Today's guest is Katie Fullam Harris, the Senior Vice President of Government Relations and Accountable Care Strategy for MaineHealth, in Portland, Maine. Katie oversees the development, implementation and coordination of state and federal advocacy on behalf of the MaineHealth System, and also leads the development and implementation of strategy that supports improved access and value for health care consumers and purchasers and the alignment of incentives for providers in the MaineHealth System. Prior to coming to MaineHealth, Katie worked in a variety of not-for-profit, government, and for-profit institutions.
In this podcast, Katie and I discuss her career journey, then transition to talk about what it’s like to manage government relations and health policy for the largest integrated health system in the state of Maine, and the challenges of trying to move a large system towards paying for value. We conclude with a discussion about influence and leadership.
We cover a lot of ground in this interview, especially around the recent evolution of health policy. I think early careerists in particular will get a sense of the importance of integrating proactive government relations in a large healthcare organization.
Transcript: A transcript of the podcast is available here.
Podcast Outline
0:02:05 Educational background
0:02:54 Government relations, Planned Parenthood of Northern New England
0:07:30 Maine Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation, and Substance Abuse Services
0:13:07 Director of Development, Sweetser
0:15:53 Program Director, Maine Development Foundation
0:18:57 Director of Government Relations, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shielf of Maine
0:25:27 MaineHealth overview
0:27:55 impact of Maine's geography and demographics
0:30:15 efforts toward population health
0:31:32 primary care and case management program for underinsured
0:32:24 Government Relations at MaineHealth
0:34:20 Employer Relations at MaineHealth
0:36:55 promoted to Senior Vice President - developing risk-based contracts
0:44:07 "accountable care movement"
0:46:03 Effect of the ACA on MaineHealth
0:52:30 a day in the life of Katie Fullam Harris
0:53:38 working with the MaineHealth affiliates
0:58:13 importance of bringing government relations in early
1:00:02 concerns about the future
1:01:19 leadership philosophy
1:02:01 characteristics of a good leader
1:03:16 organizational culture
1:04:59 career mentors and what they do
1:09:37 where do early careerists go wrong?
1:12:18 most frequent advice to early careerists?
1:13:28 read anything by Atul Gawande
1:14:16 opportunities in health administration
Links to Selected Topics Discussed
MaineHealth
Planned Parenthood of Northern New England
Sweetser
Maine Development Foundation
Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Maine
Atul Gawande
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