Oak Street Health has an amazing vision to rebuild Health Care as It Should Be: Personal, Equitable, and Accountable. The business was launched with a belief in value-based care that was patient-centered, evidence-based, and ensured equal opportunity for good health outcomes across populations, despite the economics being unproven. The business model depends on global capitation and allows the best service for patients in some of the poorest and most vulnerable communities. The high touch, relationship-based, tech-enabled primary care model includes support with medications, transportation, social work, home visits, and more – the sickest 10% of patients receive 78% of Oak Street’s dollars.

This week, our guest is Dr. Griffin Meyer, CMO and co-founder of Oak Street Health. In his own words, the challenge is not providing treatment but winning patients’ “trust and building relationships,” something Oak Street has demonstrated successfully with its ability to rapidly scale, to a network of 90 centers in 15 states. The Oak Street Platform is redefining Primary Care by bringing technology-enabled, value-based care to the seniors that represent the highest proportion of healthcare spending in the country. Winning the race to value will depend on many more following in the footsteps of these leaders!

 

Episode Bookmarks:

05:35 The “insane” journey of starting a company that takes full-risk on very sick populations

05:55 “The downstream microeconomics of fee-for-service reimbursement has created a janky, inequitable, low quality health care system.”

06:30 The importance of segmenting your patient population within a payment model that is better aligned with care outcomes

06:40  “We take care of community-dwelling older adults with multiple chronic conditions and adverse social determinants.”

06:50 Full risk, global capitation enabled the development of the Oak Street Health platform.

07:00 Oak Street platform: 1) Community-Based Primary Care Centers, 2) Proprietary Technologies, 3) Value-Added Services to Primary Care

07:35 Dr. Myers discusses how the culture at Oak Street, coupled with the power of global capitation, drives value-based care results.

08:45 Oak Street’s Results: 50% reduction of hospital admissions, 52% reduction of ED visits, 35% reduction in 30-day readmission rates, 5-star quality ratings, and a 91 NPS

10:40 Dr. Myers discusses the concept of relationship-based care and how it improves outcomes for underserved populations.

11:20 Referencing Viktor Frankl’s “Man Search for Meaning” and how deeply meaningful and trusting relationships provide purpose

12:05 “Trust is the core input to us being able to help patients navigate adverse social determinants.”

12:10 Critical Success Factors: 1) Spending more time with patients with a consistent presence from a longitudinal care team, 2) Deep sense of accountability (“a promise”), 3) Culturally-Competent Care

12:55 “Having people who live in the neighborhoods to which we serve that share a cultural connection with patients helps form trusting relationships.”

13:30 “A value-based model is simply superior technology compared to fee-for-service. Value allows you to incubate and foster relationships to drive outcomes.”

14:40 Inspiration from John Lewis (“Try to be the pilot light not the firecracker.”) when it comes to building a safer, higher quality, more equitable, more affordable health system.

17:35 Referencing the HBS Case Study: “Oak Street Health: A New Model for Primary Care”

17:45 The role of the Clinical Informatics Specialist at Oak Street

18:30 Dr. Myers discusses the evolution of EHR technology at Oak Street and the devel...