Volunteers from the ACR, ARHP, and REF met in Atlanta last month for the annual Leadership Development Conference. This year’s keynote lecture was on the changes in healthcare, including quality improvement and emerging reimbursement models such as Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) and the Pay-for-Performance movement.
The topic proved to be very important to the group, especially given the prominence of ACOs in the building of healthcare reform. Physicians and health professionals are going to be using ACOs and the Pay-for-Performance movement to determine pre-established goals for quality improvement levels in healthcare. ACR, ARHP, and REF volunteers took the opportunity to explore a lecture tailored to their needs and benefited from this valuable experience to gain more knowledge on this ever-evolving topic.
“The Leadership Development Conference is an important tradition upheld by the ACR,” says ACR President David Borenstein, MD. “It allows our volunteers … to network with the leadership and discuss issues relevant to our practice and patients. This year was different in that the subject did not focus on a specific leadership quality such as negotiation but was an informative and important session for the time and was in line with our mission to Advance Rheumatology.”
The keynote speaker was Warren Skea, PhD, a director at PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Health Enterprise Growth Practice and one of their two leaders on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
Dr. Skea reports, “There is no doubt that ACOs are on the radar screen for most health professionals we talk with. In their minds, it is critical to their success in a post healthcare reform world.” He continues, “In addition, hospital–physician alignment and integration are critical precursors for ACO development. Integration can occur through several different models, including employment and reimbursement. ACR/ARHP physicians and healthcare professionals will be given a firsthand look at how to best align these incentives around efficiency, quality, and all the other performance goals that fit under that umbrella of an ACO.”
From learning about ACOs to networking, this year’s annual leadership development conference proved to be another successful educational opportunity for ACR, ARHP, and REF volunteers. For more information on volunteering, visit www.rheumatology.org.