A familiar refrain in my column has been the recognition that health care is continuously evolving, and that we must change with it. Today, medicine is formalizing new concepts that we’re creating business models to support. In this issue of Managed Care Partners, you’ll be reading about some things that—just a few years ago—we might never have expected to discuss.

Take precision medicine, a term coined just about five years ago. While there have always been pockets of medicine working on more tailored treatments for patients, there is now a wider push to incorporate individuals’ differences in genetic makeup, microbiology, behaviors and environments into treatment decisions. Expect exciting news to come from precision medicine centers of excellence being planned at Johns Hopkins.

Then there’s accountable care—another term more recently added to our lexicon. I’m proud to be involved in the Johns Hopkins Medicine Alliance for Patients (JMAP), a Medicare Shared Savings Program accountable care organization covering 38,000 Medicare beneficiaries. In 2014, JMAP saved U.S. taxpayers more than $5 million and achieved a perfect score for quality reporting. (Read about the program in 2015 at right.) JMAP is now incorporating some of the work done through our three-year Johns Hopkins Community Health Partnership, a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services-funded initiative to better engage residents surrounding The Johns Hopkins Hospital and Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center in their health care.

Finally, I’d like to congratulate Redonda G. Miller, new president of The Johns Hopkins Hospital. During her long tenure at Johns Hopkins, Miller, most recently senior vice president for medical affairs for the health system, has earned her reputation as a collaborator, with great success bringing together people and ideas to tackle problems. Co-chair of the Maryland Hospital Association’s Council on Clinical and Quality Issues, she has served on dozens of administrative, medical education, system innovation and quality improvement committees at Johns Hopkins. And the great news is that she will continue to be mentored by Ronald R. Peterson, who led the hospital for nearly two decades and will still be actively involved as executive vice president of Johns Hopkins Medicine and president of the Johns Hopkins Health System.

All of us trained in health care in one way or another have to adapt to meet the new expectations of accountability. Let’s enjoy the ride.

Patricia Brown
President, Johns Hopkins HealthCare