2024 Annual Leadership Conference-Pre Conference Course: Building Bridges with Payers

In today's ever-changing healthcare landscape, building strong relationships with payers is essential for healthcare organizations to succeed. This course is designed to provide physician leaders with the knowledge and tools needed to effectively communicate with payers and develop strong partnerships.

Through engaging lectures, case studies, and interactive discussions and activities, learners will explore the importance of understanding payer-specific criteria, how hospitals get paid, and what types of contracts and requirements are present Additionally, learners will learn how to optimize the use of peer-to-peer interactions to build lasting relationships with payers to benefit the patient.

Led by an expert instructor with extensive experience in payer negotiations and relationship building, this course will provide learners with practical strategies and techniques for building bridges with payers. Topics covered in this course include:

• Understanding payer-specific criteria
• Developing effective negotiation strategies
• Utilizing peer-to-peer interactions
• Building and maintaining strong payer relationships
• Strategies for addressing conflicts and disputes with payers

Upon completion of this course, learners will have a comprehensive understanding of how to build bridges with payers and develop strong, lasting relationships with a common goal of best care for each individual patient, providing best care for community, preventing healthcare worker burnout, and doing all of this using a cost-effective strategy. They will be equipped with the tools and strategies needed to effectively communicate with payers and succeed in today's challenging healthcare landscape.

Faculty Details:

Reka Danko

Reka Danko, M.D., earned her medical degree at the University of Nevada School of Medicine, where she also completed her residency in Internal Medicine. Following board certification, Dr. Danko joined a hospitalist practice in northern Nevada and continues to work in acute and post-acute care settings in the community. She serves as the Chief Medical Officer of Saint Mary’s Regional Medical Center,a380-bed acute care hospital in Reno, NV, nationally recognized and accredited by The Joint Commission offering inpatient, outpatient, and wellness services and as a Physician Advisor to multiple hospitals nationally. From 2014 to 2017,Dr. Danko served as the Chief Medical Officer at Northern Nevada HOPES, a Federally Qualified Health Center in Reno, NV, where she developed an outpatient addiction treatment program for substance use disorders. Dr. Danko became board certified in Addiction Medicine in 2018 and works with community programs to increase education, prevention, and treatment options. Dr. Danko is a Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine and serves as the president of the medical school’s alumni association. Dr. Danko remains active in public health and has been appointed as the physician to the District Board of Health at the Washoe County Health District for the 2019-2022and 2023-2026 terms.