Acadia Professional New Advisory Board
Acadia Professional, LLC (Acadia) announces the establishment of a Value Based Care Risk Advisory Board – the first of its kind in the United States. Advisory Board Members will counsel Acadia on the US healthcare reimbursement system’s transition from fee-for-service to “value-based,” and its impact on healthcare risk. Acadia hopes to gain valuable insight to educate and support clients affected by the transition. Newly appointed board members include: The Honorable Paul W. Armstrong, J.S.C. (Ret.), M.A., J.D., LLM, as Chairman, and Lili Brillstein, MPH, Bill Burns, ACAS, MAAA, and Brian S. Kern, Esq. as members.
As the American healthcare reimbursement system continues to evolve into a “value-based” model, Acadia has established itself as a thought leader and trusted resource – particularly related to risk transfer. The Value Based Care Risk Advisory Board has been formed to help clients and industry stakeholders navigate the complexities of payor models and their associated financial risk.
“Judge Armstrong has long been a pioneer of patients’ rights dating back to early in his career when he successfully argued before the Supreme Court of New Jersey in In Re Quinlan and Matter of Jobes, and we are honored to have him as Chair,” said Henry Kane, Partner at Acadia. Judge Armstrong is a national leader on issues related to bioethics and end of life decision making, which have been demonstrated to improve quality of life while reducing system burdens.
“We are extremely fortunate to have Lili Brillstein, one of the nation’s leading voices and architects of value-based care models, and Bill Burns, who is a nationally-recognized expert on professional liability insurance and the marketplace as a whole. We’re delighted that Brian Kern, partner at Acadia, will also serve as an integral member of the Advisory Board, along with this group of prominent experts,” added Scott Parker, Founder and Partner at Acadia.
Judge Armstrong served as a New Jersey Superior Court Judge from 2000-2017. Among his many well-known cases, Judge Armstrong presided over the case of State of New Jersey v. Charles Cullen, the convicted nurse serial-killer. He was a principal draughtsman and legislative architect of the New Jersey Advance Directives for Health Care and Declaration of Death Acts and is the author (with Professor Robert S. Olick) of “Advance Health Care Directives” in West’s New Jersey Legal Forms. Judge Armstrong served as initial counsel, trustee and incorporator of the Karen Ann Quinlan Hospice as well as the New Jersey Hospice Organization. He also represented the American Hospital Association as Amicus Curiae in Cruzan v. Director, Missouri Dept. of Health, and the Medical Society of New Jersey in Vacco v. Quill before the United States Supreme Court. He is Chairman of the New Jersey Bio-Ethics Commission as well as the Governor’s Advisory Council on AIDS and a Senior Policy Fellow at the Bloustein Institute for Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University.
Lili Brillstein is a nationally recognized thought leader in the advancement of Episodes of Care as a value-based approach for specialty care. She is the founder and President of Brillstein Collaborative Consulting, as well as the former Director of Specialty Care Value Based Models for Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey. Brillstein is a passionate advocate of Episodes of Care/Bundled Payments as a strategy to successfully migrate from fee for service to quality- & value-based models that rewards providers for excellent outcomes and patient experience, while reducing the overall cost of healthcare. One of the hallmarks of her perspective is the criticality of beginning with models that do not include a risk transfer to providers until all of the stakeholders have worked together in a retrospective, no risk model and achieved success. The goal of her efforts is to cultivate true partnerships aligned around the patient and improve their experiences and outcomes, and ultimately reduce unnecessary care and waste.
Bill Burns, ACAS, MAAA, is VP on Conning’s Insurance Research team. His main coverage areas are medical professional liability, reinsurance, and general liability. Prior to joining Conning, Burns was the head of reinsurance loss reserving at Everest Re. He has served as the chief actuary at two medical professional liability companies and is a frequent speaker at industry conferences. Burns was a charter member of the Medical Professional Liability Committee of the American Academy of Actuaries.
Brian S. Kern, Esq. is an attorney and healthcare risk insurance executive with nearly 20 years of experience. Founder of Toro Risk Consulting Group, Kern is an expert in many facets of professional liability and financial risk. In 2016, he was honored as one of “Forty Under 40” by NJBiz. Kern focuses on helping practices enter value-based programs by educating them on where new revenue sources exist, and how to protect themselves from downside risk. He continues to advise practices, “conveners’ and consulting companies on government and private payor shared-savings models.
Brian S. Kern, Esq., Partner, Acadia Professional.