Selected Podcast
Ep. 9: Leading the Region in Value
Dr. Anthony Aquilina joins Roxanna Gapstur, President and CEO of WellSpan Health to discuss how WellSpan plans on leading their region with value.
Featuring:
Aquilina came to WellSpan after more than 25 years at Geisinger Health, most recently serving as regional president of Geisinger Northeast. In that role he was responsible for developing strategic partnerships, growth and planning for Geisinger delivery system services and was accountable for excellence in clinical are, operational efficiency and financial success.
In his new role, Aquilina will serve as WellSpan’s senior physician leader. He will align and engage providers in strategic priorities, including quality and experience. Aquilina will also act as president of WellSpan Medical Group and clinical executive of all service lines.
In partnership with John Porter, executive vice president and chief operating officer of WellSpan Health, Aquilina will have executive oversight of physician and clinical practice, hospital operations, ambulatory and home care, population health and graduate medical education.
Prior to serving as regional president, Aquilina served as chief medical officer of Geisinger Community Medical Center and regional medical director for Geisinger Health Plan, among other positions.
Aquilina has also been actively involved in medical education, serving as a faculty member with Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine and King’s College Physician’s Assistant Program.
Aquilina earned his bachelor’s degree from Penn State University, his medical degree from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine and a Master of Business Administration from Auburn University in Alabama. He is a board-certified family practitioner and geriatrician and was a practicing primary care physician with Geisinger since 1993.
In January 2019, Roxanna Gapstur assumed the role of President and CEO of WellSpan Health. She has over 25 years of healthcare leadership experience working in group practice, academic, and integrated health care systems which included health plan operations. Prior to her appointment at WellSpan, Dr. Gapstur was a senior vice president and president within the HealthPartners system in Bloomington, Minn.
Dr. Gapstur has extensive experience in strategic planning, business development and operational leadership in both ambulatory and hospital settings. She has served in multiple executive roles including chief operating officer, chief nursing officer and as a senior executive accountable for population health.
Dr. Gapstur obtained her bachelor’s degree from the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul, Minn., and her master’s degree and doctorate from the University of Minnesota.
She was named a “Top 35 Women in Healthcare Leader” by Minnesota Women’s Health Leadership Trust in 2014. Dr. Gapstur has participated as a member and president of non-profit boards, including the Greater Twin Cities United Way, Minnesota Chapter of the National Hemophilia Foundation and the Minnesota Organization of Leaders in Nursing.
Anthony Aquilina, DO | Roxanna Gapstur, PhD, RN
Anthony Aquilina, D.O., joined WellSpan in July 2020 as executive vice president and chief physician executive for the health system.Aquilina came to WellSpan after more than 25 years at Geisinger Health, most recently serving as regional president of Geisinger Northeast. In that role he was responsible for developing strategic partnerships, growth and planning for Geisinger delivery system services and was accountable for excellence in clinical are, operational efficiency and financial success.
In his new role, Aquilina will serve as WellSpan’s senior physician leader. He will align and engage providers in strategic priorities, including quality and experience. Aquilina will also act as president of WellSpan Medical Group and clinical executive of all service lines.
In partnership with John Porter, executive vice president and chief operating officer of WellSpan Health, Aquilina will have executive oversight of physician and clinical practice, hospital operations, ambulatory and home care, population health and graduate medical education.
Prior to serving as regional president, Aquilina served as chief medical officer of Geisinger Community Medical Center and regional medical director for Geisinger Health Plan, among other positions.
Aquilina has also been actively involved in medical education, serving as a faculty member with Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine and King’s College Physician’s Assistant Program.
Aquilina earned his bachelor’s degree from Penn State University, his medical degree from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine and a Master of Business Administration from Auburn University in Alabama. He is a board-certified family practitioner and geriatrician and was a practicing primary care physician with Geisinger since 1993.
