★ Registration is open. Five sessions, one sign-up, Oct 14 through Nov 18. Save your seat
APM Connect | Boot Camp
Oct 14 – Nov 18, 2026/ Wednesdays, 12:00–1:00 PM CT/ Virtual

Downside Risk Bootcamp

Taking On Risk in Episodes

Preparing for success in episode-based payment models.

TEAM is here. ASM is coming. CJR-X is waiting. ACOs already hold bundle data, and LEAD opens the door to CARA. This series walks a cross-functional team through the whole arc of an episode: the economics, the data, the contracts, and the care model, with the operators, attorneys, actuaries, and clinicians who have already done it.

One registration covers all five sessions.

Sessions
4 core + 1 open round table
Cadence
Wednesdays, 12–1 PM CT
Recordings
Posted on demand for members
Scope
Model-agnostic

The sessions

Built in sequence, each session assumes the last

Session 01
Oct 14 Wednesday Recorded

VBC Models and Physician Engagement: Why It Matters and What Works

The level-set and the urgency case. Everyone who attends the rest of the series should leave this session speaking the same language.

  • Who is on the hook and when. TEAM is live now, with Track 3 downside starting January 2027. ASM begins January 2027. CJR-X was finalized July 31, 2026 for a mandatory nationwide start on January 1, 2028.
  • What has actually worked: the short list from BPCI-A and the original CJR, and the two or three moves that reliably did not.
  • VBC strategy 101 from the physician's seat: what has to be settled before go-live, how to engage physicians from day one, what can reasonably be asked of them, and what they find most frustrating about these models.
  • What a working definition of “specialist engagement” actually looks like.
  • Working with emergency medicine on avoidable ED visits and readmissions, plus where the well-established guideline conditions are headed next.
  • Using AI and large language models to turn shadow bundle data into working clinical workflows.

▶ Watch the Session 01 recording

Discipline lead
APM Connect: VBC operator + physician engagement
  • Reyann Davis Reyann Davis
  • Benjamin J. Schwartz, MD, MBA Dr. Ben Schwartz
  • CM Dr. Chad Mather
  • Mike Logan, MD Dr. Mike Logan

Panel discussion, moderated by Reyann Davis.

Session 02
Oct 21 Wednesday Recorded

Implementing: Provider Arrangements and Legal Guardrails

Implementation and legal, merged on purpose, because the care redesign and the contract that pays for it get built at the same table.

  • Aligning surgeons and specialists: what actually changes practice, and what gainsharing can and cannot buy.
  • Structuring the arrangements: sharing arrangements, permitted participants, distribution caps, documentation.
  • The waivers that matter (SNF three-day, telehealth, post-discharge home visits), plus beneficiary incentives.
  • Stark Law, Anti-Kickback Statute, and CMPs: where the CMS-sponsored model safe harbor protects you and where it stops, plus the VBE structure as an alternative path.

▶ Watch the Session 02 recording

Discipline lead
Bass, Berry & Sims + Pinnacle Healthcare Consulting
  • Justin K. Brown, JD Justin K. Brown, JD
  • Anthony Long Anthony Long, MBA
  • John P. Carter John P. Carter

Round-table format. The presenters put the questions to each other.

Session 03
Nov 4 Wednesday 12:00–1:00 PM CT

Developing the Strategy: Data and Where to Move the Needle

For the people who have the data files open and do not know which number to chase first.

  • What CMS gives you versus what you actually need, and how to close that gap.
  • Decomposing an episode: index cost, post-acute, readmissions, physician services, implants and supplies.
  • Benchmarks and risk adjustment: how target prices get built, and what that means for where savings are even possible.
  • Finding the variation that is yours to move: surgeon-level, DRG-level, discharge-disposition-level.
  • Picking two or three targets instead of twelve, and sizing opportunity against difficulty.
Discipline lead
Alliant Value-Based Healthcare Solutions: actuarial & analytics
  • Tara Lagu, MD, MPH Tara Lagu, MD, MPH
  • Brian Machut, FSA Brian Machut, FSA

Session moderator to be confirmed.

