Agenda – Precon-Day-1

Larry Kocot is a Principal at KPMG, LLP and National Leader of KPMG’s Center for Healthcare Regulatory Insight.

Previously, he was Senior Advisor to the Administrator of the Centers for and Medicaid Services (CMS) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. In this capacity, he was involved in a wide range of health care policy issues and operations related to Medicare and Medicaid. Mr. Kocot practiced law at Epstein Becker Green, PC, and Dentons, US LLP, was a visiting fellow in the Economic Studies Program at the Brookings Institution and served as Deputy Director of the Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform at Brookings from 2007-2013.

Mr. Kocot was also a fellow in International Security Studies at the Center for Strategic And International Studies (CSIS), an adjunct fellow at CSIS and Senior Vice President and General Counsel at the National Association of Chain Drug Stores.

Gregory Woods is the Director of the Division of Alternative Payment Model Infrastructure at Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation. Prior to joining the Innovation Center, he worked for the Assistant Secretary for Financial Resources at HHS, where he focused on Medicare policy and budget issues. He has also previously worked for a health policy consulting firm and for a nonprofit focused on behavioral health policy.

Gregory has a master’s degree in public affairs from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School and received his undergraduate degree from Columbia University.

Larry Kocot is a Principal at KPMG, LLP and National Leader of KPMG’s Center for Healthcare Regulatory Insight.

Previously, he was Senior Advisor to the Administrator of the Centers for and Medicaid Services (CMS) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. In this capacity, he was involved in a wide range of health care policy issues and operations related to Medicare and Medicaid. Mr. Kocot practiced law at Epstein Becker Green, PC, and Dentons, US LLP, was a visiting fellow in the Economic Studies Program at the Brookings Institution and served as Deputy Director of the Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform at Brookings from 2007-2013.

Mr. Kocot was also a fellow in International Security Studies at the Center for Strategic And International Studies (CSIS), an adjunct fellow at CSIS and Senior Vice President and General Counsel at the National Association of Chain Drug Stores.

Carol Vargo is Director of Physician Practice Sustainability in the AMA Physician Satisfaction and Practice Sustainability Strategic Initiative Group. In this role, Carol directs AMA development of resources to support sustainable physician payment and delivery reforms. She also develops external partnerships with hospitals, health systems, commercial payers, technology vendors and other key stakeholders to advance the AMA strategic agenda on implementation and adoption of new federal, state and commercial payment and delivery models, including the new Medicare Quality Payment Program.

Prior to this position, Carol worked at the AMA as an Assistant Director of Federal Affairs and Outreach, Advocacy Group. In this role, she developed and implemented internal and external policies and strategies to advance AMA’s priorities with the Federal Executive Branch. She began her career in federal policymaking as a Legislative Assistant to U.S. Representative Jim McDermott (D-WA).

Ross White is a Manager in the Center for Healthcare Regulatory Insight at KPMG. Mr. White’s work at KPMG focuses on strategic analysis and research for both internal and external audiences on policy and regulatory trends impacting providers, payers, and life sciences companies, particularly related to value-based payment reforms. Mr. White has previously served as a Senior Project Manager at The Brookings Institution; Public Policy Associate at The Hastings Center; and researcher at the President’s Council on Bioethics and the Medical University of South Carolina. Mr. White has an MA in public policy from The George Washington University.

Danielle Lloyd is the vice president for policy and advocacy as well as deputy director of the Washington, DC office of the Premier healthcare alliance. Danielle leads Premier’s policy analysis and development. She is a national expert on federal healthcare quality and payment polices impacting hospitals, outpatient facilities and physicians, such as value-based purchasing and alternative payment models. Lloyd works with lawmakers, the White House, and other major stakeholders involved in healthcare policy and regulation. Prior to coming to Premier, Lloyd worked on an array of healthcare issues including Medicare and Medicaid payment, quality policies, and health information technology for the American Hospital Association, California Hospital Association, the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Ways and Means and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

Danielle is an active volunteer for Sibley Memorial Hospital’s Patient & Family Advisory Council and Quality & Safety team.

Mara McDermott serves as the Vice President of Federal Affairs for CAPG, heading up the association’s federal legislative and regulatory activities in Washington, DC. Mara works on behalf of CAPG member organizations to advance policies that promote coordinated care. This role includes advocacy and education efforts with members of Congress and their staffs, the Administration, and other health policy stakeholders. Prior to joining CAPG, Mara was Counsel in the health industry practice at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld. In this role, she focused on a variety of issues affecting health industry clients, with a particular emphasis on health policy and regulatory issues facing physician organizations, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, and academic medical institutions.

Khue Nguyen is the Chief Operating Officer of C-TAC Innovations. In this role, Dr. Nguyen develops strategic directions for C-TAC Innovation and directs care model development and implementation. She is the co-author of C-TAC’s Advanced Care Report and most recently, led the development of the Advanced Care Model Service Delivery and Advanced Alternative Payment Model proposal to the Physician-Focused Payment Model Technical Advisory Committee. Dr. Nguyen is a health care leader with extensive experience in the design and development of population health management programs. She served as project director and led implementation of the system-wide rollout of the AIM initiative at Sutter Health that was funded in part by the CMS Innovation Center, spreading the program to 11 counties covering more than 10 hospitals and five community physician networks in the first year. More recently, Dr. Nguyen helped develop clinical programs through alternative payment models, including Bundled Payments, Independence at Home and Medicare Shared Savings programs.

Frank Opelka is a physician executive, a surgeon and the Medical Director for Quality and Health Policy at the American College of Surgeons. He has focused his efforts on Alternative Payment Models, Interoperability Solutions, Graduate Medical Education, Work Force, and Surgeon Burnout (Emotional Well Being). Dr. Opelka serves on several national initiatives within the National Quality Forum, the Health Care Learning and Action Network, and the Surgical Quality Alliance. Dr. Opelka is the founder and chair of the Surgical Quality Alliance. Dr. Opelka leads a team building a new performance measure framework for surgical patients. In addition, his work promotes surgical patient reported outcomes mapped to the goals patients have in their care. Dr. Opelka serves as an academic surgeon with clinical appointments as a Professor of Surgery at Louisiana State University, Professor of Surgery at George Washington University and visiting associate professor of Surgery at Harvard University.