“As you start to get value and start to try to implement patient-centered medical homes and ACOs, the value is not going to be vertical. The value is going to be in the connection of the verticals,” said Emad Rizk, MD, during a keynote panel at this year’s World Health Care Congress. A recent article in Search Health IT summarizes Dr. Rizk’s perspective on how system-wide improvements in technology can lead to meaningful change. Read more.

In the May issue of American Health & Drug Benefits, A. Jacqueline Mitus, MD, and Laura Coughlin, RN, explain how actionable content can help healthcare organizations improve care. “Actionable content” is information that can automatically prompt the best decisions about care at the point in time when clinical decisions need to be made, can help. Their article elaborates on how these information frameworks and distribution can be applied to oncology specifically, as staying on top of advances in cancer-related information can be a challenge. Read the full article.

WHCC’s Mabel Jong sat down with McKesson Health Solutions medical director Dr. Doug Moeller to discuss the company’s recent partnership with the American Medical Association to bring greater transparency and clarity to molecular diagnostic testing. In this video, he describes what the partnership means to the industry. He also shares three important phases of understanding: first, what tests are being performed, and how do we track them; second, once we begin gathering this information, who can benefit most from the tests; and third, what clinical utility do the tests have, and how does that translate into appropriate pricing.

James Evans, vice president of Financial and Network Management at McKesson Health Solutions, discusses key investments for payers that want to be prepared for the shift to more accountable care.

Because they face a range of market innovations, such as health insurance exchanges, that will continue to be refined over time, payers are pursuing provider network frameworks and data management toolsets that will give them the agility they need to make the most of new opportunities. Reimbursement modeling and cost management solutions also help payers connect contracts to policies to reimbursemenategies. By building in clinical and quality information into payment systems and exposing this information to providers, payers can “work from the same scoresheet” as their providers.

Last week’s 10th Annual World Health Care Congress brought together innovators from throughout the industry to focus not only on the challenges we face in transforming to value-based healthcare but also the strategies that are gaining real traction.

Here, McKesson Health Solutions President Dr. Emad Rizk has a frank dialogue with WHCC’s Mabel Jong, sharing his perspective on where the market is heading and how organizations can best work together for the better health of patients as well as the healthcare system overall. As he states in this video, ”There is no path forward without collaboration.”