The 13th Annual RISE Nashville Summit will take place March 17-19, 2019 at the Gaylord Opryland Resort. Here are six reasons why you don't want to miss the event of the year.
NASHVILLE, Tenn.— Registration is now open for the 13th Annual RISE Nashville Summit, a dynamic learning event that features eight tracks and more than 40 sessions for executives and senior managers from Medicare Advantage, Commercial, and Medicaid health plans, provider groups/integrated health systems and service providers from across the United States.
The theme of the event, which will take place March 17-19, 2019 at the Gaylord Opryland Resort, is “Taking Charge of the Future of Health Care.” Session topics will address existing and emerging industry issues including risk revenue management, quality improvement, member engagement and care management, payer-provider collaboration, new technologies and advanced analytics, and policy updates.
“This is the place to understand the inner workings of these programs, where finances and member experience are concerned,” says Conference Chair Nathan Goldstein, chief product officer, Signify Health. “One theme is around member engagement and how we get to a closer relationship with the beneficiary.”
Goldstein says that whether a participant is brand new to the industry or a seasoned veteran, he or she will get something out of the conference.
Countless network opportunities
The summit attracts more than 1,200 participants each year. No other networking event in the industry compares to it, says Goldstein. “One of my ‘Dad’ jokes that I give at the podium is that this is the biggest gathering of people who understand what you do for a living,” he says. “There are tremendous amounts of networking opportunities. I will introduce 10 people to jobs. Networking can become a cliché. But can you think of a place that gathers more than 1,000 people who understand your value to your company?”
Speaker Sean Creighton, vice president in policy practice, Avalere Health, agreed. “It’s very important for people at the health plans to get together and talk to each other, talk to vendors about the latest developments, and hear from the research perspective about the results of our different approaches to our work,” he says.
Keynote speakers John Medina, Aron Ralston, and Kelly J. Clark
In addition to networking, attendees will hear from keynote speaker John Medina, a developmental molecular biologist, researcher, professor and author of 10 books. His New York Times bestseller, “Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving at Work, Home and School,” has been celebrated as the standard handbook on understanding the brain and optimizing its performance. He has spent most of his professional life as an analytical research consultant, working primarily in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries on research related to mental health. Medina also consults with hospitals and health care facilities on designing brain-healthy environments that reduce staff stress and improve patient outcomes. His presentation at RISE Nashville will focus on the aging brain.
RELATED: RISE Nashville 2019: Q&A with Keynote Speaker John Medina
Motivational speaker Aron Ralston, an experienced climber and avid outdoorsman, will recount his five-day ordeal when he became trapped between two boulders in a remote location of Utah. Ultimately, he freed himself by severing his own arm with a pocketknife. His New York Times best-selling book, “Between a Rock and a Hard Place" inspired the major motion picture, “127 Hours.”
Dr. Kelly J. Clark, president of the American Society of Addiction Medicine, will also give a keynote presentation. Clark has focused her career on issues of addictive disease, evidence-informed behavioral health care, and payment reform. She has provided expertise about the opioid crisis to the Food and Drug Administration, Department of Justice, the Office of Comptroller General, Pew Trusts, and the National Safety Council.
Health care hot topic panel discussion
New this year is an audience-driven discussion on health care hot topics. Goldstein will moderate a panel of health care experts and solution providers who will address questions submitted by attendees two weeks prior to the conference. This discussion will tackle challenges in the industry, including risk adjustment strategies, impact of government program reform, changes in audit protocols, innovations in technology, and implications from the 2019 call letter released by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Panelists will include Creighton; Ana Handshuh, vice president, managed care services, Ultimate Health Plans; Dave Meyer, vice president, Stars, Cigna; and Jennifer Pereur, director of government programs, Hill Physicians Medical Group.
Breakout sessions
Creighton says that the conference is a huge opportunity for people who work in risk adjustment and quality improvement to learn what’s happening in the industry, new developments in policies, and approaches to improving health plans in all phases of operations. The conference will feature more than 40 sessions within eight tracks on risk adjustment strategies; quality, accountability, and transparency; member engagement and care outcomes; data management and analytics; trends and developments; audit readiness and compliance; provider collaboration; and the future of health care.
Roundtable discussions and exhibits
The summit will also include 15 interactive, speed-dating type presentations on both days of the conference, so participants can hear from health care’s most influential technology and solution gurus who will present tools to help elevate your plan’s initiatives. A bell will ring three times during the special 60-minute sessions, alerting participants to transition to the next roundtable of their choice. Attendees will also be able to browse through the exhibit hall, which will feature more than 55 vendors that will display the latest technologies and solutions to help boost your plan’s risk, quality, and data management endeavors.
Pre-conference workshops
Creighton recommends that participants who are new to the industry attend one of the pre-conference workshops on Sunday, March 17. The workshops offered include a foundation of risk assessment; HCC coding accuracy; breakthrough technologies revolutionizing risk, quality, and related analytics for value-based care; advanced HCC audit preparation; and advanced risk adjustment tactics, issues, and advice. The workshops are taught by people in the industry, he says, and the foundation sessions are meant to give newcomers to the industry a basic knowledge of risk adjustment.
Editor’s note: Don’t miss your chance to attend RISE Nashville. For more information or to register, click here.