KANSAS CITY, Mo., Oct. 05, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Caravan Health announced today the addition of two senior executives to its growing team. Tim Gronniger will serve as senior vice president of strategy, and Anna Loengard, MD, will serve as chief medical officer. One of Gronniger’s first duties in his new role will be leading a webinar today on implications of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) recent proposal to exempt clinicians from quality reporting under the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA). Prior to joining Caravan Health, Gronniger held the position of deputy chief of staff for CMS, making him expertly qualified to hospital and health system C-Suite leaders through the implications of changes coming from federal policy over the coming years.
Collectively, Dr. Loengard and Gronniger bring more than 30 years of expertise to Caravan Health. The executives’ clinical and business backgrounds will prove invaluable as the company works with an increasing number of hospitals to implement population health initiatives in accountable care organization (ACO) models.
“These professionals bring a unique combination of expertise for the more than 14,000 clinicians and health system leaders across the country who Caravan Health is helping sustainably operate ACOs and other value-based models of care amidst a rapidly changing payment and policy landscape,” said Lynn Barr, chief executive officer of Caravan Health. “We’re incredibly fortunate to have Dr. Loengard and Tim on board, and know our clients will benefit tremendously from their leadership and breadth of knowledge.”
After training at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center at Harvard University and the University of Arizona, Dr. Loengard focused on palliative and home-based primary care at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York. She has spent the last eight years as chief medical officer at both St. Francis Healthcare System and Queen’s Clinically Integrated Physician Network in Hawaii, working with healthcare providers and payors to improve the quality of care across the state. As part of the Caravan Health team she will lead the company’s clinical programs, working with clients and their physician leaders to disseminate successful programs for widespread improvements in care delivery.
“The deep level of insight into the delivery system Caravan Health gains through collecting data from its more than 500,000 beneficiaries gives us unparalleled ability to work as efficiently as possible with clinicians,” said Dr. Loengard. “We’re seeing, in near real-time, the proactive and preventive care interventions that have a measurable impact on the cost and quality of care for health systems and medical groups.”
Gronniger’s responsibilities will include business development, corporate strategy and strategic policy planning. Gronniger has spent his career in Washington, D.C. where he currently resides, working at the Congressional Budget Office, and serving in senior roles for the White House Domestic Policy Counsel and House Committee on Energy and Commerce prior to joining CMS. As deputy chief of staff and director of Delivery System Reform with CMS, he directed federal initiatives to better manage drug costs, helped create new payment models, and led implementation of the physician payment system established by MACRA. His efforts to execute the Administration’s strategy to limit health care costs contributed to the creation of significant new opportunities for providers to work with Medicare, including the Medicare Shared Savings Program’s four tracks of Accountable Care Organizations.
“Health system leaders and physicians are often confused about the direction of federal policy, such as MACRA and the new options from the Innovation Center. I’m eager to help our partners wade through the complexities of healthcare policy and changes in population health models so they can quickly understand implications for their strategy and what they may have to do,” said Gronniger. “The course of health care transformation has a profound importance for every American and their families. Health systems, working with their physicians, have a central role to play in creating a sustainable health care system, and I am excited to do what I can to help.”
Today’s webinar, No Clinicians are Exempt from MACRA, will begin at 11:30 a.m. PT/2:30 p.m. ET. To register, visit Caravan Health’s website.
About Caravan Health:
Caravan Health helps providers implement population health programs with affordable, end-to-end solutions that achieve outstanding results. For more information about Caravan Health and its services, visit caravanhealth.com.
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