The Cost-Quality Connection: Understanding the Financial Impact of Quality in Value-Based Payment Models
Webinar Series
Jeff Brandes
President & CEO
Azara Healthcare
Jeff Brandes is President and CEO of Azara Healthcare, a company focused on providing Population Health, Reporting and Analytics to Community Health Centers, Primary Care Associations and other networks and organizations representing safety net care providers. Jeff led the formation of Azara in 2011 and has worked extensively with Community Health leadership across the country with the goal of increasing the use of Data and Analytics for both care quality improvement and cost management. Jeff brings a sharp focus on creating partnerships with clients and stakeholders for long-term relationships based on alignment of common success goals. With over 25 years of experience as a high-tech entrepreneur and executive, Jeff has taken numerous products/concepts from development to commercialization and led a number of companies from inception, through rapid revenue growth to exit. Jeff has a BS in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University.
Leah Dafoulas
Director Clinical Transformation
Azara Healthcare
Leah Dafoulas, MPH is the Client Success Director at Azara Healthcare where she works with health centers to improve quality through the use of data and technology. Leah is passionate about the profound role that data-driven analytics has to improve population health and transform patient care. Prior to Azara, Leah was an Account Manager at a start-up health technology company focused on transitions of care where she worked with hospitals and health plans to optimize the use of a data analytics solution. She began her career at Pfizer where she ran population health management projects with ACOs and hospitals. Leah has an MPH degree from Boston University and BA and MA degrees in Biology from Clark University. She also has a Six Sigma Green Belt certification.
Dolores Di Re
Senior Manager
CohnReznick
Dolores Di Re is a senior manager in CohnReznick’s Healthcare Industry Practice. She has over 20 years of experience working in the healthcare industry, for which she has provided revenue cycle and compliance services to Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), ambulatory care providers, and hospitals. Dolores also has extensive knowledge of federal and state reimbursement, and considerable experience in assisting clients with account receivable management, the identification and implementation processes for reducing denied claims, and the optimization of revenue by evaluating existing charge capture processes and identifying gaps in workflows.
Prior to joining the Firm, Dolores spent three years working at a large, national accounting firm providing revenue cycle consulting services and operational assistance to both regional and national FQHC’s. She also worked for NYU Langone Health, formerly NYU Medical Center and the Hospital for Joint Diseases, where she was responsible for all aspects of revenue cycle and compliance standards of ambulatory care services.
Dolores was a major contributor to the creation of an internal accounts receivable management program for another not-for-profit organization supporting three health care centers in two New York City boroughs. Dolores has also delivered educational presentations on diverse topics most recently she presented on the implications on reimbursement and revenue cycle workflows during and post the Public Health Emergency and best practices for effective denial avoidance.
Peter Epp, CPA
Partner and Community Health Centers – Practice Leader
CohnReznick
Peter R. Epp, CPA, is partner with CohnReznick and serves as Practice Leader of the Community Health Practice. With over 35 years of experience, he is a nationally recognized expert in ambulatory healthcare reimbursement and financing and is a frequent lecturer at seminars and workshops on Value Based Payment and payment reform, third-party reimbursement maximization, strategic business planning, cost report preparation, federal grantsmanship, financial operations assessments, and managed care.
Peter has been actively involved with health reform and the implementation of reimbursement systems for ambulatory care across the country with a specific focus on FQHCs and CCBHCs. He has been active with the implementation of Delivery System Reform Incentive Payment programs and Value Based Payment models in many states. Recently, Peter has been active with strategic business planning initiatives for his clients, including participation in Alternative Payment Models and clinically integrated networks. His in-depth knowledge of the interaction between third-party reimbursement and grants management enables his clients to tap into ancillary services, including operational reviews, strategic planning, health reform readiness, and related technical assistance.
Emily Holzman
Director of Clinical Transformation
Azara Healthcare
Emily Holzman is a Director of Clinical Transformation at Azara Healthcare. She earned her BA in International Relations from the University of British Columbia, after which she joined the Peace Corps for service in Guyana. Upon returning, she worked for the nonprofit Project Place in Boston, creating and delivering an employment training program for justice-involved men. She moved into healthcare IT when she joined Athenahealth’s Population Health team, where she worked primarily with large accountable care organizations. In 2018 Emily joined the team at Azara Healthcare to focus on working with primary care practices to leverage their data into meaningful improvements in patient outcomes, access, and equity. Emily became an NCQA Patient Centered Medical Home Certified Content Expert in 2018, is currently earning her Master’s in Public Health at the University of Massachusetts and is working toward her doula certification.
LuAnn Kimker
SVP Clinical Transformation
Azara Healthcare
LuAnn is a veteran senior leader with 15 years of direct nursing experience as a foundation to the more recent 16 years leading innovation efforts in information technology to advance healthcare quality and equity. LuAnn believes in the power of data and turning data into information to transform healthcare delivery. LuAnn works with providers and provider networks, clinical leadership and integrated networks to develop strategies that will build their population health programs and lead them towards success in a value-based care environment.
LuAnn holds a Master of Science in Nursing (Acute Care and Administration) from Salem State College and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Kent State University.
Aparna Mekala, MPH
Principal
CohnReznick
Aparna Mekala, MPH, is a principal in CohnReznick’s Healthcare Industry practice. With more than 20 years working in the healthcare industry, she leads the firm’s Strategic Business Advisory services. Her advisory services are purpose-built to help providers create lasting value at their organizations. She is skilled across many areas and has a demonstrated history of helping clients develop strategic and operational plans, interpret and advise on federal requirements related to grants, conduct financial feasibility projections and market assessments for strategic initiatives, and support corporate compliance and regulatory activities related to primary care transformation. Aparna’s work is uniquely focused on advancing health equity and includes collaboration with our Affordable Housing and New Market Tax Credit practices on the intersection of health, housing, childcare, and other community development needs for low-income communities. Her clients include Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), Primary Care Associations (PCAs), behavioral health organizations, community-based hospitals — which include academic medical centers — other ambulatory care providers, and social service agencies.
Aparna is a frequent speaker at national and state primary care and behavioral health conferences on topics focused on strategic business planning with a focus on bridging financial, operational, and programmatic goals for an organization. She is a subject matter expert on federal requirements pertaining to the FQHC program and often assists distressed health centers with turnaround plans to help them maintain compliance with federal agencies. Prior to joining CohnReznick, Aparna worked as a management consultant at another accounting firm for many years and before that spent time in corporate planning departments at New York City Health + Hospitals and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where she managed special projects across the systems.