on sponsorship opportunities, contact Jessica Cole at jcole@beckershealthcare.com.

As part of an ongoing series, Becker’s is talking to healthcare leaders who will speak at our conference. The following are answers from our speakers at the event.

Question: What are your big wins for value-driven healthcare in the last 12-18 months?

Terry Gilliland, MD. President and CEO of Geisinger Health (Danville, Pa.): Geisinger has a long tradition of value-based care models, and over the last year, we’ve accelerated our strategies in VBC. We are leveraging AI to identify patients at high risk for hospitalization or emergency department visits and engage them in our care management programs to reduce hospitalizations and, more importantly, improve the overall health and quality of life of these patients and members.

Our clinicians are using value-based care guides, which offer real-time care recommendations to treat conditions in primary care rather than routinely referring to a specialist. This increases the value of referrals to a specialist and supports better access. Intelligent triage leverages a personalized, AI-driven clinical assessment to guide patients to the easiest, most appropriate and affordable access points. These value-driven programs are helping us meet our communities’ needs for high-quality, affordable care with a great experience.

A key to successful VBC models is keeping our patients healthy by making sure they have access to the care they need. We have created programs throughout our system – virtual, on-demand, inpatient and outpatient with a team including all provider types – to improve access across all of our services. For instance, our care without delay program has added inpatient capacity, reduced emergency room wait times, and improved emergency department throughput for patients in need. We have grown our advanced practice provider staff to more than 1,200, and they are providing critical access to patients in primary care, urgent care, cardiology and other specialties. We are also increasing our use of telemedicine, remote monitoring and home visits. Our goal is to be there when our communities need us, so we can help them stay as healthy as possible.

Biju Samkutty. COO of International and Enterprise Automation at Mayo Clinic (Rochester, Minn.): Mayo Clinic has significantly advanced its digital and clinical capabilities through the strategic use of intelligent automation. AI-powered ambient documentation tools from Abridge and Ambience Healthcare, integrated with Epic, are transforming how clinicians capture patient interactions, reducing administrative burden and improving care efficiency. In the realm of physical robotics, Mayo is leveraging Proxie, a collaborative robot designed for dynamic product movement within clinical environments, streamlining material transport and supporting just-in-time delivery. Additionally, Steris robotic systems automate sterilization processes, enhancing surgical safety and operational throughput. These innovations reflect Mayo’s “Bold. Forward. Unbound.” strategy, which blends automation, digital tools, and physical infrastructure to enable smarter, more responsive healthcare delivery.

Maneesh Goyal. COO of Mayo Clinic Platform (Rochester, Minn.): The Mayo Clinic Platform has really evolved and progressed over the past 18 months as we work to transform healthcare with platform thinking across the globe.

Since 2024, Mayo Clinic Platform has broadened its potential reach to more than 56 million patient lives across four continents. This was accomplished by hitting several milestones with solutions developers and healthcare providers.

The Mayo Clinic Platform has powered innovation through its Accelerate program which has supported more than 70 healthcare technology startups. The program has enabled these companies to build and validate AI solutions faster using our vast de-identified data network. Accelerate graduates have since gone on to raise approximately $500 million in funding.

The platform also helped digital health innovators move from the ideation phase to integrated clinical solutions by providing de-identified data access, qualification by Mayo Clinic experts, workflow integration support, contracting, and marketing opportunities across Mayo-affiliated hospitals

Finally, a major milestone for Mayo Clinic Platform was achieved with Mercy Health last year. Both organizations can now access and analyze each other’s de-identified patient data. This network also expanded to include Seoul National University Hospital, SingHealth (Singapore), Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein (Brazil), Sheba Medical Center (Israel), and University Health Network (Canada).

Matt Walsh. Executive Vice President and COO of Rush University System for Health (Chicago): Rush University System for Health is a leader in value-driven care that embraces innovation as a core value. A few notable achievements during the past year include the expansion of our intensive primary care house calls program, the development of new capabilities in remote monitoring, and continued efforts in rigorous approaches to quality improvement, all with the goal of achieving the very best outcome for our patients.

This year, we expanded Rush@Home, our primary care house calls program for patients living on Chicago’s West Side, an underserved area of the city. The program extends comprehensive primary care into the homes of patients at the highest risk for poor health outcomes. Through its comprehensive approach to caring for people with multiple chronic conditions and advanced care needs, Rush@Home has proven to improve patient experience, clinical outcomes and reduce total health care expenditures.

To extend patient care beyond the office visit, Rush began offering remote monitoring of chronic conditions, using a variety of wearable devices, AI-powered apps and smart phones. More than 3,000 Rush patients with hypertension, heart failure, and/or diabetes are using these innovative tools to partner with their provider at Rush to improve the management of their condition. These solutions have strong early results in improving control of chronic conditions.

Rush’s strategy to promote early cancer detection hit a milestone in patient screenings. Rush ranks among the top 10% of health care organizations nationwide in screening patients for breast, cervical, and colorectal cancers. For example, our providers achieved an 84% breast cancer screening rate — surpassing the national top-decile benchmark by 2%. To promote early detection, Rush providers endorse these screenings during patient visits and through follow-up electronic reminders, and to track and improve performance, Rush measures and reports screening rates to each provider.

In 2025, Rush entered the 11th year of a successful partnership with 13 federally qualified health centers and three hospitals to improve the quality and coordination of care for patients with Medicaid insurance who live in long under-served neighborhoods on Chicago’s West Side. As a participant in the Medical Home Network Accountable Care Organization (MHN ACO), Rush achieved targets for quality and patient-centered care, such as ensuring patients receive annual preventive care, coordinated follow-up with the patient’s primary care provider after a hospital visit, and improved access to behavioral health services.

Michael Charlton. President and CEO of AtlantiCare (Atlantic City, N.J.): Since the launch of Vision 2030 in early 2024, we have achieved extraordinary progress in value-driven healthcare by advancing two priorities that work hand in hand: embedding social determinants of health into every aspect of care and streamlining operations to give our teams more time with patients. These changes are driving measurable improvements in outcomes, reducing unnecessary hospital visits, and enhancing the experience for patients and team members alike.