Session 04
Nov 11 Wednesday 12:00–1:00 PM CT

Executing the Episode: Coordination, Quality, and Post-Acute

The operating layer: who calls the patient, who owns escalation, and where the episode is actually won or lost.

  • The 30-day window under TEAM versus 90 days under CJR-X, and why the longer tail changes staffing, not just tracking.
  • A touchpoint cadence that works: discharge call in days 1–3, follow-up appointment confirmed rather than merely scheduled, medication access check, day-7 and day-30 barrier calls.
  • Discharge disposition as the single largest controllable variable in most episodes, including home-first pathways and who is genuinely safe for them.
  • SNF length of stay, preferred network design, and readmission prevention in the post-acute setting.
Discipline lead
CommonSpirit Health: quality & care management
  • Helena Moon, MD Helena Moon, MD
  • Liz Spinella-Jones Liz Spinella-Jones
  • GM Gail Moxley
  • EF Erin Fellows
  • MS Megan Santiago
  • RM Regina Mudd

Titles and full bios to follow.

Session 05
Nov 18 Wednesday 12:00–1:00 PM CT

The ACO Overlay, Plus Open Round Table

How episodes sit inside a total-cost-of-care world, then the floor opens. Bring the question you did not want to ask in front of your board.

  • Where episode and ACO incentives reinforce each other, and where they collide.
  • Recap across all four disciplines, then open Q&A with the full faculty.
Discipline lead
HSG Global + full faculty panel
  • Juliette Price Juliette Price

Presents the ACO overlay and moderates the round table.

Presenters

Faculty across four disciplines

Reyann Davis

Reyann Davis

Co-Founder, APM Connect · Principal Consultant, HSG Global

Reyann leads APM Connect, the learning community built for organizations in mandatory CMS episode and value-based payment models, and serves as a Principal Consultant with HSG Global. She opens the series by moderating the physician engagement panel.

Session 01Host
Benjamin J. Schwartz, MD, MBA

Benjamin J. Schwartz, MD, MBA

Physician Executive, Good Bones Medical Advisory

A former high-volume orthopedic surgeon, Ben spent nearly two decades in private practice and leading clinical performance work before moving from the operating room to the strategy room. He is Medical Director at RightMove, a value-based specialty care platform, keeps a part-time clinical practice with Cambridge Health Alliance, a Harvard Medical School affiliate, and chairs the Practice Management Committee for the American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons. He writes on redesigning specialty care at The Surgeon's Record.

Session 01Physician engagement
Mike Logan, MD

Mike Logan, MD

Chief Medical Officer, Regional Operations, Lumeris

Mike guides health systems and physician groups moving into value-based care, working with client leadership on care models, physician engagement, quality, utilization and cost, and is one of the clinical leads for Lumeris's AI-enabled development. He was previously Regional Medical Director for Population Health at Advocate Physician Partners, a 4,500-clinician ACO managing $1.2B in annual capitation, and Medical Director for its MSSP and ACO REACH programs, which produced $77.2M in Illinois savings in 2024. He is board certified in emergency medicine and still practices at Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital, a Level I trauma center.

Session 01Emergency medicine
CM

Chad Mather, MD

Associate Professor of Orthopedic Surgery, Duke University School of Medicine · Chief Medical Officer, Specialty Care, Optum

An orthopedic surgeon, Chad brings the scale view: what specialist engagement looks like when you are moving behavior across a national network rather than a single practice. Full bio to follow.

Session 01Physician engagement
Justin K. Brown, JD

Justin K. Brown, JD

Member, Bass, Berry & Sims

Justin is a healthcare regulatory attorney who advises health systems and physician enterprises on collaborative arrangements, gainsharing, and fraud and abuse compliance under episode payment. He originated this series and has taught the arrangements-and-guardrails material twice already, most recently for the Care Continuum Alliance.

