Pop Health Podcast

Making Specialty Care Work in Value-Based Models

As accountable care models continue to evolve, organizations are increasingly being asked to engage specialists in more meaningful and coordinated ways. In this episode, Coral Health Advisor’s Joy Chen sits down with Aisha Pittman, Senior Vice President of Government Affairs at NAACOS; Dr. Erin Hurlburt, Chief Medical Officer of Population Health Services at Lumeris; and Dr. Gene Quinn, Chief Executive Officer of Envoy Integrated Health, to discuss the growing role of specialty care in value-based care and accountable care models. The conversation explores challenges and opportunities related to incentives, care accountability, data sharing, network design, and specialist alignment, along with insights from NAACOS’ new Specialty Engagement in Accountable Care Toolkit.

Reimagining Post-Acute Care: Why the Future of Recovery Happens at Home

In this episode of The Pop Health Podcast, Brian Lobley, CEO of tango, sits down with Coral Founder Meg Koepke to discuss how post-acute care is evolving and why the home is becoming the preferred setting for recovery after hospitalization. Brian shares how tango is aligning payers and home health providers through value-based approaches that prioritize faster access to care, better outcomes, and lower total cost of care. Together, they explore the implications for Medicare Advantage and emerging policy models, the operational realities of managing post-acute episodes, and what the future of home-based recovery could look like as health systems continue shifting care beyond traditional facility walls.

From Concept to Model: The Making of LEAD

In this episode of the Pop Health Podcast, Coral's Maria Alexander and Joy Chen welcome Meredith Yinger, Model Lead for the Innovation Center’s LEAD (Long-term Enhanced ACO Design) Model and Emily Bezold, Senior Advisor to the Center’s ACO portfolio. Together, they explore more about the mission and vision for LEAD, how the model came to fruition, the Center’s rationale for key design features, and what potential applicants may want to know before they apply.

Primary Care Population-Based Payment and Value Based Payment State Lessons

In this episode of the Pop Health Podcast, Coral's Trevor Abeyta is joined by Araceli Santistevan, Payment Reform Unit Supervisor at the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing, and Andy Wilson, Managing Director for Analytics at Third Horizon Strategies. Together they discuss Colorado Medicaid’s APM 2 primary care capitation model, exploring what has worked, key challenges such as rate setting and post-COVID utilization changes, and lessons for states pursuing value-based payment.

What the LEAD Model Means for ACOs and the Future of Value-Based Care

In this episode, Melissa Cohen, Founder of Coral Health Advisors, is joined by Maria Alexander, EVP & Partner, and Joy Chen, Director, to unpack CMMI’s newest accountable care model — LEAD (Long-term Enhanced ACO Design). Together, they explore how LEAD builds on MSSP and ACO REACH, what’s actually new (and what’s familiar), and how ACOs should start thinking about readiness, risk, and strategy ahead of a potential 2027 launch.