A prominent statewide healthcare policy leader has joined a prominent organization involved in developing accountable care organization (ACO) and alternative payment model (APM) strategy. The Bethesda, Md.-based Aledade announced on Tuesday, Jan. 25 that Mandy Cohen, M.D., M.P.H., who had been serving as Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services since January 2017 until mid-December 2021, is joining Aledade as CEO of Aledade Care Solutions, the company’s new health services unit, beginning in March.
A press release announcing the appointment began thus: “Aledade, the leading primary care enablement company, today announced that Dr. Mandy Cohen, former Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, will serve as the Chief Executive Officer of Aledade Care Solutions (ACS), the company’s new health services unit. She will also serve as Aledade’s Executive Vice President. Dr. Cohen will assume her new roles in March 2022. As CEO of ACS, Dr. Cohen will lead the implementation of targeted wraparound care solutions to support the more than a thousand primary care practices in Aledade’s nationwide network of Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs). ACS will complement the care that practices provide, developing new programs to improve patient outcomes and increase cost savings. ACS announced its first launch earlier this month with Aledade’s acquisition of Iris Healthcare, a company that offers virtual Comprehensive Advance Care Planning services to patients across the country, following a successful pilot with Aledade.”
The press release noted that “Future care solutions will be explored with input from practices in the Aledade ACO network, finding ways to leverage data and technology, including remote and virtual services, to improve patients’ health and increase ACO savings. ACS will help Aledade create innovative care delivery solutions that are seamlessly integrated with a patient’s primary care practice.” And it quoted Farzad Mostashari, M.D., Aledade’s co-founder and CEO, as stating that “One of Aledade's secret powers has been our ability to welcome amazing executives from public service to come and serve the broader social good in a different way. I have had the opportunity to work with Mandy when she was a leader at the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services and as Secretary of Health and Human Services for North Carolina. I have always been impressed with her proven track record of delivering results for people who need high-quality, whole-person care, and we are thrilled that she will be helping to guide this next phase in our growth,” he added.
And Dr. Cohen was quoted in the press release as saying that “Aledade’s support for primary care practices to deliver integrated, whole-person care in value-based payment arrangements is good for practices, payers, patients, communities and society. Importantly, it’s the kind of care I want for my family. As part of the Aledade leadership team, I look forward to ensuring primary care practices have the resources they need to keep their patients and communities healthy.”
As the website of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services’ profile of Dr. Cohen has stated, “Dr. Mandy Cohen was appointed to the role of Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) in January 2017 by Governor Roy Cooper. Secretary Cohen and her team work tirelessly to improve the health, safety and well-being of all North Carolinians. DHHS has 17,000 employees and an annual budget of $20 billion serving as the home to NC Medicaid, Public Health, Mental Health/IDD/SUD, State Operated Hospitals and Facilities, Economic Services, Adult and Child Services, Early Childhood Education, Employment Services, and Health Services Regulation. Secretary Cohen and her team are focused on responding to and recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, building a robust, efficient Medicaid program, improving early childhood health, safety and education, combatting the opioid crisis, and ensuring equitable access to health resources.” In that role, the NC DHHS noted, “Her team at NC DHHS oversees the operational response – including hospital surge capacity, testing capacity, tracing capacity, and PPE availability – in addition to constructing the advanced data infrastructure necessary to collect and analyze key data points to drive decision making. Secretary Cohen also leads the development of North Carolina policy guidance which informs the actions needed to slow COVID-19 spread.”
Cohen stepped down from her NC DHHS position on Dec. 1. As Healthcare Innovation Senior Contributing Editor David Raths wrote in a news report on that date, “Cohen, who helmed NCDHHS for five years, led the development of an approach to whole-person care, including the integration of physical and mental health and using Medicaid to address drivers of health such as housing, transportation, and employment. In addition, North Carolina implemented a statewide coordinated care network, NCCARE360, to electronically connect those with identified needs to community resources. This private-public partnership has been a key feature of the state's COVID response and backbone to the Health Opportunities pilot authorized under North Carolina’s 1115 Medicaid waiver.”
On that same date, Governor Roy Cooper said in a statement that “Mandy Cohen has shown extraordinary leadership during her tenure and she has worked every day during this pandemic to help keep North Carolinians healthy and safe. We are stronger because of her efforts and I am enormously grateful for her service. She has built a remarkable team of talented people including Kody Kinsley, and I know he will continue the strong legacy of competence, effectiveness and efficiency as he takes over as Secretary.”
