Episode 94: CJ Stimson, MD on improving maternity care for Nashville’s public schools

Listening In (With Permission): Conversations About Today's Pressing Health Care Topics

Suzanne Delbanco calls CJ Stimson, MD, the Senior Vice President of Value Transformation at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), to discuss Vanderbilt’s direct contract bundled payment arrangement for maternity care with Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS). This call serves as follow-up to the webinar hosted by CPR in March 2021, where Dr. Stimson and David Hines of MNPS shared their insights one year after the program’s implementation. Dr. Stimson received both medical and law degrees from Vanderbilt, and is currently an Assistant Professor at VUMC, as well as a practicing urologic surgeon. Here, he and Suzanne discuss why VUMC and MNPS decided to launch a direct contract program on maternity care, the scope and contents of the bundle, and how payers and providers have reacted to this innovative strategy. CJ also takes a guess at what may be ahead for direct contract bundled payments, and what it will take to get more organizations on board with a similar arrangement.