On the clinical side, we expanded social needs screening, behavioral health integration and care coordination across all of our primary care practices, not just in underserved communities. Patients now receive one coordinated plan that brings together medical, behavioral, and social resources. Early results show better health outcomes through closed care gaps, significant reduction in avoidable hospitalizations and improved patient confidence in managing their own health.

Operationally, we have significantly reduced administrative burdens from clinical teams so they can focus on patient care. Reducing friction in the way patients move through the care system, reducing wait times, eliminating unnecessary tests and optimized patient flow, have all been accomplished without adding additional team members.

The streamlining of work and having the subject matter experts managing the process has made care more efficient, seamless patient journeys, higher team member satisfaction and retention and most importantly, stronger outcomes at the moments when patients are at their most vulnerable.

By pairing whole-person care with operational excellence, we are demonstrating the true meaning of value-driven healthcare: better health, better experience and smarter resource use – sustainably.

David Lubarsky, MD. President and CEO of Westchester Medical Center Health Network (Valhalla, N.Y.): At WMCHealth, we define ‘value’ not only in financial terms but in the lives safeguarded and futures restored. Our SAAVE (Sexual Assault, Abuse and Victim’s Empowerment) program’s 24/7 assessment program hotline, now embraced by police and government leaders and made mandatory statewide, has taken more than 5,000 calls since 2019, delivering nearly 1 million hours of specialized safety planning to victims of domestic violence in partnership with law enforcement. As the operator of more than 10% of New York State’s entire trauma network and a national leader in outcomes, we look at value not just in treating the trauma you can see, but also the trauma inside. In 2023 alone, our teams supported over 2,100 victims through crisis response, forensic exams, and community outreach. We’re expanding this commitment by hiring new forensic nurses, launching a trauma team–coordinated PTSD screening, and advocating for a local Trauma Recovery Center – ensuring care for both the body and the spirit when it’s needed most.

Jochen Reiser, MD, PhD. President of University of Texas Medical Branch (Galveston); CEO of UTMB Health System: UTMB Health successfully launched a new initiative that we refer to as Medicine 2.0. We scaled an advanced genetic therapy program this year, delivering transformative treatments for patients with rare and complex genetic conditions. By consolidating under one team, fostering cross-department collaboration, and leveraging programs like 340B, we improved efficiency, expanded access, and strengthened community impact. Our model balances clinical excellence with financial sustainability, positioning UTMB as a market leader and destination center for specialized therapies such as gene therapy.

Paul R. Hinchey, MD. Chief Operating Officer of University Hospitals (Cleveland): At University Hospitals, we’re committed to thinking differently about delivering quality care and promoting health in our patients. This model of value-driven healthcare is one we’re living and leading every day in our health system – and it has yielded some outstanding results in the last year and a half.

For example, when we implemented the innovative Enhanced Recovery After Surgery protocol across 15 of our hospitals and 16 of our service lines, surgical length of stay fell from 6.1 days to 2.1. At the same time, supply costs per procedure also declined. Importantly, our patients endorsed the program, increasing its transactional net promoter score from 66% to 81%.

This approach also extends to vital preventive care. Using high-touch, team-based approaches to improve screenings and self-care across our Medicare ACO populations, we’ve seen great results for our patients. Diabetes management improved dramatically, with poorly controlled patients dropping from 10.45% in 2020 to 4.96% in 2024. High blood pressure control rose from 72.65% to 80.92%. Depression screenings soared from 66.18% to 91.07%, and colorectal cancer screenings increased from 73.61% to 84.88%.

These successes are the result of dedicated and inspired collaboration across many different facets of our organization – with teams focused on ensuring more of our patients receive the preventive care they need. But the gains for our patients are the best rewards.

Gerard Colman, PhD. CEO of Baptist Health (Louisville, Ky.): Baptist Health has made significant strides in delivering convenient, value-driven care through our partnership with Intuitive Health. We opened a new ER and urgent care facility in Louisville’s Glenmary neighborhood, marking our third location of its kind. Additionally, we recently broke ground on one facility in Radcliff and another in Georgetown, Kentucky. These hybrid centers integrate emergency and urgent care services under one roof, simplifying the patient journey by ensuring the right level of care is provided and billed appropriately. This approach has helped reduce unnecessary emergency department visits and supports more efficient, cost-effective care across the communities we serve.

Shannon Showalter. Hospital Market CEO and Vice President of Ballad Health (Johnson City, Tenn.): One of our biggest wins has been improving throughput in our hospital and emergency department. We hate to have our patients wait, so we focused on eliminating unnecessary delays in care and streamlining processes to reduce wait times. These efforts have allowed us to open beds more quickly, care for more patients, and improve the overall patient experience. It’s been a significant step forward in delivering timely, value-driven care.

Michele Volpe. COO of University of Pennsylvania Health System (Philadelphia): One of the biggest wins we are experiencing here at Penn, is a measurable reduction in length of stay across all seven of our hospitals. A focused reduction on LOS is not new to healthcare systems, however, sustaining it with improved patient outcomes has been the challenge. Nine months ago, Penn Medicine challenged its seven hospitals to do better through a system led initiative, co-sponsored by two of our hospital CEOs. Teamed up with a project manager and our data analytics group, a standardized approach was brought to the workstream creating an environment of learning from one another while comparing progress on an apples-to-apples basis. The result has been a more aggressive approach to managing LOS using daily, weekly, and monthly data that is no longer disputed, a focus on outlier cases and a differentiated approach to LOS reduction based on clinical area. Nine months in, improvement continues with reductions that have been achieved, holding steady.

Rick Carrico. CFO of Baptist Health (Louisville, Ky.): Strategic partnerships have played a critical role in our delivery of value-driven healthcare. Through collaboration with Intuitive Health, we have expanded our innovative ER and urgent care hybrid model to three locations, with two additional facilities underway in our Hardin County and Lexington markets in Kentucky, improving care efficiency and patient experience. Also, our partnership with Encompass Health enabled the opening of an inpatient rehabilitation hospital in our Louisville, Kentucky market, addressing a key need for post-acute care. These partnerships allow us to enhance services, reduce costs and support better patient outcomes across the care continuum.

