A conversation with Modern Healthcare exploring how policy, technology, and operational leadership are converging to advance value-based care
Modern Healthcare’s Healthcare Insider recently brought together Rob Bessler, MD, CEO of Honest Health, and Dan Brillman, Deputy Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, for a conversation on what’s shaping the next phase of value-based care.
Hosted by Shannon Mortland, the conversation explored how evolving CMS priorities, advances in technology, and real-world implementation are coming together to influence how health systems prepare for the future. While value-based care continues to mature, the conversation acknowledged a reality many leaders recognize: Moving from policy to performance remains one of healthcare’s greatest challenges.
Aligning policy with better outcomes
Throughout the discussion, Brillman outlined CMS’s continued focus on creating a healthcare system that rewards prevention, simplifies care delivery, and measures what truly improves patient outcomes. From interoperability and data connectivity to streamlining quality measures and reducing administrative burden, the conversation reinforced that policy is increasingly moving toward enabling coordinated, outcomes-driven care.
“When we’re focused on everything, we accomplish nothing.” – Dan Brillman, Deputy Administrator, CMS
For health systems, those shifts represent both regulatory change and a broader effort to reduce complexity, align stakeholders around a smaller set of meaningful outcomes, and create the conditions for value-based care to succeed at scale.
Turning strategy into practice
As payment models evolve, Dr. Bessler emphasized that success ultimately depends on how organizations operationalize them.
While technology and infrastructure are essential, they are only part of the equation. Physician leadership, clear accountability, and consistent execution remain the capabilities that separate participation from performance.
“Hope can’t be the strategy.”- Rob Bessler, MD, CEO, Honest Health
The conversation also explored how simplifying workflows for physicians, aligning incentives across payers, and creating reproducible operating models can help organizations translate value-based care from concept into everyday practice.
Preparing for what’s next
Looking ahead, both speakers pointed to a future where policy, technology, and care delivery become increasingly interconnected. Success will require organizations to look beyond individual tools or payment models and instead build the operational capabilities needed to consistently improve outcomes.
For health system leaders, the message was clear: The next phase of value-based care will belong to organizations that can align strategy with execution, simplify care delivery, and build (or buy) the infrastructure necessary to improve health at scale.
To learn how Honest Health partners with health systems to evaluate and operationalize value-based care models with a focus on performance, visit vbcwithhonest.com.