Executive Summary of February 2018 Board Meeting
Partnership at Starling is a privilege that comes with the responsibility of citizenship. It is important for all partners to be aware of some board discussion topics. For the February meeting, these topics included an update on top legal issues facing physicians and monitoring a period of transition for our finance department.
Top Legal Issues:
- Consolidation and collaboration across the Spectrum of care
a. Vertical integration (CVS/Aetna & Optum)
b. Starling must look to collaboration in strategic situations - Telemedicine and digital health developments
a. Potential to affect patients, primary care, and specialists - Data, HIPAA and cybersecurity
a. Risk assessments must be done
b. Over 19M in fines in 2017 - Payment changes — move to value based payments
a. Federal payment structure to start incorporating cost in 2018 - Audit risk
a. High risk of audit by Department of Social Services (DSS) - Health care reform — ACA stay or go
a. Individual mandate repealed, prognosis for ACA unclear
Finance Transition:
The finance department is undergoing a restructuring. After a thorough evaluation by the management team, and in the interest of promoting long term stability of the department, a decision was made to let go two senior staff members. This decision was not taken lightly, but was felt to be necessary.
Workflows within the department will be reevaluated and optimized. After discussion, the board felt that John Trusler was required to spend a significant amount of time on non-productive or lower level duties. The board requires John to perform higher-level analysis for strategic decision-making. As such, the board instructed John to consider all steps to create efficiency in the finance department, in order for him to focus on CFO tasks. One of the options discussed was to move from a monthly bonus structure to a quarterly one. He will consider, analyze, and report back to the board.