Luis E. Taveras, PhD. Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer of Jefferson Health (Philadelphia): Big Wins in Value-Driven Healthcare (Last 12–18 Months)

Ambient scribe implementation significantly improved physician quality of life and patient experience. Physicians can now engage directly with patients rather than focusing on documentation, enhancing both satisfaction and clinical efficiency.
Epic migration to the cloud delivered a more stable and resilient infrastructure while strengthening our cybersecurity posture — critical for safeguarding patient data and ensuring continuity of care.
The virtual nursing model enabled more efficient care delivery and improved patient outcomes by leveraging remote nursing support, optimizing staffing, and enhancing bedside care.
Computer-assisted coding enhanced revenue integrity by ensuring accurate documentation and reimbursement for all care provided, reducing missed charges and improving financial performance.
Cybersecurity excellence: despite millions of daily intrusion attempts, our cybersecurity team has successfully protected the organization from global threats, maintaining trust and operational integrity.

Rob Purinton. Chief AI Officer of AdventHealth (Altamonte Springs, Fla.): In the last 18 months, AdventHealth Orlando has cut hospital-wide readmissions by 5%, with a focused CABG initiative driving a 38% reduction. Real-time analytics, readmission command centers, and cross-disciplinary leadership have powered these results, strengthening whole-person care and delivering measurable value. Systemwide, our newly formed Coalition for Clinical Value is advancing standardized, evidence-based care, starting with a heart failure pathway that leverages real-time decision support to improve outcomes and scale best practices. Together, these efforts reflect our commitment to pairing operational discipline with clinical excellence to benefit the communities we serve.

David Ohm. Chief Strategic Development Officer of MultiCare Health System (Tacoma, Wash.): Over the past year, MultiCare Health has made meaningful strides in value-driven healthcare by achieving top decile performance in quality and service, while maintaining bottom quartile total cost of care and top quartile margins — an uncommon but powerful combination. We’ve expanded access through retail health and consumer-centric models, emphasizing transparency, convenience, and preventive care. Our teams have scaled team-based primary care and advanced chronic disease management programs, improving outcomes for high-risk populations. These efforts are supported by strategic partnerships and data-driven population health initiatives that deepen community trust and engagement. Most importantly, we’ve aligned our mission around whole-person care, ensuring value is measured in both clinical excellence and lives meaningfully improved.

Amy E. Lee. President and COO of Nantucket Cottage Hospital (Mass.): Over the past 12 to 18 months, Nantucket Cottage Hospital has made remarkable strides in delivering value-driven healthcare, ensuring patients receive exceptional care close to home and surrounded by their support systems. We have expanded both specialty and primary care access through new and visiting providers, leveraged telehealth, and piloted AI-supported diagnostics, reducing off-island transfers, saving patients time and expense, and improving continuity of care.

To strengthen our workforce, we hired a dedicated housing coordinator to help staff navigate the island’s challenging housing market and launched a capital campaign to develop staff housing. Our commitment to whole-person care is evident in the expansion of behavioral health services and the integration of SDOH screenings into routine visits, connecting more patients to vital resources at no additional cost. In our emergency department, lean throughput protocols have brought the average door-to-provider time to under 15 minutes, while the creation of an Urgent Access Walk-In Clinic has relieved ED congestion, allowed a sharper focus on higher-acuity cases, and increased timely new patient visits in primary care by an impressive 247%.

Meanwhile, simplified visual dashboards continue to empower small teams to track and improve quality indicators without adding administrative burden. Together, these initiatives underscore NCH’s dedication to improving outcomes, enhancing patient experience, and sustaining high-quality care in our rural and seasonal island community.

Robin Henry, RN. Chief Operating Officer of Solvera Healthcare Center, Inc. (Peoria, Ill.): In the context of value-driven healthcare, especially for FQHCs, a “big win” typically means a measurable achievement that aligns with the “Quadruple Aim” that Solvera Health strives to maintain.

Improved Health Outcomes
Enhanced Patient Experience
Lower Cost of Care
Improved Provider Experience

Integrated, Team-Based Care Models

In addition, as a FQHC, Solvera Health’s care delivery is team-based care building. We integrate primary care providers, behavioral health clinicians, pharmacists, and community health advocates beyond the care that typically occurs in an exam room.
This model supports chronic disease management, mental health integration, and social determinants of health, leading to better outcomes and stronger patient trust.

Robert W. Brenner, MD. President and CEO of The Valley Health System (Paramus, N.J.): ColigoCare, Valley’s Clinically Integrated Network, has achieved significant success over the past 12 to 18 months, aligning our employed medical group and independent physicians around quality improvement. In PY2023, ColigoCare ranked No. 1 in New Jersey and No. 12 nationally for Medicare quality performance in MSSP, out of 453 ACOs, and earned the highest quality ratings in three commercial payer programs. Our population health care management team maintained an 8.9% readmission rate among engaged patients, well below national benchmarks.

These results translated into our strongest year ever for shared savings — nearly $11 million earned across Medicare, Medicare Advantage and commercial payer contracts in PY2023.

EJ Kuiper. CEO and President of Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System (Baton Rouge, La.): Over the past 12 to 18 months, our health system has achieved several significant milestones in advancing value-driven healthcare. Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center was honored as one of the World’s Best Hospitals by Newsweek, recognizing outstanding patient experience and quality outcomes. In addition, Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center, Our Lady of Lourdes Regional Medical Center, and St. Elizabeth Hospital all received ‘A’ grades for Leapfrog Hospital Safety, underscoring our unwavering commitment to patient safety and organizational excellence. We also successfully participated in CMS value-based care arrangements across Louisiana and Mississippi, improving patient outcomes and reducing costs through enhanced care coordination and preventive health initiatives.

Will Landry. Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer of Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System (Baton Rouge, La.):: Ambient listening has been a huge win for FMOL Health. Our providers are reducing their documentation time which allows for more time to focus on quality, coordination of care, and patient education. It also allows for more focus on the provider / patient relationship which will produce better outcomes.

Adam Breslow, MD. President and CEO of Children’s Primary Care Medical Group (San Bernardino, Calif.): Our biggest win in value driven healthcare has been our foray into setting up HEDIS clinics. We have leveraged the EMR to reach out to patients with care gaps and get them scheduled for their specific needs. Our clinicians have been highly engaged, as these appointments are in the evenings and on weekends when working families are able to bring their children in for care. Our metrics have soared along with the value based dollars we have been able to capture. It’s been a win-win-win: healthier patients, increased bonuses for clinicians and success sharing dollars with our staff.

Helen Johnson, RN. CEO of Helen Newberry Joy Hospital & Healthcare Center (Newberry, Mich.): While it might seem like a small initiative, we were able to renovate our largest provider clinic to expand the exam room and staff support space which helped increase patient throughput. It also increased staff collaboration and communication, helping decrease error potential. We were also able to co-locate behavioral health and care management into the primary care areas which has a huge impact on care coordination and decreasing barriers to care.

Marie Langley. CEO of Desert Valley Medical Group (Victorville, Calif.): One of our biggest wins in the last 12 months has been the launch and success of Desert Valley Medical Group’s Enhanced Care Management program. This initiative focuses on proactive outreach to our most vulnerable patients, identified by their health plan as high-risk. Through dedicated case management and personalized support, we have met every program milestone, successfully preventing hospital admissions for several patients. Our team has helped coordinate essential outpatient services, including behavioral healthcare, specialty visits, and transportation, ensuring patients receive the right care at the right time. This program has not only improved individual outcomes but also advanced our commitment to value-driven, patient-centered healthcare.

John M. Fogarty. President of Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital–Needham (Needham, Mass.): As a member of a comprehensive health system (Beth Israel Lahey Health), our principle value add wins at Beth Israel Deaconess Needham have been foremost in the area of fully leveraging a unified health record between primary care, acute care, specialty centers and post-acute partners within our system. While this is not a new concept nation-wide, the broad scope of our system in this regard has substantially improved our ability for patients to get the right care, right place, right time. Secondarily, we are continually trialing new innovations in care: virtual cardiac rehab and primary care programs, digital mental health and patient-facing self-scheduling programs to improve access, avoid unnecessary hospital visits and combat the challenges posed by primary care and specialist shortages throughout the region.

Tom Vasko. CEO of Newman Memorial Hospital (Shattuck, Okla.): In rural health, where higher-acuity care is limited, preventive healthcare is not just an option — it’s a necessity. Newman has made significant strides in the last year to align our work with value-driven care by focusing on prevention, continuity, and access.

1. Telehealth for chronic disease management
Partnering with larger urban health systems, Newman launched specialty telehealth services in line with our community health needs assessment. We now offer rural patients access to specialists such as pulmonologists, while delivering rehab and follow-up care locally. This approach strengthens continuity, reduces costly inpatient admissions, and keeps care close to home.

2. Integrated behavioral health and transportation solutions
Recognizing that transportation barriers can deepen behavioral health challenges, Newman introduced a free patient transportation service for wellness visits and behavioral health appointments. We partnered with Senior Life Solutions to bring higher-level behavioral health services onsite and through telehealth, addressing depression, isolation, and related health risks.

3. AI-enabled preventive care incentives
In collaboration with New Orleans-based technology firm Benzait, Newman deployed an AI-driven platform that proactively identifies community members due for wellness or follow-up visits. The system assists in scheduling and provides automated reminders, significantly reducing missed appointments and preventing avoidable hospitalizations or transfers to distant urban hospitals.

The result
These initiatives — built on partnerships, technology integration, and a preventive mindset — have strengthened local care capacity, improved patient engagement, and reduced costly acute care episodes. Our goal remains clear: keep care in our community while delivering the same quality and expertise patients might find in urban centers.

Patrick Young. President of Population Health at Hackensack Meridian Health (Edison, N.J.): For Hackensack Meridian Health our big wins have centered on our hospital from home program and our clinically integrated network’s quality and financial successes. In the past 18 months, our hospital from home program has expanded from a pilot to five hospitals, admitting more than 1,000 patients. Meanwhile Hackensack Meridian Health Partners, our CIN, has earned more than $20 million in shared savings due to the effective, quality care our clinicians delivered this past year.

These two value-driven initiatives have succeeded in redesigning care delivery to be more patient-centric, efficient and effective.

Arshad K. Rahim, MD. Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice President of Population Health at Mount Sinai Health System (New York City): Achieve best in market medical loss ratio for major payer Medicare Advantage VBC agreement. Continue to engage medical sub-specialists in substantive efforts focused on quality, cost-effective care delivery and accurate risk adjustment. Achieve a leveling of GLP-1 spend for full risk populations.

George Mikitarian. President and CEO of Parrish Medical Center (Titusville, Fla.): In the macro sense, by keeping costs low within our service area.

In today’s high-cost, inefficient, healthcare system, the news is dominated by M&A activity. I’ve rarely in my 42 years in healthcare seen costs reduced as the result of a merger and/or acquisition, or market expansion for that matter. Healthcare continues to build ‘destinations’ such as new hospitals and freestanding EDs that only continue to drive up volume while increasing the costs of care. It’s only a matter of time before the healthcare industry becomes this nation’s next scapegoat for offering an over-priced, poorly delivered, low quality, product.

We have used our own funding to start a Federally Qualified Look-Alike Health Clinic to reduce our ED volumes and to enhance access to care. And, while extremely difficult, we continue all efforts to operate as an independent hospital focused on providing the highest level of quality care that we can at the lowest cost possible without focusing on constructing monuments to highly paid corporate healthcare executives.

David Walz. President and CEO of Madelia (Minn.) Health: Between mid‑2024 and mid‑2025, Madelia Health has delivered clear value‑driven healthcare advancements by:

Strengthening rural healthcare integration and scale through the Headwaters network.
Investing in advanced infrastructure that boosts clinical efficacy.
Fostering a high-performing workforce and securing philanthropic support.
Expanding access to primary care services in a new community — anchoring preventive and outpatient-focused care.

Together, these efforts reinforce Madelia Health’s mission to provide patient-centered, high-quality, cost-effective healthcare — especially vital in rural settings.

Deborah Visconi. President and CEO of Bergen New Bridge Medical Center (Paramus, N.J.): Over the past 12 to 18 months, Bergen New Bridge Medical Center has advanced some of the most significant value-driven initiatives in our history.

We are nearing completion of the largest expansion of our emergency department, set to open in October, increasing capacity by 50% and dedicating 80% of the new space to behavioral health — meeting one of the most urgent needs in healthcare today. Including becoming a Certified Autism Center and embracing the EMPATH model of care. We have made the strategic commitment to implement Epic, a transformational investment that will unify clinical, operational, and patient data, enabling seamless care coordination across our entire system.

We also expanded our LGBTQ+ Health & Wellness Center beyond the hospital walls and into the community, creating more inclusive, affirming access points for care and support.

Recognizing that great care depends on great people, we launched a first-in-New Jersey partnership with CLASP to recruit and support nursing students while they are still in school, offering up to $25,000 in student loan repayment to help retain the best talent. A win-win for the students and for the medical center

Combined with payer mix diversification, strengthened community partnerships, and targeted population health programs addressing social determinants of health, these investments position us to deliver better outcomes, greater access, and sustainable value for every patient we serve.

Melvin Price, DPM. President and CEO of MCR Health (Bradenton, Fla.): Over the past 12–18 months, MCR Health has made significant strides in advancing value-driven healthcare. We have expanded access to primary and specialty care in underserved communities, reducing barriers and improving patient outcomes. Our team has strengthened care coordination through data-driven approaches, leveraging technology and predictive modeling to assess outcomes, evaluate risk, and stratify high-risk populations. These tools also help us address social determinants of health and develop targeted programs to meet community needs. We have deepened our focus on preventive care across Manatee, Sarasota, and Desoto counties, ensuring all populations can achieve better health. Together, these initiatives reflect our commitment to delivering high-quality, equitable care that makes a lasting difference.

Jenny Welling-Palmer. Chief Strategy Officer of Thriveworks (Lynchburg, Va.): As part of our commitment to defining clinical quality in behavioral health, over the past 12 months we’ve worked to develop and implement a clinical collaboration tool that pairs measurement-based care principles with clinical collaboration to better inform treatment plans and in turn, improve outcomes. The platform empowers providers to deliver more consistent, high-quality treatment and make progress tracking an intuitive part of daily clinical hygiene. The resulting insights help assign demonstrable value to the care we’re delivering, linking clinical quality to measurable impact.

Wayne Gillis. President and CEO of Rehoboth McKinley Christian Health Care Services (Gallup, N.M.): As CEO of RMCHCS I’m proud to share meaningful progress in our shift to value-driven care: over the past 12 to 18 months we reduced avoidable readmissions, shortened average length of stay, and expanded timely post-discharge follow-up — all while staying focused on patient safety and access. These gains are a direct result of our frontline teams, care-coordination investments, and partners across the community.

What we delivered

Reduced avoidable readmissions for our high-risk cohorts by lowering patient harm and cost.
Shortened average length of stay for targeted DRGs by 1 day freeing capacity and reducing exposure to hospital-acquired complications.
Increased timely post-discharge follow-up within 48 to 72 hours from 0 to 80%, which helped drive the readmission and ED-visit improvements.

These outcomes translate to better health for patients, more sustainable operations for our system, and stronger partnerships with payors and community providers.

We made progress while confronting known RMCHCS challenges: workforce shortages, capacity constraints, and persistent access and equity gaps in parts of our service area. We will continue investing in workforce development, outpatient capacity, and targeted community outreach so these gains reach everyone who depends on us.

Olieth Lightbourne, DNP, MSN, BSN. Chief Nursing Officer of Streamwood (Ill.) Behavioral Healthcare System: In the last 12 to 18 months I have had the opportunity to educate several professionals in the healthcare arena about the impact, importance and future of value-based healthcare, emphasizing its correlation to the delivery of quality healthcare. There are advantages and disadvantages with both the Fee-For Service Model and the Value- Based Model. The Value Based Model emphasizes Quality over Volume which ultimately benefits the consumer.

I have seen first hand how Value-Based healthcare has improved the quality matrix by reducing recidivism and reducing 30 day re-admission rates. In the Behavioral Health care sector, many Managed Care Institutions have placed incentives for patients to obtain follow-up care within 7 days and are not re-admitted before 30 days.

Value-Based Healthcare is still emerging.

Hence, for many, it challenges them to find more effective ways to deliver high quality patient centered care.

Richard “Chip” Davis, PhD, EdM. CEO of Rochester (NY) Regional Health: Over the past 12 to 18 months, Rochester Regional Health has achieved major milestones in advancing value-driven healthcare. We launched a $3 million, year-long initiative to implement Epic’s Population Health Suite — providing our care teams with state-of-the-art tools for care management, cost and quality analytics, care gap closure, risk adjustment, and patient engagement. These capabilities enable more seamless coordination across our full continuum of care. Looking ahead, we will join CMS’s ACO REACH program next year because we are committed to strengthening resources and support for seniors and the primary care providers who care for them. We also acquired full ownership of the Greater Rochester Independent Practice Association, positioning us to invest more deeply in a highly integrated, patient-centered system of care built on close collaboration between independent and employed providers.

Shlomit Schaal, MD, PhD. President and CEO of Houston Methodist Physician Organization; Executive Vice President and Chief Physician Executive of Houston Methodist: I believe the biggest win has been the change in quality requirements for the Medicare Shared Savings Program. In the past, ACOs such as ours were required to report on quality outcomes and preventive screenings for just the Medicare patients attributed to our participating physicians. Medicare has changed this to require this for all patients seen by these physicians, regardless of payor. This results in high-quality care being provided to every patient that walks through the door – something that has always been a top priority at Houston Methodist.

Darren Evans, PharmD. System Vice President of Pharmacy Services at Phoebe Putney Health System (Albany, Ga.): Phoebe Putney Health System’s pharmacy team has made significant strides in value-based care over the past year. Enhanced 340B program oversight preserved savings, expanding access to affordable medications and funding vital community health programs. Specialty pharmacy services saw double-digit revenue growth while maintaining over 95% adherence for patients with complex conditions, improving both outcomes and quality of life. Phoebe also became the first health system in Georgia to secure Board of Pharmacy approval for smart locker prescription pickup. This innovation offers 24/7 access, reduces prescription abandonment, and meets patients where they are. Together, these efforts demonstrate Phoebe’s commitment to access, affordability, and patient-centered innovation.

