30
Clinical Integration & ACOs
What hospital executives need to do, says Dr. Mostashari, is put both feet in
the value-based canoe, though he recognizes this to be no easy feat. As the
CEO of Aledade, a company focused on getting primary care physicians into
ACOs, Dr. Mostashari knows these practices have less overhead than hospi-
tals and have an easier time jumping into a new reimbursement structure.
That doesn't mean hospital executives don't need to take the leap.
Dr. Mostashari recalls an old adage that says leaders thinking a year ahead are
prophets, but those who think three years ahead are martyrs. "Hospitals need
leadership that can take the hit today and not get fired for doing the right
thing," he says, lest they face the same fate for not preparing their hospital for
the inevitable shift to value-based reimbursement.
He says hospital executives should take hope in the story of McAllen and
know value-based reimbursement can be a win for all stakeholders. "For too
long, there's been a tradeoff in healthcare," he says, where reimbursement
policies rarely favor providers, patients and taxpayers. Now, with ACOs, they
can. "Now there's this window of opportunity where you can do what's good
for the patient, the provider's making more money and it's not driving up
costs," says Dr. Mostashari.
"That's the space I want to live in," he says. "I want to crank that window
open wide." n