In January 2019, Roxanna Gapstur assumed the role of President and CEO of WellSpan Health. She has over 25 years of healthcare leadership experience working in group practice, academic, and integrated health care systems which included health plan operations. Prior to her appointment at WellSpan, Dr. Gapstur was a senior vice president and president within the HealthPartners system in Bloomington, Minn.
Dr. Gapstur has extensive experience in strategic planning, business development and operational leadership in both ambulatory and hospital settings. She has served in multiple executive roles including chief operating officer, chief nursing officer and as a senior executive accountable for population health.
Dr. Gapstur obtained her bachelor’s degree from the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul, Minn., and her master’s degree and doctorate from the University of Minnesota.
She was named a “Top 35 Women in Healthcare Leader” by Minnesota Women’s Health Leadership Trust in 2014. Dr. Gapstur has participated as a member and president of non-profit boards, including the Greater Twin Cities United Way, Minnesota Chapter of the National Hemophilia Foundation and the Minnesota Organization of Leaders in Nursing.
Transcription:
Roxanna Gapstur: On this episode of Inspiring Health, we're going to explore our 2025 value-based promise of leading our region in value. Today, we're going to talk about the definition of value as distinct from affordability and the measures we're using to track our progress, how our physicians and APPs are drivers in providing greater value and improving health among our patients, and lastly, how partnerships and collaboration are keys to success as we pursue value.
Joining me today is Dr. Tony Aquilina, Executive Vice President and Chief Physician Executive at WellSpan. He's here to share more about our value transformation and the ways that we align our everyday work to a value-based promise. Although Tony and I are recording remotely and couldn't be together, I'd still like to welcome Tony to the podcast. Welcome, Tony, and thanks for being here.
Dr. Anthony Aquilina: Pleasure to talk to you today, Roxanna. Even though we're not together, I'm sure it'll be a stimulating conversation.
Roxanna Gapstur: So Tony let's start by breaking down exactly what we mean by value. It was something that you and I spoke about at length when you considered joining our team. At WellSpan, we defined value as providing care of the highest quality, exceptional experiences at an affordable price. Really, value is what our consumers tell us it is. It's why we need to stay relentlessly in touch with our patients and consumers to understand what they want and need.
Dr. Anthony Aquilina: Exactly, Roxanna. Value is created when we do all of those things well, provide highest quality care and exceptional patient experience at an affordable price. It's how a health system is going to succeed in the future. And it's what our patients expect from us
Roxanna Gapstur: Defining value is one thing, but measuring it is how we prove we're making progress, right? We've decided on three key metrics to measure value. They include how much revenue we have in our shared risk programs, meaning we're being paid for keeping our patients healthy rather than being reimbursed for procedures. And then how many unique patients WellSpan is caring for. Right now, that's up above 700,000 lives across our six counties. And a total cost of care measure that will help us monitor how we're doing at improving affordability.
One of our goals this year is to develop a measure for total cost of care, and we'll use that to compare WellSpan against the market and our competitors. So when we talk about providing care at an affordable price, we need to consider the difference between value and affordability. Can you help us distinguish between the two, Tony?
Dr. Anthony Aquilina: Definitely. Value describes the total experience of a patient's care. Affordability is decreasing the per capita cost of healthcare. To do that, we need to provide the right care at the right place at the right time. Then pass those savings along to patients and families. That's how we look at affordability at WellSpan.
Roxanna Gapstur: Tony, when we deliver high value care, what does it look like?
Dr. Anthony Aquilina: Well, for the patient, it looks like seamless and prompt care coordinated across our system; consistent, excellent experiences; the prevention of unnecessary hospital admissions and readmissions and continuous improvement using Lean methodology at every level of our organization to make care safer.
Roxanna Gapstur: Well, that sounds simple, doesn't it, Tony? In all seriousness, we know this kind of care makes a huge difference to individual patients. This isn't new to healthcare providers.
Dr. Anthony Aquilina: You're right, Roxanna. Providing high quality care to every individual has been a part of the WellSpan tradition since the organization was founded. High quality care for each individual isn't the only currency any longer. The industry is shifting. How we're paid for high quality care is shifting. For our health system, the new currency is loyal patients.
