EP240: The Inside Scoop on How Medical Travel Improves Health Outcomes and Lowers Costs for Employers, With Olivia Ross, Associate Director of the Employers Centers of Excellence Network

How Medical Travel to Centers of Excellence Improves Outcomes and Lowers Costs, With Olivia Ross (EP240)

"If Operating on the Wrong Leg Is a Medical Error, What Do We Call Operating on Someone Who Didn't Need Surgery?" Episode 240.

Quality metrics in health care today mostly assess care from a patient-safety standpoint — but they rarely ask whether the patient needed the procedure in the first place, or whether the outcome matched what the patient actually hoped for. In this episode, Stacey Richter talks with Olivia Ross, associate director of the Employers Centers of Excellence Network (ECEN), about how a curated network of centers of excellence is helping employers get patients to providers who not only deliver excellent outcomes but also only treat the patients who are truly appropriate to treat.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

✅ How ECEN selects centers of excellence (COEs) — provider organizations that commit to prospective bundled payments for services like orthopedic surgery, oncology, and bariatric surgery

✅ Why COEs distinguish themselves not just by delivering excellent outcomes, but by only treating patients who are genuinely appropriate candidates for treatment

✅ How employers like Walmart, Lowe's, and McKesson use the ECEN network to intercept employees at the right point in their care journey

✅ How employees travel to a COE for care and are then repatriated back to their local primary care provider for follow-up

WHY THIS MATTERS

Most quality measurement in health care today stops at "was the procedure done safely," without asking "did the patient need the procedure at all." Medical travel to centers of excellence is one concrete way employers are trying to close that gap — steering employees toward providers who are rigorous about appropriateness, not just technical execution.

=== LINKS ===

🔗 Show Notes with all mentioned links: Episode Page

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