Missouri Collaborative Healthcare benefits its members, patients, physicians and other providers, as well as its health plan partners consistent with a Quadruple-Aim approach to healthcare:

  • Better health for the population
  • Better care for the individuals
  • Lower cost through improvement
  • Improved provider satisfaction


Missouri Collaborative Healthcare will constantly push improvement for all stakeholders combining Heritage Provider Network’s 37 years of managed healthcare excellence and Signature Medical Group’s quality and reputation in Missouri and beyond.

Why Missouri Collaborative Healthcare?

  • Physician–led, proven care model
  • Combines the Signature physician network with the Heritage population health expertise
  • Missouri-based physician support and management
  • Driven by quality, utilization, and patient experience metrics

Who is Missouri Collaborative Healthcare?

  • Established and trusted healthcare brand in Missouri
  • Largest physician-owned multispecialty group in St. Louis and Kansas City areas 150 Physicians; 14 specialties/sub-specialties; over 30 locations
  • Growing PCP presence
  • Experienced in managing and delivering bundled care under full-risk

  • One of the largest US physician healthcare delivery systems
  • 37 years of success across all markets and products
  • 1 Million+ members in 3 states
  • 4,000+ PCPs; 30,000+ Specialists
  • Preferred full-risk health plan partner, employed staff models, and IPAs
  • Physician-led management

Value Proposition for Health Plan Partner

  • Growth in market share
  • Financial certainty
  • Delegated services
  • Lower administrative overhead
  • Improved HCC
  • Improved Star rating
  • Member retention and satisfaction
  • Improved Plan benefits

Value to Physicians

  • Local Missouri management and administration
  • Physicians affiliation with Missouri Collaborative Healthcare will lead Missouri's population health market
  • Accelerates physician entry into population management
  • Allows physician access to risk contracts at no personal risk
  • Lower administrative overhead
  • Expanded care management expertise
  • Robust data sharing
  • Member retention and satisfaction
  • Utilization and quality financial incentives

MCH Care Management Support for Physicians

  • Real time data on performance
  • Dedicated high risk case managers
  • Disease management and health education
  • In-office patient profiles: care gaps, health screening
  • Ancillary support services: pharmacy, social services, palliative care
  • Hospitalists and post transitional care
  • Skilled nursing facility programs and home programs
  • Behavioral Health and Chemical Dependency/Detox programs
  • Front office support



ABOUT

Richard N. Merkin, MD

Richard Merkin is the CEO and founder of the Heritage Group. Under his stewardship, the Heritage Group has become the largest, physician-owned and operated integrated delivery system in the United States with over 50 related healthcare companies. The Heritage Group encompasses numerous patent, venture capital, private equity, and insurance companies. Dr. Merkin serves on the Board of the California Institute of Technology and the Board of Trustees at the Keck School of Medicine at USC.

He is the Co-founder of Faster cures. He has established the Richard Merkin Foundation for Stem Cell Research at the Broad Institute at Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Richard Merkin Initiative at the Johns Hopkins Brain Sciences Institute, the Richard Merkin Foundation for Neural Regeneration at UCLA, and the Merkin Family Foundation Fund for Regenerative Medicine at the Keck School of Medicine at USC. Dr. Merkin supports the Merkin Initiative to Study Payment and Clinician Reform at the Brookings Institution in Washington DC and has also endowed two professorships at the City of Hope, one in immunotherapy and the other in gene therapy.

Dr. Merkin is supporting translational sciences and health technology at Caltech through the Heritage Research Institute for the Advancement of Medicine and Science. He is on the board of the California Nano Systems Institute and serves on many other boards that focus on science, healthcare and finance. Inspired by the X-Prize Foundation. Dr. Merkin launched the Heritage Health Prize, a $3 million global incentivized competition seeking to achieve a fundamental breakthrough in our ability to predict future hospitalization.

David Anderson, MD

Dr. David Anderson is a graduate of St. Louis University School of Medicine. He completed his Orthopaedic residency at the University of Cincinnati, and his Pediatric Orthopaedic fellowship at St. Louis Children's and Shriners Hospitals.

He then joined Mid County Orthopaedics in 1991, establishing the first private practice of Pediatric Orthopaedics in the St. Louis region. Under his leadership, that portion of the group has grown steadily, ultimately becoming the largest Pediatric Orthopaedic group in St. Louis.

After twelve years in this practice, Dr. Anderson was recruited to join the staff at Children's Mercy Hospital and Clinics in Kansas City, where he served as Assistant Professor from 2003-2006 and was surgical director of the baclofen pump program. He then chose to return to the private practice sector, rejoining Mid County in 2007. He has served as Medical Director for the group since 2008. He has served as president of Signature Medical Group since 2012. He is also chairman of the board of the Signature Foundation.

Dr. Anderson is recognized as a regional leader in the treatment of neuro-orthopaedic disorders, most notably Cerebral Palsy. He has extensive clinical experience with Intrathecal Baclofen Therapy in the treatment of severe spasticity, and has been a local host for teaching the therapy to other physicians from around the country and abroad, as well as serving on the faculty of national courses. He serves as the Medical Director for the Center for Gait and Motion Analysis at the Kenny Rogers Children’s Center in Sikeston, MO.

