A message from Dr. Austin Bailey
The sole purpose of a Clinically Integrated Network—in its simplest terms—is to make life better. Better for providers. For payers. And, most importantly, for the individuals and families we care for.
In our short existence, we have focused on creating a blueprint for success that benefits everyone, and we’re making tremendous progress. This achievement is driven by strategy and tactical implementation, which, in turn, is driven by talented people.
Speaking of incredibly talented people, Coordinated Care is thrilled to have Dr. Jenny Bajaj join us as vice president of clinical integration and operations. It is essential that we develop infrastructure and processes that serve our providers, payers and patients, and Dr. Bajaj is the right person at the right time to lead us forward.
“I am excited to be at UCHealth because I believe we are on the cutting edge of health care,” says Dr. Bajaj. “Value-based care has the potential, when done right, to truly deliver on our promise to provide the very best care possible—and when patients need us most.”
I couldn’t have said it better myself. This is an important time in the evolution of health care, and Coordinated Care is even better positioned now to be an industry leader.
Prior to joining our leadership team, Dr. Bajaj served as chief medical officer for Paladina Health and president of Paladina Health Medical Group, a subsidiary of DaVita Health Care Partners, where she helped design and implement clinical informatics and operational systems for the rapidly growing direct primary care practice.
She also led population health and care management programs at Kaiser Permanente, both in the Colorado region and at the national level. As medical director of population health, she helped design and implement programs in care coordination, behavioral health integration, community programs for special needs populations, and transitions of care and informatics/decision support. During her tenure at Kaiser, Dr. Bajaj was responsible for:
- Orchestrating year-over-year improvements in blood pressure and diabetes control, achieving an overall 5-star quality rating
- Developing a protocol for automatic ordering of routine preventive and chronic condition care labs, as well as a results management program that vastly decreased the need to order labs or review normal results
- Training over 200 people in process improvement, and launching more than 40 quality improvement projects
- Designing a national physician process improvement workshop to train physician leaders
We’re already making significant progress in the acquisition and analysis of data that will lead to transformative changes in the care of complex patients. The addition of Dr. Bajaj’s expertise only accelerates our ability to make a difference along the Front Range.
I am confident Dr. Bajaj will take Coordinated Care to an even higher level of performance. Her wealth of experience in population data analysis and identifying opportunities for strategic and tactical improvements will drive our Quadruple Aim.
Our future is in good hands.
Austin Bailey, MD
Medical Director, Population Health, UCHealth