Healthcare Finance Guru Joins Booz Allen
Industry experts help forecast the future of healthcare’s workforce, payment system, physician integration, and more at HFMA’s retreat.
The Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) has named Booz Allen Hamilton associate David Cote to its 2009 list of national Top 100 thought leaders in healthcare finance. The list includes policy experts, hospital and physician executives, managed care experts, and payers (e.g., insurers) who the HFMA brings together to formulate changes to care delivery and payment systems to improve the quality and efficiency of healthcare. The HFMA represents 35,000 healthcare financial management professionals.
Some of the Top 100 met in September 2009 at a retreat in Washington, D.C. to shape consensus in the changes needed to produce a high-quality, sustainable U.S. healthcare system. The retreat was the third in HFMA’s Payment Reform Project.
Cote has more than 20 years of experience in healthcare delivery systems, health insurance operations, managed care, and public health, including program development and project management at the state level. At Booz Allen, he currently supports a project for a government client that involves healthcare screening of troops returning home from combat zones and ensuring their medical and behavioral health needs are met. He also contributes his expertise in healthcare preparedness and response to his team.
His prior experience includes serving as a hospital COO; supporting the conversion of the military healthcare insurance program to a coordinated care system; serving as a Director of Operations/CFO for Kaiser Permanente; serving as a healthcare consultant; and serving as assistant commissioner of health for the state of Vermont. Many of Vermont’s reform initiatives, particularly those regarding effective management of patients with chronic conditions, were part of early bills circulated in Congress; some were accepted for implementation by Medicare in September 2009.
“People with chronic conditions account for 78% of all healthcare spending, 76% of hospital admissions, 72% of physician visits, and 88% of prescriptions,” Cote says. “The current system is not structured to properly care for these individuals. Attendees at the retreat discussed payment reform that would encourage the delivery of appropriate care for those with chronic conditions to improve their quality of life and reduce their healthcare costs.
“The retreat identified structures that align the efforts of physicians and hospitals and discussed changes needed to improve quality and lower costs,” he continues. “Financial, regulatory, and legal hurdles to creating integrated structures were examined and solutions sought to improve collaboration among providers and hospitals to deliver quality, cost-effective care.”
Cote, who joined Booz Allen in 2009, holds a master’s degree in healthcare administration from Baylor University and is a Certified Healthcare Executive. His memberships include the HFMA; National Association of County and City Health Officials; American Public Health Association; and American College of Healthcare Executives.
story posted September 28, 2009
