In a health care environment increasingly driven by outcomes rather than volume, value-based care (VBC) has become the cornerstone of sustainable, patient-centered delivery. For hospital leaders, clinicians, and executives, attending a value-based care conference like the ICD Value-Based Health Strategy Forum (Dec 2–3, 2025) is not just an opportunity, it’s a strategic investment. By bringing together payers, innovators, and provider-system leaders, the conference equips organizations to implement, scale, and sustain high-value care models that drive better outcomes, reduce costs, and improve operational performance.
Here’s a deep dive into how participating in this specific ICD event can catalyze performance transformation for hospitals and why it matters for the broader healthcare industry.
1. Gain Strategic Insight into the Future of Value-Based Care
One of the first sessions at the Forum, “Top Ten(-ish) Trends in Value-Based Care,” delivered by Seth Edwards (Managing Director & VP, Premier), highlights macro-level drivers reshaping VBC. He unpacks non-traditional entrants (e.g., tech firms, venture-backed startups), shifts in payer models, and how population health dynamics are evolving.
- Strategic alignment: Hospitals can use these insights to align their long-term plans to where the market is heading, not just where they are now.
- Operational readiness: Understanding these trends helps leaders design the infrastructure from care delivery to data platforms that support future value-based models.
- Innovation prioritization: By knowing which trends have the greatest potential impact, hospital leaders can prioritize investments (e.g., into analytics, partnerships, or care redesign) more effectively.
This strategic clarity helps ensure that value-based initiatives are not one-off pilots, but scalable programs rooted in the likely future of healthcare.
2. Learn Directly from Real-World Implementers
In the session “Implementing Value-Based Care Is Harder Than You Think,” moderated by Edward Prewitt (NEJM Catalyst), health system leaders like Catherine H. MacLean (Healthcare Value Solutions/Hospital for Special Surgery) and Luci K. Leykum (VA) discuss real-world implementation challenges.
Key takeaways include:
- Pitfalls & barriers: They explore common stumbling blocks including: governance issues, resistance to change, misaligned incentives, and risk-model complexity.
- Leadership lessons: Successful implementation requires more than clinical enthusiasm; it demands buy-in from executives, operations, and care teams.
- Frameworks for change: Attendees will hear how these leaders structured their VBC programs, from contractual design to patient attribution, and how they scaled programs over time.
For a hospital, these insights are gold. Rather than attempting to re-invent the wheel, leaders return with real, tested frameworks and a clearer sense of what works and what doesn’t. Don’t miss this value-based care conference!
3. Strengthen Clinical Outcomes with Data and Analytics
A dedicated session, “Predicting and Managing Care for High-Need Patients,” brings together clinical and data science leaders (e.g., Luke Hansen from Arcadia, Jason Fish from Yale Health) to explore how analytics and predictive modeling support value-based care.
In this session, attendees will learn:
- Risk stratification: How to identify high-cost, high-need patients using data science and predictive tools.
- Workflow integration: Strategies for embedding predictive insights into care management, so care teams act on risk data proactively.
- Scalability & adoption: Real-world examples of how providers scaled predictive analytics in their population health programs to reduce unnecessary utilization and improve outcomes.
By translating predictive analytics into operational strategies, hospitals can more precisely allocate resources, focusing intensive interventions where they will make the biggest difference. This leads to better patient outcomes and lower overall cost of care.
4. Improve Financial Performance Under VBC Models
Financial sustainability under value-based care is a major theme at the ICD Forum. In the session “Quality at a Crossroads: Pitfalls and Performance in CMS Stars and HEDIS,” payer and tech leaders (e.g., Josh Berlin, Sanjay Doddamani, Jamie Reynoso) dive into how quality metrics directly impact financial incentives.
Highlights include:
- Quality metrics as financial levers: CMS Stars and HEDIS scores are not just clinical tools. They affect shared savings, bonuses, and payer relationships.
- Operational risk mitigation: The panel discusses common pitfalls, such as audit risk, measure overload, and “member abrasion” when aggressively chasing metrics.
- Performance strategies: They share tactics for closing care gaps using predictive analytics, member engagement, and cross-organizational partnerships.
For hospitals, mastering these financial levers is critical. It’s not enough to provide high-quality care; value-based reimbursement means aligning that care with payer expectations and risk-based contracts in a way that sustains and even grows revenue.
5. Accelerate Operational Efficiency Across the Organization
In the “Contemporary VBC Best Practices” session, leaders like Brian Silverstein (Innovaccer) present case studies and operational frameworks. This isn’t abstract theory, attendees will hear about real organizations that have successfully redesigned governance, workflows, and care delivery.
Key focus areas:
- Design principles: What high-performing value-based care organizations do differently in terms of care team structure, governance, and patient engagement.
