In a recent press release, ECG Management Consultants announces the establishment of their national bundled payments practice.
Washington, D.C. — February 9, 2016 — ECG Management Consultants, a national consulting firm working exclusively with healthcare providers and payors, has added a bundled payments practice to its growing service offering. Although the firm has led a number of bundled payment engagements in past years, the new practice signals a significant dedication of resources and expertise at a time when healthcare providers are facing mandatory participation in episode-based payment programs.
The practice will be led by Deirdre Baggot, Ph.D., M.B.A., R.N., a national bundled payments expert and thought leader. Baggot comes to ECG after spending six years with a leading healthcare consulting firm, where she was Senior Vice President and practice leader for bundled payments. She previously served as an expert reviewer for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Bundled Payments for Care Improvement Initiative (BPCI) and lead for the CMS Acute Care Episode (ACE) Demonstration. In addition to her work with CMS, more recently she has done extensive work developing bundled payments with commercial payors and self-funded employers in the areas of bariatrics, ambulatory surgery, pediatrics, oncology, women's health, and behavioral health.
Baggot sees bundled payments as a viable means to reduce the country's high cost of care. "Healthcare in the United States is unreliable at best," she said. "Among the wealthiest nations in the world, in 2015 the U.S. ranked dead last on key quality indicators such as infant mortality and life expectancy. Our current payment system rewards over-testing and over-treating; so we pay more, but we don't get more."
Baggot will be joined by prior colleagues Kimberly Hartsfield and Tori Manis, each of whom brings deep expertise in bundles. Hartsfield is the former director of commercial bundled payments for Blue Cross of Arkansas, while Manis has built bundles across multiple service lines and managed value-based reform consulting engagements.
"Since beginning this work in 2010 and seeing evidence that our methods truly do reduce healthcare costs and improve clinical outcomes, we've had a growth mind-set," Baggot said of her team's bundled payment work. "My team members and I are disruptive innovators at heart, so ECG's entrepreneurial spirit was an obvious fit as we looked to expand our capabilities. Having spent the last six years studying, building, and testing bundled payment constructs, we are bursting with enthusiasm for the opportunity to scale our work in a meaningful way."
ECG President Steve Messinger welcomed Baggot and her team and spoke about the need to address the industry's shift to bundled payment programs.
"We are delighted to be adding an incredibly capable and knowledgeable team in the bundled payment arena," Messinger said. "Deirdre, Kimberly, and Tori bring multiple years of experience and demonstrated value creation for our clients. The bundled payment opportunity is emerging as a critical step on the transformation from volume to value, and the addition of the strongest team in the bundled payment arena is incredibly timely for ECG and our partners."
See here for the full press release.
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