Healthcare valuation expert Mark O. Dietrich is the editor and a contributor to a new edition of the BVR/AHLA Guide to Healthcare Industry Finance and Valuation. He’s also the newest member of the Business Valuation Update editorial advisory board. In an interview with BVU, he talked about some of the current trends and hot topics in healthcare valuation.

Two key matters: There’s a lot going on in healthcare that valuation experts need to know, but two important matters are worth keeping an eye on. One is accountable care organizations in the Medicare Shared Services Program. “Despite reports of success, these groups are not generating a lot of savings and don’t seem to be going anywhere, so this is an area to watch,” says Dietrich.

The other issue is the merit-based incentive payment system, which will move a substantial amount of physician payments under the fee-for-service Medicare system to being merit-based. “A lot of this will be based on data that can only be extracted from electronic medical records,” he points out. “Those practices that have not yet implemented electronic medical records—and there are many of them—will find themselves with substantially reduced payments from Medicare for their services. It’s a very big issue and it’s supposed to be effective in 2017. I did a chapter on it for the next edition of a book that Tim Smith of Ankura Consulting and I are doing on healthcare compensation.” That book is BVR/AHLA Guide to Healthcare Industry Compensation and Valuation.

For the full interview, see the December 2016 issue of Business Valuation Update.

Extra: Dietrich was honored for his career contributions to the profession at the recent AICPA Healthcare Industry Conference in Nashville, Tenn. Congratulations Mark!