Matthew A. Love. President and CEO of Nicklaus Children’s Health System (Miami): Over the past year, we have advanced value-driven care through strategic partnerships and a continued focus on quality and access. Our new academic affiliation with FIU integrates education, research, and clinical care, expanding access to advanced pediatric services locally. Through our new affiliation with Broward Health, we’re bringing subspecialty expertise closer to families, reducing travel and wait times and enabling earlier interventions that improve outcomes. We’ve also earned recognition as an employer of choice, reinforcing that a healthy, engaged workforce delivers safer, more consistent care. Sustained high national rankings in quality indicators underscore our commitment to exceptional outcomes, patient safety, and satisfaction – all core to value-based care.

Giora Netzer, MD. Vice President and Chief Experience Officer of University of Maryland Medical System (Baltimore): A vital component of the University of Maryland Medical System’s high-reliability journey is our commitment to the safety of birthing patients and neonates. In 2024, we launched a remote telemonitoring site providing 24/7 oversight of neonatal monitoring strips by registered nurses, with close communication with bedside clinical teams. All birthing hospitals across UMMS are now live using this model. This endeavor includes certified-electronic fetal monitoring of all physicians, midwives, and nurses working across labor and delivery sites across the System. To safeguard obstetric patients, universal second stage huddles are standard work across UMMS, and we have also implemented system guidelines for Pitocin use in labor management. The implementation of these elements is buttressed by an escalation algorithm. This work has created “wins” in both physiologic and clinical outcomes.

Read Pierce, MD. Chief Medical Officer of Denver (Colo.) Health: At Denver Health, a major strategic initiative to improve access to outpatient care has allowed us to invest resources in clinic teams and technology to support more primary care and preventive specialty care. This has helped us reduce un-necessary hospital and emergency department visits, offering quality care, conveniently, for lower costs.

Nadir Ijaz. Corporate Chief Government and Public Affairs Officer and Michigan COO of Insight Health Systems (Chicago): In the past 12 to 18 months, one of our biggest wins has been proving that distressed hospitals can be turned into centers of value-driven care without compromising quality. We reduced unnecessary costs while maintaining strong clinical outcomes, which allowed us to keep services accessible for vulnerable populations. At the same time, we focused on patient experience and shortened length of stay by building closer alignment between physicians and staff. For us, the real win has been showing that high-quality care delivered with efficiency and compassion is possible even in the most challenging settings.

Anjalee W. Galion, MD. President of Medical Staff and Chief Physician Wellness Officer at CHOC Children’s Hospital, Rady Children’s Health (Orange, Calif.): Applying our inpatient care team model focused on reducing readmissions, to a predominantly value-based covered population, we were able to reduce readmissions to the hospital at both 7-days and 30-days, thus creating a cost mitigation effect that positively impacted the integrated delivery system (published in Clinical Pediatrics August, 2025)

At the request of a large commercial insurance provider, we were asked to provide care management services at a per member-per month rate, independent of the commercial reimbursement model, to a population of high-risk patients selected by the health plan. We successfully reduced ED visits and hospital admissions for those patients enrolled in our model, thus reducing the cost of care and maintaining or improving quality. (poster presentation at Pediatric Academic Societies in 2025)

Mary Frances Southerland, JD. Chief Administrative Officer of UVA Health (Charlottesville, Va.): At UVA Health, we are continuing to evolve our approaches to meet patients where they are, in a Commonwealth with increasing demand for our services spread across regions with limited access. From the inception of our telehealth program through May of 2025, our clinicians have provided more than 720,000 telemedicine services across all departments and service lines. In close collaboration with our population health department, the telehealth service provides interactive home monitoring for more than 33,000 patients. These programs support better management of patients with both acute and chronic illness to prevent readmissions or ED visits while improving clinical outcomes. We’re also using these approaches to reach patients in post-acute settings like skilled nursing, our homeless consult service, our community paramedicine program and our mobile primary care unit. To see how this work has endured and evolved since the COVID pandemic — now integrated into everyday care — is promising for our value-driven care delivery goals.

Mark Behl. President and CEO of NorthBay Health (Fairfield, Calif.): In the last 18 months, NorthBay Health has made significant progress in advancing value-driven healthcare. We have expanded access by opening new primary and urgent care clinics across Solano, Napa, and Yolo Counties. In addition, we have hired more than 45 new providers, continuing to fulfill our mission of ensuring primary care within 15 minutes and specialty care within 30 minutes for residents in our service area. Our neighborhood clinic model, enhanced with specialty telemedicine, is helping patients connect with expert care close to home. At the same time, we remain focused on driving efficiency and reducing costs, ensuring that high-quality care is delivered at a lower overall expense. On the population health front, our team of nurses, social workers, a dietitian, and a resource specialist proactively manages value-based patient populations with the goal of reducing unnecessary acute utilization. We have also strengthened and expanded partnerships with community organizations, particularly shelters and housing programs, to better support the needs of vulnerable populations. In partnership with payors, we have aligned goals and strategies that emphasize better outcomes, shared quality measures, and innovative approaches to improving patient access. Together, these efforts are reducing variation in care, improving coordination, and creating a more seamless patient experience. Most importantly, our progress is delivering what matters most: better health outcomes, more convenient access, and lower costs for the communities we proudly serve.

Heather Dexter. President of Regional Hospital Division at Emory Healthcare (Atlanta): Over the last 12–18 months, Emory Healthcare has made meaningful progress in advancing value-driven care — anchored in quality outcomes, patient experience, and responsible stewardship of resources. A few wins I’m especially proud of include:

Delivering measurable quality improvements – through targeted clinical redesign initiatives in heart and vascular, oncology, and musculoskeletal care, we’ve achieved measurable reductions in readmissions and length of stay, while maintaining or improving quality scores. These gains translate directly into better patient outcomes and more efficient use of resources.
Scaling integrated care models – we’ve expanded our integrated, multidisciplinary care teams across multiple service lines, making care more seamless for patients with complex conditions. This has reduced care fragmentation, improved communication between providers, and increased patient satisfaction.
Driving health impact through access – by strengthening our community-based partnerships and telehealth capabilities, we’ve extended specialty care into rural and underserved communities in Georgia, ensuring patients receive the right care in the right setting, closer to home.
Leveraging data for performance and prevention – we’ve invested in advanced intelligence to identify high-risk patients earlier and intervene proactively, reducing avoidable ED visits and hospitalizations. This has improved both patient well-being and cost-effectiveness.