Session 02Legal guardrails
Anthony Long

Anthony Long, MBA, FACHE, FACCA, CAAMA

Partner, Pinnacle Healthcare Consulting

Anthony brings more than 30 years in healthcare, previously as a Director of Health Strategy at Navigant Consulting, EVP of Paragon Health, and president of multiple heart hospitals and centers. He has led hospital–physician and practice alignments, private equity acquisitions, and service line planning for large systems, and is a Fellow and past president of the American College of Cardiovascular Administrators.

Session 02Alignment & arrangements
John P. Carter

John P. Carter, MBA, MS, FACHE, FACHDM

Brand Ambassador & Business Development Director, The Pinnacle Family of Companies

John led network operations for one of North Texas's largest IPAs, overseeing payor contracting, physician engagement, and value-based care programs for 650+ physicians across 250+ practices. A Fellow of ACHE and the American College of Health Data Management, he serves on the board of the Texas Association of Accountable Care Organizations and brings fourteen years of military service to how he runs a transformation.

Session 02Physician engagement
Tara Lagu, MD, MPH

Tara Lagu, MD, MPH

Executive Vice President & Medical Director, Alliant Value-Based Healthcare Solutions

Dr. Lagu works on cost and quality outcomes for ACOs, Medicare Advantage plans, and health systems, overseeing interpretation of population health analytics with executive and clinical leadership. Previously a Director and Professor at Northwestern's Center for Health Services and Outcomes Research, she served as a clinical lead for CMS in developing quality metrics including Hospital Stars.

Session 03Actuarial & analytics
Brian Machut, FSA

Brian Machut, FSA

Vice President & Consulting Actuary, Alliant Value-Based Healthcare Solutions

A University of Wisconsin–Madison alumnus, Brian is a health actuary working in value-based care, healthcare analytics and actuarial consulting. He helps organizations succeed in risk-based payment models by turning complex data into practical strategy, strengthening care management, and finding where the inefficiency actually sits. His work spans Medicare, Medicaid and commercial programs, risk adjustment, actuarial modeling and advanced analytics.

Session 03Actuarial & analytics
Helena Moon, MD

Helena Moon, MD

System Director of Clinical Programs & Population Health, CommonSpirit Health

Dr. Moon leads clinical programs and population health across a national health system, and brings the care-management view of the episode window: coordination, quality, and post-acute strategy. Full bio to follow.

Session 04Quality & care management
Juliette Price

Juliette Price

Chief Solutions Officer, HSG Global

Juliette advises ACOs, IPAs, payers, startups, government agencies and social service providers, bringing systems thinking and improvement science to value-based care design. She previously directed The Albany Promise and worked on New York State value-based payment and child health initiatives, and she was named a White House Champion of Change in 2016. She closes the series with the ACO overlay and moderates the open round table.

Session 05ACO overlay

One registration. The whole series.

Sign up once and your seat is held for all five Wednesdays. Bring the people who will actually run the model. This works best when finance, legal, quality, and the service line attend together.

  • Five live sessions, Oct 14 – Nov 18, 2026
  • Wednesdays, 12:00–1:00 PM CT, with 45 min of content and 15 min live Q&A
  • All sessions recorded and posted on demand
  • Open round table with the full faculty
  • Model-agnostic, for TEAM, ASM, CJR-X, ACO, or commercial risk
  • Hosted on the APM Connect platform
Save my seat One Zoom registration adds all five sessions to your calendar.

Brought to you by

Hosts

Host platform

APM Connect

The learning community for mandatory CMS value-based payment models: TEAM, ASM, and CJR-X.

Consulting

Pinnacle Healthcare Consulting

Hospital–physician alignment, compensation design, and value-based care strategy for health systems and physician enterprises.

Legal

Bass, Berry & Sims

Healthcare regulatory counsel for provider arrangements, model waivers, and fraud and abuse compliance under episode payment.

With presenting contributors: Alliant Value-Based Healthcare Solutions (actuarial & analytics)  ·  CommonSpirit Health (quality & care management)