One health system’s bundled payment journey

Author's Biography

Kate Gillespie is Vice President for Orthopedic and Neuroscience Service Line for Virtua Health System in Marlton, New Jersey. She is responsible for overseeing strategy and programme development for the orthopaedic and neuroscience service lines. Her experience in healthcare spans over 35 years, 20 years of which have been in bedside care delivery and nursing oversight. She received her MBA in 2010 and obtained her Black Belt Six Sigma certification. Where she worked on lean projects and operational process improvement. In her current role, her focus is on building a strong foundation of outstanding clinicians, driving market growth and establishing best practice models across the system’s continuum of care. She is preparing the service line for value-based reimbursement, which includes a focus on cost reduction, quality outcomes and customer experience throughout the episode of care. In 2015, Virtua entered into the CMS Bundled Payments for Care Improvement (BPCI) for total joints and successfully achieved 15 per cent under CMS target pricing while maintaining high quality outcomes. Kate is currently President of the New Jersey State Nursing Association. She has presented at multiple conferences, including the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS)/National Association of Orthopaedic Nurses (NAON) and Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) on topics around CMS Bundled Payment and the successful journey of Virtua’s Joint Replacement Institute.

Christine Gordon is the Director of Reimbursement for Virtua Health System, Inc. in Southern New Jersey. She is responsible for submitting all the governmental reports for the health system and has oversight of all aspects of the health system’s regulatory reporting; Medicare/Medicaid cost reports, appeals and facilitating audits. She has more than 29 years of healthcare finance experience, working as a Medicare auditor and directly within the healthcare setting. As the healthcare continuum has changed, Christine’s reimbursement expertise has proved helpful in analysing al the new Medicare value-based programmes. Christine is co-chair of the Medicare Bundle Payment Program for Virtua for Orthopedic Services to help develop and manage Virtua’s voluntary Medicare bundled payment programme for Joint Replacement. Christine is an active member of the New Jersey Healthcare Finance Management Association chapter, and also serves on the education and reimbursement committees. She has a BSc and an MBA from Rosemont College.