Our wins are the outcome of a unified effort across clinical teams, operational leaders, and community partners. Together, we’re moving beyond episodic care toward a truly connected, patient-centered system that delivers lasting value for the people and communities we serve.

Stephanie Connors. President and CEO of BayCare Health System (Clearwater, Fla.): BayCare’s team members are the cornerstone of our progress in value-driven healthcare over the past 12 to 18 months. By actively listening to feedback from our 33,000-plus team members, we’ve made meaningful improvements — from expanding our tuition reimbursement program with a $4.9 million investment, to introducing paid parental leave for both parents. We’ve also prioritized competitive compensation, investing over $134 million in pay increases and bonuses. Our annual Team Member As A Customer (TMAC) survey plays a vital role in this process, offering a confidential way for team members to share what’s working and where we can improve — ensuring their voices directly shape the BayCare experience. These efforts reflect our commitment to holistic support, fostering growth, wellness and engagement while recognizing that our people are our greatest asset.

David Miller, MD. CEO of Michigan Medicine; Executive Vice President of Medical Affairs at University of Michigan (Ann Arbor): At Michigan Medicine, we define value through our BASE+ framework, which stands for Belonging, Access, Safety and Quality, Experience and Growth. Some of the successes resulting from that strategy in the last year and a half include safely reducing the expected length of stay in our adult hospitals, more timely new patient ambulatory appointments and reducing patient harm events. We also have been able to bring more clinical programs closer to home for patients in mid- and West Michigan with ongoing integrations with our member hospitals across the state. We also continuously challenge ourselves to make care easier for our teams, including by using ambient listening technology to help draft clinical notes, saving our clinicians time every day on documentation. Despite complex times for healthcare, our teams are made for these moments. Not just to meet them, but to lead them.

Damond W. Boatwright. President and CEO of Hospital Sisters Health System (Springfield, Ill.): Hospital Sisters Health System sees value-driven care as inherent in our mission. Our Accountable care organization and Medicare Shared Savings Program achieved $48.2 million in savings for CMS and generated $18.9 million in revenue for our ministry for the performance years 2020-23. Producing a savings rate of 4.58% to 6.1% to deliver care to more than 20,000 Medicare patients is evidence that quality outcomes and savings go hand in hand.

In addition, we have a risk sharing agreement with a commercial Medicaid managed care partner that awarded HSHS and our providers a six-figure shared savings payment for effectively and efficiently managing care for this vulnerable patient population. Our efforts included improving access for well child visits and vaccine adherence, identifying chronic conditions and meeting specific quality metrics.

Scott Baker. Executive Vice President of Growth and Partnerships at Array Behavioral Care (Chicago): Over the past year, we’ve introduced two major innovations that advance our capabilities in delivering value-driven behavioral healthcare, both of which address critical and ubiquitous gaps in the continuum of care. First, we launched OnDemand Care+, a new addition to our acute care portfolio of solutions that aligns care delivery with patient acuity, and optimizes the use of scarce psychiatric resources. Second, we introduced structured care pathways that form the foundation of measurement-based care by tailoring the type and intensity of treatment to each patient’s clinical needs, diagnosis, and response to care. Together, these advances are helping our partners deliver more efficient, patient-centered care aligned to clinical need — and represent meaningful progress toward a more scalable, sustainable model for value in behavioral health.

Jacqueline Rae Costley-Reviel, RN, BSN, MSN. Chief Executive Officer of Allen Parish Community Healthcare (Kinder, La.): Allen Parish Community healthcare big wins for value-driven healthcare in the last 12-18 months is our ED navigation program where patients that may be using the ED for primary care ensure they are discharged with an appt with our primary care provider at our RHC. The RHC is also notified that this is a patient without a primary care provider, and they reach out to the patient to make sure the patient makes the appointment and stays connected. This has reduced ED utilization of non-emergent ED visits and increased the quality of life for these patients by having their healthcare needs met at a lower cost of care for the patient and the payer.

The second win is that we see our patient panel and know exactly the patients that are due for their AWV and are able to connect and schedule those patients.

Patrick O’Shaughnessy, DO. President and CEO of Catholic Health, Long Island (NY): Catholic Health is proud to have earned Press Ganey’s HRO Foundation Award, recognizing us as a national leader in safety, quality, and patient experience. Many of our physicians were also named Guardians of Excellence, with 63 ranking in the 90th percentile or higher for communication and three achieving a perfect 100%. Also, St. Francis Hospital & Heart Center earned its sixth consecutive 5-star CMS rating — the only hospital on Long Island to do so—while two other Catholic Health hospitals received 4 stars. We continue to expand access through new primary, urgent, and integrative care practices anchored at our ambulatory care sites from Queens to Riverhead. Our new health and wellness campaign, led by Olympic swimming champion Katie Ledecky, promotes preventive care and inspires healthy habits across multiple platforms. At the same time, we’re expanding our free health screenings to detect health issues early, before they spiral and become harder to treat, while also addressing social determinants like food insecurity to build healthier futures for our communities.

Imran Andrabi, MD. President and CEO of Froedtert ThedaCare Health (Milwaukee): Over the past 12 to 18 months, Froedtert ThedaCare Health has made significant strides in value-driven healthcare through a comprehensive, patient-centered approach. We’ve expanded AI and predictive analytics to better identify and manage high-risk populations, while advancing chronic disease care through specialized congestive heart failure clinics, remote patient monitoring and sepsis prevention strategies. Systemwide deployment of digital tools and home-based care models, combined with real-time navigation for population health, enhanced care transitions, and post-discharge follow-up, have reduced avoidable ED visits and readmissions. Additionally, we’ve improved care documentation accuracy, advanced end-of-life care, and strengthened quality, safety and the patient experience across the continuum.

Caswell L. Samms III. Executive Vice President and CFO of Nemours Children’s Health (Jacksonville, Fla.): Our biggest win is the global budget approval in our partnership with the state of Delaware.

MS Approval Secured:

On May 29, CMS approved Delaware’s Medicaid Global Revenue Budget proposal, enabling Nemours to implement a multi-year, value-based payment model under State Directed Payment (SDP) authority.

