Exclusive: Dr. Farzad Mostashari On His Career, His New Startup And Closing Gaps In The Healthcare System

In June, Farzad Mostashari, MD, the former National Coordinator for Health IT, announced the launch a new company designed to partner with independent primary care physicians to form and join accountable care organizations.  Aledade aims to provide physician partners all the tools necessary to create an ACO, from startup costs to technological infrastructure and in-office consulting and support. The company won't charge partnering physicians up-front fees, but will share the savings generated by the ACO —Aledade will take 40 percent, the physicians will retain 60 percent.

Backed by health IT venture capital firm Venrock, the new company is focusing first on creating ACOs in a few states, but has the ultimate goal of creating a replicable, nationwide model for independent, physician-led ACOs.  Below, Dr. Mostashari discusses his career so far, the launch of his new company and his goals, both for Aledade and the healthcare industry in general.

...So, my whole career has been about population health, and finding a way to use data and technology to improve population health. For too long, there's been one missing ingredient — the business case for population health. Without that, the technology is necessary but not sufficent. As my time at the ONC was coming to a close, I got really interested in 'Where is there a business case for keeping a patient healthy, keeping the whole population healthy?' I was looking for where there was that accountability for total cost and quality of care...