VCHI Announces Partnership with Governor Northam to Establish Task Force on Primary Care

Richmond, Virginia – August 5, 2020 –Today in his press briefing, Governor Ralph Northam announced the creation of a task force on primary care in partnership with the Virginia Center for Health Innovation (VCHI) and Secretary of Health and Human Resources Daniel Carey.

The Governor’s Task Force on Primary Care comes as primary care physicians report that the COVID pandemic has caused financial stress and layoffs in their practices. 

 The Governor’s Task Force on Primary Care aims to: 

• Build a stakeholder coalition to direct primary care support and advance the use of data/communication systems for action;
• Define payment models to better support primary care and support practice viability through systems that allow for predictability in financial support;
• Describe the infrastructure needed to support primary care;
• Identify markers of high value care in the COVID and post COVID era to function as quality metrics; and 
• Promote innovations in telehealth, population health management, and outreach to adapt to the changing COVID environment. 

The task force will meet every other week through October and continue with monthly meetings into 2021.  Members are:  

• Sandy Chung, MD, MSHA, Co-Chair | Fairfax Pediatrics Associates; Immediate Past President- AAP, Virginia Chapter, Fairfax
• Jeff Ricketts, Co-Chair | President, Anthem Virginia, Richmond
• Jill Age | SVP Towne Insurance, a subsidiary of Towne Bank, also Past President Virginia Association of Health Underwriters, Tidewater
• Delegate Lashrecse Aird | Democrat, 63^rd District, Chesterfield/Petersburg
• Julie Bilodeau, MBA | CEO, CrossOver Healthcare Ministry, Richmond
• John Brady, MD | TPMG, Newport News, Chair – American Board of Family Medicine
• Michael Bucci | Market President, Aetna, Maryland, DC, and Virginia
• Secretary Daniel Carey, MD | Health and Human Resources Secretary, Commonwealth of Virginia, Richmond
• Michael Cassidy, MPP | President and CEO, Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis, Richmond 
• Colette Chichester | VP, CareFirst, DC, and President, Virginia Association of Health Plans
• Senator Siobhan Dunnavant, MD | Republican, District 12; OBGYN, Henrico
• Emily Elliott | Director, Virginia Department of Human Resource Management, Richmond
• Wina Giddens | Director, Benefits & HRIS, Port of Virginia, Tidewater
• HoChong Gilles, NP | McGuire Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Chesterfield, Immediate Past-President, Virginia Council of Nurse Practitioners
• Neeta Goel, MD | Chief Medical Officer, Ambulatory Services, Inova Health System, Fairfax
• Jill A. Hanken, Esq. | Director of the Center for Healthy Communities and ENROLLVirginia!; Virginia Poverty Law Center, Richmond
• Bryan Haynes | CEO, Southwest Virginia Community Health System, Saltville
• Stuart Henochowicz, MD, MBA, FACP | Internal Medicine and Allergy Associates; Governor-Elect ACP, Virginia Chapter, Burke
• Cornel Hubbard, JD, CCEP | VP and General Manager, Magellan of Virginia, Richmond
• Anthony Keck | EVP for System Innovation and Chief Population Health Officer, Ballad and VCHI Chair, Bristol
• Jesus Lizarzaburu, MD | Legislative Chair, Virginia Academy of Family Physicians, Yorktown
• Thomas Lundquist, MD | SVP and CMO, Optima, Tidewater
• Ellen Montz, PhD | Chief Deputy and Chief Health Economist, DMAS
• Katherine Neuhausen, MD, MPH | Senior Medical Director, Community and State, UnitedHealthcare, Richmond
• Nicole Riley | Virginia State Director, National Federation of Independent Businesses, Richmond
• Deborah D. Oswalt | Executive Director, Virginia Health Care Foundation, Richmond
• Christina Stasiuk, DO | Mid-Atlantic Market Medical Executive, Cigna, Philadelphia
• Meredith Touchstone | Director, Benefits, Carmax, Richmond
• Cameron Webb, MD, JD | Internal Medicine, Director of Health Policy and Equity, University of Virginia; Democratic Nominee for US Congress 5th District
• Jeremy Welsh, PA-C, JD, DHSc | Dean and Chair, School of PA Medicine, University of Lynchburg; President Virginia Academy of Physician Assistants
• Lisa Woods | Senior Director, Strategy and Design, US Benefits, Walmart, Arkansas

About the Virginia Center for Health Innovation

Incorporated in January 2012 following a recommendation from Gov. Robert McDonnell’s Virginia Health Reform Initiative, the Virginia Center for Health Innovation (VCHI) seeks to facilitate innovation by convening key stakeholders and securing the resources to accelerate value-driven models of wellness and health care throughout Virginia. VCHI’s work is focused on achieving three aims: reducing low-value health care, increasing high-value health care, and ensuring Virginia has the infrastructure in place to measure and reward value in health care. Among its many innovative projects, the most notable for their alignment with this initiative are the Virginia Health Value Dashboard and the Virginia Scorecards on Payment Reform. For more information visit: www.vahealthinnovation.org and follow on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn