Project Alignment

Across provider, payer, and shared-services environments, one pattern consistently separates programs that deliver measurable value from those that stall: disciplined partner alignment—with explicit roles, governance checkpoints, and the right financial analytics at the right stage. Drawing on my cross‑sector leadership here are few considerations for your important projects as you prepare for the new year.

Sample Project - Let’s say you are a value-based care leader seeking to improve performance against contract targets.

1)    Define the project scope

·     What is project goal?

·     How does the goal relate to corporate key strategies?

·     Do you have project buy-in?

2)    Define Roles & decision rights – Make sure the team represents all areas

·     Executive Sponsor – sets outcome targets, unlocks resources

·     Clinical Lead – care models, quality metrics, practice engagement

·     Finance Lead – baseline TCOC, margin guardrails, ROI tracking

·     Data/IT – population analytics, attribution/risk, dashboard cadence

·     Contracting/Legal – economics, risk corridors, governance charter

·     Operations Lead – workstream integration, change management

·     Communications – stakeholder narrative, transparency, escalation

3)    Set up Governance checkpoints (stage‑gated)

·     Gate 0: Charter & outcomes (decision rights, KPIs, risk appetite)

·     Gate 1: Baseline & opportunity map (utilization, cost drivers)

·     Gate 2: Contract economics (shared savings, downside risk scenarios)

·     Gate 3: Launch readiness (care pathways, staffing, data feeds)

·     Gate 4: Gain internal support from leadership and board, if necessary

·     Gate 4: In‑flight performance (variance analysis, course correction)

·     Gate 5: Value realization (distribution, sustainability, next‑wave)

Cadence: weekly workstreams, monthly steering committee meetings, and quarterly board updates if the project is big enough.

4)    Financial analytics by stage

·     Gate 0–1: Attribution integrity, PMPM/TCOC trend, avoidable utilization; risk stratification and care‑gap closure potential

·     Gate 2: Contract scenario modeling (risk corridors, stop‑loss, surplus distribution), sensitivity to quality bonuses

·     Gate 3: Cost‑to‑serve and resourcing, throughput targets, break‑even curves

·     Gate 4: Run‑rate vs. plan, variance drivers (mix, unit price, volume), intervention effectiveness

·     Gate 5: Program‑level ROI, margin lift, sustainability plan and scaling roadmap

This approach is grounded in our ACO Strategic Performance Insights offering—focused on strategy alignment, payor contracting, data integration, and quality/financial performance review—and built from decades of implementation experience.