INBW37: Harnessing the Miracle of the Commons to Improve the Patient Journey Nationwide, A Conversation With Dave Dierk, Co-President of Aventria Health Group

We have done three inbetweenisodes so far on healthcare stakeholder collaboration. In sum, there are two major issues that patients have with our healthcare industry, and both can only be solved for if healthcare stakeholder collaboration happens:

1. Patients falling into care gaps and winding up with bad downstream consequences
2. Patients not being able to afford their care

This show, we are moving on to talk about an actionable solution here to the care gap problem—the very ubiquitous issue of patients with some pretty serious health issues who remain either undiagnosed or not on optimal treatment or follow-up. Our team at Aventria Health has a big success story that I would love to share relative to care gaps and how to think about solving for them at the local, regional, and national level.

Spoiler alert here: What we’re talking about in this healthcare podcast, which we call our Groundswell Solution^™, improved the usage of best-practice clinical guidelines for patients with end-stage liver disease by 23% nationally. Also keep in mind that what is fast becoming a major factor in developing liver disease is obesity, and the incidence of liver disease is growing.

As aforementioned, we are talking about an Aventria Health Group Groundswell Solution, which is the idea of getting diverse stakeholders who are enthusiastic to be empowered as part of a team to help solve for gaps in care and really improve patient outcomes. It definitely takes a village, and if we can find ways where different organizations can work together to contribute and leverage strengths along shared priorities, then great things can really happen.

Before we kick in to the show here, let me bring up the miracle of the commons. This is cool. This was a term that was coined by Elinor Ostrom. Ostrom, by the way, won the Nobel Prize for this work. She saw how humans have such an amazing capacity to work together through what she called design principles and come up with some really unique and inspiring solutions that benefit everybody.

Dave and Stacey are co-presidents of Aventria Health Group, a consultancy working with clients who endeavor to form collaborations with payers, providers, Pharma, employer organizations, or patient advocacy groups. They are also co-presidents of QC-Health, a benefit corporation finding cost-effective ways to improve the health of Americans.

Each week on Relentless Health Value, Stacey uses her voice and thought leadership to provide insights for healthcare industry decision makers trying to do the right thing. Each show features expert guests who break down the twists and tricks in the medical field to help improve outcomes and lower costs across the care continuum. Relentless Health Value is a top 100 podcast on iTunes in the medicine category and reaches tens of thousands of engaged listeners across the healthcare industry.

Dave is a 30-year veteran helping clients work at the intersection of payers, providers, pharmacy, Pharma, and medical device companies. He is an accomplished strategist, providing innovative customer marketing, access, quality, and health intervention solutions for large clients and has directed the development of numerous industry-leading campaigns in primary care and specialty markets. Dave has helped dozens of clients achieve top rankings in their respective categories. He is also an active member of the Pharmacy Quality Alliance.

03:03 How can areas of improvement be flagged in such a fragmented patient care journey?

04:06 What is “the miracle of the commons”?

04:54 How is the miracle of the commons being used at Aventria and QC-Health?

07:51 What is Groundswell, and how does it utilize the miracle of the commons?

11:13 “Is the answer, then, to drive more knowledge and more awareness?”—Dave

11:35 “What about using technology to provide curated, highly targeted information that can support them at the point of care?”—Dave

13:25 “You want to identify where these gaps are across the full spectrum of the journey.”—Dave

15:08 “This is something that is not commonly happening on its own.”—Dave

16:40 “Done in the right way, people are excited … to improve care and improve outcomes.”—Dave

18:50 “Our aim is really to meet people and teams where they are.”—Stacey

19:35 “You don’t have to know how or why or where—merely that I think this outcome is not what it could be. That’s the place to start.”—Dave

20:01 “You have to understand the different goals of the different stakeholders.”—Dave

21:14 “If we can do the right things the right way, then we can serve many masters.”—Dave

Recent past interviews:

Click a guest’s name for their latest RHV episode!

Merrill Goozner, Betsy Seals (EP387), Stacey Richter (INBW36), Dr Eric Bricker (Encore! EP351), Al Lewis, Dan Mendelson, Wendell Potter, Nick Stefanizzi, Brian Klepper (Encore! EP335), Dr Aaron Mitchell (EP382), Karen Root, Mark Miller, AJ Loiacono, Josh LaRosa, Stacey Richter (INBW35), Rebecca Etz (Encore! EP295), Olivia Webb (Encore! EP337), Mike Baldzicki, Lisa Bari, Betsy Seals (EP375), Dave Chase, Cora Opsahl (EP373), Cora Opsahl (EP372), Dr Mark Fendrick (Encore! EP308), Erik Davis and Autumn Yongchu (EP371), Erik Davis and Autumn Yongchu (EP370), Keith Hartman, Dr Aaron Mitchell (Encore! EP282)