Fowler honored, value-based care discussed at 2024 Annual Dinner
NCLifeSci celebrated the organization’s 30th anniversary at its 2024 Annual Dinner, thanked Neal Fowler, the immediate past president of the organization, and learned about efforts being made to reform the way health-care providers are paid by Medicare and Medicaid.
Avantor, delivered by VWR; EisnerAmper; JLL and SmaBio Labs sponsored the dinner, which was held at the NC Biotechnology Center.
NCLifeSci President Laura Gunter thanked Fowler for his leadership and service as the organization’s president from 2020 to 2023, a period when NCLifeSci lost Sam Taylor, its founding president, to pancreatic cancer, grappled with the COVID pandemic, created the organization’s strategic plan and renamed NCBIO to NCLifeSci.
“We could not have gotten through all of this and all of the issues without him,” Gunter said. “His wise counsel and willingness to participate were key to a steady transition. So, Neal, thank you, sincerely.”
Fowler said, “It was a true honor for me to do this. I never saw it as work, and I hope all of you see it as the same, because I know you have your day jobs. I know it's extra credit and extra effort . . ., but it's well worth it.”
The evening featured a panel discussion of the North Carolina State Transformation Collaborative, a multistakeholder initiative aimed at shifting from fee-for-service to value-based whole-person care for Medicaid and Medicare patients. The panelists were
- Kate Davidson, director, Learning and Diffusion Group, Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services;
- Elizabeth Kasper, care delivery and payment reform senior adviser, NC Medicaid, NC Department of Health and Human Services; and
- Rebecca Whitaker, research director, North Carolina Health Care Innovation and Medicaid Transformation, Duke-Margolis Institute for Health Policy, Duke University.
The collaborative focuses on aligning quality measures, improving data sharing, and enhancing health equity for patients, payers and providers. Specific initiatives include the Healthy Opportunities Pilots, which use Medicaid dollars for social services, and the Making Care Primary model, which incentivizes population-based care. Challenges include administrative burdens and the need for interoperable data systems. The goal is to create a seamless health care system that integrates medical and nonmedical care.
