Unwarranted care variation is often discussed in terms of its impact on cost. But there's another dimension to care variation that is perhaps more important: its impact on patient safety. In this episode, MaineHealth Medical Group's VP for Quality and Safety, Natisa Dill, discusses variation's profound impact on safety and steps to mitigate it.

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 reduction of unwarranted care variation has the potential to improve quality while reducing cost of care, which aligns perfectly with the principles of value-based care championed by the ACO. Join us as we explore MHACO's dedicated focus on end-of-life care and transitions of care in our conversation with Carl DeMars, MD, chair of the MHACO board and VP for physician and APP services for MaineHealth's Coastal Region.

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.