Aledade CEO Dr. Farzad Mostashari is no stranger to tumult and uncertainty in the nation’s capital.
Mostashari, who was the national coordination for health information technology under President Barack Obama, co-founded Aledade, based in Washington D.C., in 2014 to help independent practices enter value-based payment arrangements and maintain their autonomy. He said the company will not be affected by any Trump administration upheavals.
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“Value-based care is that rare non-partisan issue in healthcare,” Mostashari said.
As proof of its bullishness in value-based care, Aledade announced last week it added an additional physicain practices to its network. That brings its total up to more than 2,400 practices across 46 states and Washington, D.C.
Still Aledade, which has done well in the Medicare Shared Savings Program, is not still taking any chances when it comes to advocating for the best interests of independent practices. In January, the company launched its own policy institute.
It's just one of the many tools Aledade is making available for its practice partners. In an interview, Mostashari said the company has invested in artificial intelligence for physicians, fulfilling a promise he made when they raised $260 million in June 2023. The interview is edited for length and clarity.
What do you make of the changes in Washington, D.C.?
We continue to see opportunity to use better incentives and better information to drive better care and lower cost. I don't see that as a Republican or Democratic issue. There may be more of a focus on chronic disease prevention and less of a focus on some of the Biden administration initiatives around health equity but by and large, we’ll push forward on what everyone agrees is good for the country.
Why did Aledade launch a policy institute instead of relying on the traditional lobbying arms in healthcare?
We participate in a lot of associations but we've always had an independent voice. We’re dealing with thousands of practices and tens of thousands of physicians all day long, and we see what's happening. When something like a Change Healthcare hack happened we were among the first to find solutions so we could give recommendations that were feasible and actionable.
The government relations arm of a for-profit company is there to maximize shareholder returns. As a public benefit corporation, we're not only talking about things that directly help our pocketbook but help independent practices stay independent. What we thought we would do with the policy institute is make clear that this is a separate mission to make policy recommendations that are good for society, not just seen as a self-serving government relations arm.
As a former federal official, what do you think the role of government should be in regulating health technology?
I continue to have a strong belief, maybe stronger than ever, that health information technology in the hands of people and their providers can be a force for good. The question really is, “What is the right amount of government involvement?” There can be difference of opinion there. I think there will continue to be a need for good governance and technical leadership. The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology has always been able to walk the line of listening broadly, not just to the people who are the regulated entities, but to patient, public health and physician groups, setting rules transparently, and then asking for feedback on their plans. There is a lot ONC has done well, there's a lot more that it can continue to do.
When Aledade raised $260 million in June 2023, you vowed to invest in AI. How has that gone?
We use AI to improve predictions. When you're doing population health, it really helps to be able to focus on interventions. Some interventions can be expensive, and they can be a big burden. We want to focus those interventions on the people who are going to benefit the most so that means making some sort of prediction about who is going to go into kidney failure. Because we have a program that can help them, but we can't offer it to everybody, right? In value-based care, you figure out the 2% or 3% of the population who can benefit the most and focus your outreach on them. We have 450 million data points coming in and we use all that to make predictions that are increasingly accurate about who's going to need help and who can benefit.
How do physicians react to these tools?
We don’t make a big deal about what's powered by AI. It’s just, “This patient could benefit from a referral to this kidney care management program that we have.” A lot of that is just behind the scenes and what they see is they have access to more and better insights.
As a company strategically linked to Medicare Advantage, what do you make of the scrutiny from regulators?
There were groups that were really aggressive on diagnosis documentation. Look, it's a good part of patient care but if you go overboard, and you're diagnosing things that you're not treating, that's a problem. But our modus operandi is through primary care. So we don't have the situation where we're sending someone to the person's house to diagnose them with a bunch of conditions that we're not treating. Our primary care docs are treating them. So I'm not worried. I'm not worried about doing a good job diagnosing primary care conditions and I support policies that make it less game-able.
