JOHNSON CITY The leader of an organization that is part
of a new breed of health care networks intended to raise the
quality of patient care will lead off the "Breakfast with the
Experts" speaker series being held Tuesday, Sept. 13, by the
East Tennessee State University Department of Health Services
Administration.
Robert Slattery is the president and CEO of Johnson City-based
Integrated Solutions Health Network. He will discuss how the new
accountable care organization (ACO) initiative, a product of
federal health care reform, could influence the American health
care system. Slattery's talk begins at 8:30 a.m. in room 116
of Lamb Hall. The lecture is open to the public.
ACOs are scheduled to take effect in January 2012. In these
organizations, a network of doctors and hospitals shares
responsibility for providing care for a defined group of patients
and is offered financial incentives by Medicare and other
insurance programs to promote more effective, high quality
care. ACOs that save money while also meeting quality targets would
keep a portion of the savings.
The Department of Health Services Administration, housed in the
ETSU College of Public Health, started the Breakfast with the
Experts series the spring semester of 2010 to highlight
emerging issues in the fields of public health and health care. It
continues Oct. 4 with Greg Neal, president of Hawkins County
Memorial Hospital.
