Becky Levy, Chief Executive Officer, Vanova Health, a member of the Quality Institute’s Provider Council.
How does Vanova Health work with independent primary care physicians?
Vanova Health’s mission is to empower independent physicians to thrive. We support primary care physicians that seek to transform their practices by diving deeper into value-based contracting with payers. We understand that every physician is at a different point in their value-based care journey and has had various levels of success or lack thereof. Some have been doing this for many years, and some have heard about it but have not yet been willing to dip their toe in yet.
We welcome all by offering two Vanova Health Solutions Clinically Integrated Network tracks: one is for those who are very experienced in value-based care and another for those just getting started or are toward the beginning of their transformation to value-based care.
How does Vanova Health support physicians beyond value-based care?
We also provide administrative support services to independent medical practices through Vanova Health Solutions Management Services Organization. We have a partnership with Athenahealth and we are able to offer support to medical practices that are looking to transition to a new electronic medical record system combined with revenue cycle management services to help reduce costs and improve collections. We are continuing to expand our services to further help support independent practices streamline operations, reduce costs, and improve revenue while maintaining their independence.
Why is your approach to value-based care so important, especially for primary care?
Value-based care is essential because it shifts the focus from volume to outcomes. Most physicians already deliver excellent care — but value-based care requires them to demonstrate this using data. Physicians now have more pressure to show the level of quality they provide to patients to insurance carriers and employers who purchase insurance. Obtaining data, synthesizing the data, and using it to improve quality to patients is where many practices struggle.
Practices are asked to track several metrics like blood pressure control, blood sugar management, medication adherence, and preventive screenings such as colonoscopies and mammograms. This is where we can step in and help. Our goal at Vanova Health is to simplify this process. We embrace technology but also know that nothing can truly replace the personal interaction between a patient and their primary care provider. An example of success is when one physician who started using the virtual scribe option told us the solution saved his marriage by reducing the amount of time he spent at home working on his medical records.
How is Vanova addressing the biggest challenges to advancing value-based primary care in New Jersey?
While the idea of value-based care — delivering high-quality, cost-effective treatment — sounds simple, the execution can be complicated. There is certainly an argument to be made that we have all made it so complicated that value-based care can be more costly to provide from a physician/health system perspective. At Vanova Health, our goal is to simplify the system so physicians can do what they’re trained to do and what they want to do: take care of patients.
Another challenge is the lack of primary care physicians in New Jersey. Many physicians who train in primary care in New Jersey choose to leave the state after their residencies. We must find a way to keep physicians in our state. The reality is that new residents graduating often have a significant amount of student loan debt. Add that into a state that has a high cost of living and a tough market with many of the payors and it’s easy to see where the problems stem from and where they need to be corrected. We need to make value-based care simpler for physicians and we need to ensure that physicians are compensated well enough that it’s in their interest to stay in primary care in our State.
We like to ask a question beyond a person’s professional life. Can you describe an experience in your life that significantly impacted who you are today?
I’ve had two experiences that shaped me profoundly. On a personal level, there was a period of time where my family moved quite a bit. I attended four middle schools in three different states. While that was difficult, it taught me how to adapt to new situations, build relationships quickly, and find common ground with a wide range of people. Professionally, I had a formative experience during college while working in the social work department at St. Peter’s University Hospital. I was invited to observe a bioethics meeting, and it sparked my interest in becoming a health care lawyer — something I hadn’t even known was a career path. That moment led to a 20-year career in health care law, and, ultimately, to my role today.