Year 1 Performance:

Nemours is tracking at ~102% of the 2024 baseline, placing us within the savings window. Final CY2024 base will be confirmed by October. Shared savings of up to $5M are possible if budget and quality targets are met.

Quality Gate Progress:

Antibiotic Stewardship: Baseline and implementation planning underway.

Social Needs Screening: 21% baseline with finalized specs and roadmap in progress.

Implementation Milestones: Key activities through 2025 include claims reconciliation, budget finalization, PY26 negotiation framework, and formal negotiations with DMMA.

Michael Wagner, MD. President and CEO of Care New England Health System and Todd Conklin. Executive Vice President and CFO of Care New England Health System (Providence, R.I.): Over the last 12 to 18 months, our biggest wins in value-driven healthcare have come from reframing what “value” truly means for the patients and communities we serve.

The Rhode Island landscape for value-based contracting has been financially challenging, and those pressures have forced us to ask harder questions: not just how to perform under contracts, but how to create care experiences that genuinely deliver on the promise of the quadruple aim. As both a physician and a system leader, I’ve seen firsthand the barriers patients face—fragmented transitions, friction in navigating the system, and the sense that they are left on their own at moments of real vulnerability.

At Care New England, our “win” has been putting the patient back at the center of value-driven commitment. Our strength lies in providing the foundational elements of health: primary care, women’s health, newborn medicine, behavioral health, and geriatrics. This is amplified by the recognized excellence of Butler Hospital, Women & Infants Hospital, and Kent Hospital — together serving as our backbone in behavioral health, women’s healthcare, newborn medicine, cardiovascular care, surgery, and geriatrics. When coupled with our expanding programs in primary care, hospital-at-home, community-based behavioral health, home nursing, and hospice, we are building a truly connected continuum that supports patients across their entire life journey.

Our accountable care organization, Integra, has been the platform for executing value-based contracts for a decade. But more importantly, it is becoming the vehicle through which we advance a value-driven model that is less about compliance with contracts and more about delivering integrated, compassionate, high-quality care. In short, the win has been shifting the focus back to patients and families—and making care navigation, coordination, and connection the measure of value.

Integra is enhancing support for primary care physicians and their teams with a centralized, community-based, interdisciplinary team dedicated to patient care. Busy primary care practices struggle to manage sick visits, new patients, and the complex needs of their populations. Integra has committed to serving as an extension of these practices in patients’ homes, hospitals, and skilled nursing facilities by providing additional team members. These include pharmacists, community health workers, social workers, nurse care managers, nurse practitioners, and paramedics. The Integra team aims to help reduce burnout among PCPs and their staff. The shift toward value-driven care has increased the focus on managing transitions of care, improving quality metrics, and meeting screening requirements, all of which require a team approach.

Integra is dedicated to building and maintaining such a centralized team for the CNE medical group and for independent practices within our ACO. Without population health teams, the primary care shortage and burnout issues would only worsen, making it harder to meet the needs of our patients and the community.

Kathy Kelly. Market CEO of Kindred Healthcare (Louisville, Ky.): For Kindred, value driven may be a bit different since we are Long Term Acute Care

We focus on our quality matrix at Kindred in order to market our services to our referring hospitals and referring physicians. In 2024 we had a large focus on quality which provided us a Gold award within Scion Health our parent company and look to hold our quality outcomes at a high standard.

Zafar Jamkhana, MD. Chief Medical Officer and Vice President of Medical Affairs at SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital, Saint Louis and SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital: Over the past 12 months, our most significant value-driven healthcare win has been the development of a seamless patient throughput platform across our adult academic hospitals that ensures the right patient receives care at the right location within the right timeframe. By focusing on “being there for the patients every time they need care” as envisioned by Dr. Stephanie Duggan our Chief Clinical Officer and implementing what we call “simple and relevant interventions under our control,” we’ve created a collaborative framework among all stakeholders that prevents patient condition deterioration through timely access to appropriate care.

This initiative centers on identifying patients for the optimal level of care at the point of entry, whether they require acute care medicine or specialized services. The complementary component has been strengthening interdisciplinary collaboration to ensure consulting services commit to defined response timeframes, provide concrete clinical recommendations, and guarantee patients have clear understanding of next steps—including confirmed follow-up appointments that set the ongoing care pathway in motion.

These efforts align with SSM Health’s broader value-based care philosophy that focuses on helping people live their healthiest lives while ensuring seamless care transitions supported by our expanded care management programs that guide patients through the entire care continuum beyond hospital discharge.

Derek Goebel. CFO of Altru Health System (Grand Forks, N.D.): Altru’s big wins in value-driven care have been centered around improving access in our market and reinforcing our relationships with regional hospitals to keep care close to home. We opened our replacement hospital in January of this year, joined the Rough Rider High Value Network in February, and expect to expand services in the Devils Lake region following the acquisition of the hospital there later this year. All of this work has been focused on access, outcomes and affordability to keep options for patients available in the rural market. We know that patients see the greatest value and incur the lowest costs when they can avoid travel for care and establish a strong connection to their local provider.

Meghan Doyle. CEO of Partum Health (Chicago): Big wins for value-driven healthcare at Partum Health center on the continued advancement of coverage and innovative models in maternal health. In particular, it was incredibly heartening to see the expansion of coverage under Medicaid in our home state of Illinois to include doula care and lactation support, two critical forms of care for women and families that officially came to market after years working through legislation and implementation. We’re excited to see the impact of this expansion on our maternal health outcomes, including not only our measures of maternal mortality and morbidity but also costly complications like NICU stays, avoidable C-sections, and perinatal mood and anxiety disorders.

Brad Meyer. CEO of Bluestem Health (Lincoln, N.E.): One of our biggest wins was ending our relationship with a national Medicare and Medicare Advantage ACO after years of some members seeing no financial return. We transitioned to our local statewide ACO, and had we been with them earlier, we would have earned several hundred thousand dollars in shared savings. This experience taught us to be cautious of polished sales pitches from national models that lack local impact. We also partnered with a firm that helped us optimize our data submissions and uncover missed coding and CCM opportunities. Their insider knowledge, gained from years in national payer leadership, has been invaluable in shaping smarter, more favorable contracts moving forward.

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