Roxanna Gapstur: Yes, loyal patients. It's the volume of people we serve, not solely the volume of services we deliver. As volume grows, so too does the opportunity to control costs and provide affordable care. Our patients and consumers demand high quality care and better outcomes at a price they can afford. It's why we're focused on developing value-based capability as part of our annual and strategic plans.
Dr. Anthony Aquilina: I know you're going to discuss these value-based capabilities at length with Dr. Flack, Roxanna. So I won't steal his thunder. Let me just say that we've identified guideposts to align our physicians and APPs around our value journey, six guideposts to be exact.
A relentless focus on quality and experience and advanced analytics to make decisions and provide high quality care. Improving access so we can retain and grow our market share by ensuring patients can be seen in the most convenient way possible. Roxanna, if someone's going to compete with us right now, whether another system or a payer, it's going to be on access. Then there's the using the right side of service, reducing care variation, and last but not least, removing waste.
It will take all 20,000 WellSpan team members to advance our value-based capabilities, not just one function or entity. And by strengthening these value-based capabilities, we're simultaneously improving the health of those we serve.
Roxanna Gapstur: Very well said, Tony, I am eager to dig into these competencies a bit deeper with Dr. Flack. So thank you for teeing them up. Before we wrap up, there's one last topic I'd like to explore, and it's the idea of partnerships. In addition to developing our value-based competencies internally, we can accelerate our value-based competencies another way, and that's through partnerships.
Dr. Anthony Aquilina: It's a really great point, Roxanna. And partnerships are happening across the healthcare industry between payers who make multi-year value-based agreements to improve care and cut costs to clinical partnerships that compliment programs and services. And finally, partnerships that offer infrastructure enhancements, to reduce operating costs and enhance experience.
Roxanna Gapstur: This is exactly how WellSpan's thinking about partnerships, isn't it, Tony? Partners allow us to extend our reach, advancing our capabilities to engage, innovate, deliver and thrive. And we're leveraging partnerships across the organization to bring the very best expertise and resources to WellSpan.
Let's consider our partnership with Capital BlueCross, we're using innovation to differentiate care and coverage. In September, we opened the Capital BlueCross Connect Health and Wellness Center within our health campus in Chambersburg. It's a co-branded location where we share staff between Capital and the medical group in Franklin County. Through this unique partnership, our consumers have access to one-on-one consultations for health plans or Medicare options. They can discuss, you know, health problems with health coaches and biometric screenings are available. Capital BlueCross staff can schedule and coordinate appointments in the WellSpan network and we can connect care through our EHR, so it's seamless for our customers. In addition, we're offering bundled care as higher value options for employers and patients.
Dr. Anthony Aquilina: That's a great example, Roxanna. I also think about our clinical collaborations with Johns Hopkins in cancer care and pediatric surgery to augment our own programs and services. Then, there's our partnership with the Maryland Proton Treatment Center, which provides our patients with greater access to the best technology. And we can't forget our digital health solutions like Livango and Babyscripts. Together, we add convenient high value touches to our clinical offerings.
Roxanna Gapstur: That's right, Tony. And when it comes to infrastructure, just a few months ago, we welcomed Benjamin & Bond to the WellSpan team. Together, we've created something called WellSpan Innovations to accelerate consumer-focused approaches while creating a growth mindset in support of our vision and our 2025 plan.
These are just a few examples showing the value we can provide to our communities when we partner with others. Rather than duplicating or developing our own competencies, these partnerships are moving us closer to our 2025 goals. And we'll continue to pursue partnerships with compatible cultures and expertise.
Dr. Anthony Aquilina: Yes. It all ties back to creating loyal WellSpan patients who wouldn't think of going anywhere else.
Roxanna Gapstur: Absolutely. So let's recap our goal, leading the region in value. We started by defining value and affordability along with measures to track our progress. We were introduced to the six value-based competencies to align our physicians and providing greater value and improving health, which we'll explore more with Dr. Flack in the next episode. And finally, we looked at partnerships and why collaboration is necessary for success.