He is a member of numerous professional organizations and societies; most recently he served as chairman of the Continuing Education Committee for the American Academy of Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine. In addition to maintaining a busy clinical practice, Dr. Anderson is working to create a comprehensive multi-disciplinary Cerebral Palsy center in St. Louis County.

Michael Burns, MD

Dr. Michael Burns is a graduate of Saint Louis University School of Medicine and he completed his Orthopaedic residency at the Ochsner Foundation Hospital in New Orleans, LA.

Dr. Burns has been with the Mid-County Orthopaedics division of Signature Medical Group since 1985 and currently serves on the Board of Directors.

As a team physician for the United States Olympic Team, Dr. Burns has served on the medical staff for the XXIX Olympiad, Summer 2008, Beijing, China; XXVII Olympiad, Summer 2000, Sydney, Australia; Summer World University Games, 2003, Daegu, Korea; Winter World University Games, 1999, Strebske Pleso, Slovakia; and the Winter Paralympic Games, 1998 Nagano, Japan.

Dr. Burns is affiliated with numerous organizations including the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery, American Medical Association and many others.

Jan Vest

Jan Vest is the Chief Executive Officer of Signature Medical Group, Inc. (SMG), an independent multi-specialty group of 150 physicians in 17 specialties and nearly 1,000 employees in St. Louis, Kansas City and rural Missouri. As an awardee convener in the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation’s Bundled Payments for Care Improvement program, SMG is leading the largest orthopedic initiative in the country designed to improve quality of care and reduce cost in Medicare joint replacement patients. The SMG program clinically integrates 2,000 orthopedic surgeons in 26 states and 60 cities across the country. SMG is managing 45,000 total joints a year in the program. Also, through a grant received from CMMI to participant in the Strong Start for Mothers and Newborns program, SMG has successfully implemented new models of prenatal care that have reduced premature births in its population of Missouri Medicaid women by almost 50 percent.

Mr. Vest consults with a wide range of healthcare organizations and regularly presents to business organizations, academic leaders, physician groups and healthcare professionals throughout the country. He is currently President of the American Association of Orthopedic Executives and serves on the boards of the Midwest Healthcare Initiative and the Signature Healthcare Foundation. He is also a former member of the Federal Reserve’s Health Care Industry Council and Mr. Vest was selected as the Medical Practice Executive of The Year 2015 by the Medical Group Practice Management Association (MGMA).

Richard Lipeles

Richard Lipeles joined PacifiCare in July 1979, and in 1987 he became President of PacifiCare of California. In 1993 he was promoted to Executive Vice President of PacifiCare Health Systems.

As Executive Vice President of PacifiCare Health Systems, Lipeles oversaw the corporation’s managed health care division, which included health plans in California, Florida, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, and Washington. Lipeles retired from PacifiCare September 1995.

As of June 2002, Lipeles joined the management team of Heritage Family of Companies as the company’s COO. Heritage provides medical care to more than 1,000,000 people in CA, NY, and AZ.

For over 30 years HPN’s medical groups and IPAs have provided an award winning, comprehensive approach to care management. In December of 2011, through Heritage California ACO, Heritage was awarded a Pioneer ACO by CMS for 8 counties in Southern California.

Lipeles has a Masters of Public Health (M.P.H.) degree from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and a Bachelor of Science degree in business economics from the University of California, Riverside. Lipeles severed on the Advisory Board of the School of Public Health at UCLA for 8 years. He lives in Sunset Beach with his wife, and has 4 children and 5 grandchildren.

Mark L. Wagar

Mark L. Wagar, is President of Heritage Medical Systems, an affiliate of the Heritage Provider Network serving over 1 million patient/members in integrated, population based health quality payment programs through medical groups and independent practice associations (IPA’s) in California, New York, and Arizona. He is an Operating Partner with Enhanced Equity Funds which invests exclusively in healthcare services organizations, and previously served as the President and CEO of Empire BlueCross BlueShield based in New York City.

At Empire BlueCross BlueShield, Mr. Wagar led New York’s largest health insurer covering nearly 6 million people, and was a Senior Vice President in WellPoint, Inc. He had an active leadership role in public policy, provider collaboration, and community engagement. During his tenure, Empire achieved net growth of over 1 million medical members, market leading member satisfaction results, and the introduction of the first major medical home network in metropolitan New York.

An experienced officer and director in public and private corporations, Mr. Wagar currently serves on the Boards of Trinity health Partners, The New York Academy of Medicine, WhiteGlove, Inc, TurningPoint, and the Tannenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding. He has been recognized as a Distinguished Alumnus of The Ohio State University, and a recipient of the Dr. Jonas Salk Memorial Mentor in Medicine Award, as well as an honoree helping fund numerous charitable causes supporting healthy communities and diversity. In 1971 he was a member of the Big Ten Champion basketball team of The Ohio State University.



Contact Us

For information, please call: 314-983-4755

Email: info@mocollabhealth.net
Fax: 314-480-6075

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