- Case studies: Specific examples of how health systems reduced costs, increased equity, and improved clinical outcomes.
- Implementation roadmap: Frameworks for translating best practices into action, including care model redesign, risk management, and continuous improvement cycles.
Hospitals return from the conference not just with ideas, but with practical blueprints to replicate success in their own systems.
6. Strengthen Physician Engagement and Care Culture
The culture shift necessary for value-based care emerges throughout the forum, but especially in leadership and operational sessions. The conference emphasizes:
- Incentive alignment: Engaging physicians by aligning their incentives and performance metrics with value-based goals.
- Team-based care models: Encouraging collaboration across primary care, specialty, care management, and population health.
- Clinician wellbeing: Reducing burnout by shifting away from volume-driven care to meaningful, outcome-based work.
Executives and clinical leaders gain concrete ideas for building a care culture that supports VBC, where physicians, nurses, and care teams feel invested in patient outcomes and long-term sustainability.
7. Build High-Impact Partnerships and Collaborations
Networking is core to the Forum’s value. According to ICD’s website, one of the top reasons to attend is to “connect with the leaders who matter and leave with partnerships that last.”
Through interactive sessions, networking breaks, and sponsor showcases, attendees can:
- Forge payer partnerships: Meet ACOs, value-based payers, and health plans to explore risk-sharing and shared-savings initiatives.
- Collaborate with technology innovators: Engage with companies presenting in the innovation showcase (e.g., analytics, AI, care management) to pilot or scale tools.
- Address social determinants of health: Identify community or employer partners to better integrate social care within value-based models.
These collaborations accelerate transformation: hospitals can tap external resources and thought partners, reducing both risk and ramp-up time for their VBC programs.
8. Center Patient Experience and Equity
On December 3, the session “Beyond Metrics: Re-centering Patient Voices and Clinical Integrity in Value-Based Care” (led by Dr. Priya Mammen) confronts a critical challenge: avoiding a purely metrics-driven approach.
Discussion points:
- Patient voice: How to integrate patient feedback, lived experience, and social context into VBC model design.
- Equity and trust: Ensuring care models address social determinants, mitigate disparities, and preserve clinical integrity.
- Sustainable models: Techniques to structure VBC programs that are not only high-performing but also human-centered and equitable.
By centering patients (especially vulnerable ones), hospitals can build trust, improve outcomes, and deliver on the promise of value-based care in a way that’s both high quality and high compassion. Speakers at this value-based care conference will speak on today’s issues.
9. Explore Cutting-Edge Innovation and AI in Value-Based Care
Innovation is front and center at the Forum. The Innovation Showcase features rapid-fire pitches from leading vendors in AI, care management, and analytics.
Additionally, a session on “AI, Interoperability, and the Future of Value-Based Care” (Raihan Faroqui, Guaranteed Health) explores:
- AI technologies: How models like large language models (LLMs) can help with chart summarization, ambient documentation, and clinical decision support.
- Interoperability: The role of QHIN (Qualified Health Information Networks) and data exchange standards in making risk data and patient history more readily available.
- New care models: Applying cutting-edge tools in geriatrics, palliative care, and serious illness to improve care coordination and lower total cost of care.
For hospitals, this is an opportunity to assess whether, how, and when to invest in technology that supports VBC, not just for today, but for future high-risk care models.
10. Leave With Actionable, Immediately Implementable Strategies
One of the driving promises of the ICD Forum is that attendees will “walk away with strategies you can implement tomorrow.” This is not a purely academic conference; it is intensely practical.
Here’s how:
- Roadmaps for implementation: Through case studies, panels, and best-practice talks, leaders can map strategies they can tailor to their organization.
- Governance and leadership frameworks: Learn how to govern value-based programs, align leadership, and drive accountability.
- Technology and data plans: Gain insights into which analytics, AI, or care-management platforms to deploy, and how to evaluate ROI.
- Quality and risk management: Develop approaches for measuring performance, closing gaps, and balancing incentive risk.
- Collaborative alliances: Return with potential partners (payers, tech, community) already vetted and engaged.
All of this means that hospitals don’t just attend to hear what is possible, they leave with a playbook for what to do next.
Don’t miss out on this event!
A value based care conference like the ICD Value-Based Health Strategy Forum is more than a gathering of healthcare professionals, it’s a catalyst for transformation. By convening payers, system leaders, technology innovators, and thought leaders, it gives hospitals the tools, strategies, and relationships needed to succeed in a value-driven world.
For healthcare leaders committed to driving real change, improving quality, reducing cost, and building sustainable, patient-centered care models, this conference offers a unique, high-impact opportunity. Whether your organization is just beginning its VBC journey or looking to scale and optimize, attending this forum can provide a roadmap, inspiration, and operational clarity to accelerate that journey.