Thank you for being with me today, Tony. I know you share in the belief that when we all align around our value transformation, we'll achieve our goals to lead the region by providing highest quality and safety, exceptional experiences and most affordable care.
Dr. Anthony Aquilina: Thank you, Roxanna.
Roxanna Gapstur: That's all the time we have for today. We hope you'll join us for the next episode of Inspiring Health.
Roxanna Gapstur: On this episode of Inspiring Health, we're going to explore our 2025 value-based promise of leading our region in value. Today, we're going to talk about the definition of value as distinct from affordability and the measures we're using to track our progress, how our physicians and APPs are drivers in providing greater value and improving health among our patients, and lastly, how partnerships and collaboration are keys to success as we pursue value.
Joining me today is Dr. Tony Aquilina, Executive Vice President and Chief Physician Executive at WellSpan. He's here to share more about our value transformation and the ways that we align our everyday work to a value-based promise. Although Tony and I are recording remotely and couldn't be together, I'd still like to welcome Tony to the podcast. Welcome, Tony, and thanks for being here.
Dr. Anthony Aquilina: Pleasure to talk to you today, Roxanna. Even though we're not together, I'm sure it'll be a stimulating conversation.
Roxanna Gapstur: So Tony let's start by breaking down exactly what we mean by value. It was something that you and I spoke about at length when you considered joining our team. At WellSpan, we defined value as providing care of the highest quality, exceptional experiences at an affordable price. Really, value is what our consumers tell us it is. It's why we need to stay relentlessly in touch with our patients and consumers to understand what they want and need.
Dr. Anthony Aquilina: Exactly, Roxanna. Value is created when we do all of those things well, provide highest quality care and exceptional patient experience at an affordable price. It's how a health system is going to succeed in the future. And it's what our patients expect from us
Roxanna Gapstur: Defining value is one thing, but measuring it is how we prove we're making progress, right? We've decided on three key metrics to measure value. They include how much revenue we have in our shared risk programs, meaning we're being paid for keeping our patients healthy rather than being reimbursed for procedures. And then how many unique patients WellSpan is caring for. Right now, that's up above 700,000 lives across our six counties. And a total cost of care measure that will help us monitor how we're doing at improving affordability.
One of our goals this year is to develop a measure for total cost of care, and we'll use that to compare WellSpan against the market and our competitors. So when we talk about providing care at an affordable price, we need to consider the difference between value and affordability. Can you help us distinguish between the two, Tony?
Dr. Anthony Aquilina: Definitely. Value describes the total experience of a patient's care. Affordability is decreasing the per capita cost of healthcare. To do that, we need to provide the right care at the right place at the right time. Then pass those savings along to patients and families. That's how we look at affordability at WellSpan.
Roxanna Gapstur: Tony, when we deliver high value care, what does it look like?
Dr. Anthony Aquilina: Well, for the patient, it looks like seamless and prompt care coordinated across our system; consistent, excellent experiences; the prevention of unnecessary hospital admissions and readmissions and continuous improvement using Lean methodology at every level of our organization to make care safer.
Roxanna Gapstur: Well, that sounds simple, doesn't it, Tony? In all seriousness, we know this kind of care makes a huge difference to individual patients. This isn't new to healthcare providers.
Dr. Anthony Aquilina: You're right, Roxanna. Providing high quality care to every individual has been a part of the WellSpan tradition since the organization was founded. High quality care for each individual isn't the only currency any longer. The industry is shifting. How we're paid for high quality care is shifting. For our health system, the new currency is loyal patients.
Roxanna Gapstur: Yes, loyal patients. It's the volume of people we serve, not solely the volume of services we deliver. As volume grows, so too does the opportunity to control costs and provide affordable care. Our patients and consumers demand high quality care and better outcomes at a price they can afford. It's why we're focused on developing value-based capability as part of our annual and strategic plans.
Dr. Anthony Aquilina: I know you're going to discuss these value-based capabilities at length with Dr. Flack, Roxanna. So I won't steal his thunder. Let me just say that we've identified guideposts to align our physicians and APPs around our value journey, six guideposts to be exact.
A relentless focus on quality and experience and advanced analytics to make decisions and provide high quality care. Improving access so we can retain and grow our market share by ensuring patients can be seen in the most convenient way possible. Roxanna, if someone's going to compete with us right now, whether another system or a payer, it's going to be on access. Then there's the using the right side of service, reducing care variation, and last but not least, removing waste.
It will take all 20,000 WellSpan team members to advance our value-based capabilities, not just one function or entity. And by strengthening these value-based capabilities, we're simultaneously improving the health of those we serve.
Roxanna Gapstur: Very well said, Tony, I am eager to dig into these competencies a bit deeper with Dr. Flack. So thank you for teeing them up. Before we wrap up, there's one last topic I'd like to explore, and it's the idea of partnerships. In addition to developing our value-based competencies internally, we can accelerate our value-based competencies another way, and that's through partnerships.
Dr. Anthony Aquilina: It's a really great point, Roxanna. And partnerships are happening across the healthcare industry between payers who make multi-year value-based agreements to improve care and cut costs to clinical partnerships that compliment programs and services. And finally, partnerships that offer infrastructure enhancements, to reduce operating costs and enhance experience.
Roxanna Gapstur: This is exactly how WellSpan's thinking about partnerships, isn't it, Tony? Partners allow us to extend our reach, advancing our capabilities to engage, innovate, deliver and thrive. And we're leveraging partnerships across the organization to bring the very best expertise and resources to WellSpan.
Let's consider our partnership with Capital BlueCross, we're using innovation to differentiate care and coverage. In September, we opened the Capital BlueCross Connect Health and Wellness Center within our health campus in Chambersburg. It's a co-branded location where we share staff between Capital and the medical group in Franklin County. Through this unique partnership, our consumers have access to one-on-one consultations for health plans or Medicare options. They can discuss, you know, health problems with health coaches and biometric screenings are available. Capital BlueCross staff can schedule and coordinate appointments in the WellSpan network and we can connect care through our EHR, so it's seamless for our customers. In addition, we're offering bundled care as higher value options for employers and patients.
Dr. Anthony Aquilina: That's a great example, Roxanna. I also think about our clinical collaborations with Johns Hopkins in cancer care and pediatric surgery to augment our own programs and services. Then, there's our partnership with the Maryland Proton Treatment Center, which provides our patients with greater access to the best technology. And we can't forget our digital health solutions like Livango and Babyscripts. Together, we add convenient high value touches to our clinical offerings.
Roxanna Gapstur: That's right, Tony. And when it comes to infrastructure, just a few months ago, we welcomed Benjamin & Bond to the WellSpan team. Together, we've created something called WellSpan Innovations to accelerate consumer-focused approaches while creating a growth mindset in support of our vision and our 2025 plan.
These are just a few examples showing the value we can provide to our communities when we partner with others. Rather than duplicating or developing our own competencies, these partnerships are moving us closer to our 2025 goals. And we'll continue to pursue partnerships with compatible cultures and expertise.
Dr. Anthony Aquilina: Yes. It all ties back to creating loyal WellSpan patients who wouldn't think of going anywhere else.
Roxanna Gapstur: Absolutely. So let's recap our goal, leading the region in value. We started by defining value and affordability along with measures to track our progress. We were introduced to the six value-based competencies to align our physicians and providing greater value and improving health, which we'll explore more with Dr. Flack in the next episode. And finally, we looked at partnerships and why collaboration is necessary for success.
Thank you for being with me today, Tony. I know you share in the belief that when we all align around our value transformation, we'll achieve our goals to lead the region by providing highest quality and safety, exceptional experiences and most affordable care.
Dr. Anthony Aquilina: Thank you, Roxanna.
Roxanna Gapstur: That's all the time we have for today. We hope you'll join us for the next episode of Inspiring Health.