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The PACN Podcast

The PACN Podcast

Written by: Dr. John Pagan
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The PACN Podcast helps independent physicians and medical practices navigate today’s healthcare landscape. Hosted by Dr. John Pagan of the Pennsylvania Clinical Network, each episode explores practice management, healthcare policy, physician leadership, insurance innovation, and strategies that help private practices thrive. Featuring conversations with doctors, healthcare innovators, and industry experts, the PACN Podcast provides practical insights for physicians who want to protect their independence while delivering high-quality patient care.2026 Pennsylvania Clinically Integrated Network Economics Hygiene & Healthy Living Management Management & Leadership Physical Illness & Disease
Episodes
  • The PACN Podcast - Dr. Sanjay Doddamani, GuideHealth

    The PACN Podcast - Dr. Sanjay Doddamani, GuideHealth
    May 11 2026
    In this timely episode, Dr. John Pagan welcomes Dr. Sanjay Doddamani to discuss two urgent and interconnected topics: the August 1st deadline for physicians to signal intent to join the PACN ACO for 2025, and the role that Guide Health — one of PACN's newest partners — is playing in helping independent practices manage complex Medicare patients and capture the full value of their quality care. This is a must-listen for any Pennsylvania physician considering ACO participation.Key HighlightsAbout Guide Health Guide Health is a 25-year-old organization — expanded through a recent MSO acquisition — that specializes in making value-based care delivery more affordable and manageable for independent practices. Its model centers on medically trained health guides (medical assistants) supervised by registered nurses, who work remotely within a practice's existing workflows to support care gap closure, patient engagement, and documentation. Guide Health operates across four states and has been recognized as a best-in-class, number-one ranked provider of value-based managed services.Dr. Doddamani brought a personal perspective to the work: having driven the length and breadth of Pennsylvania conducting home visits, he has seen firsthand how easily things slip through the cracks for complex Medicare patients — missed medications, repeated hospitalizations, unaddressed care gaps. Guide Health was built to close those gaps systematically and affordably.How Guide Health Works With Practices Guide Health meets patients where they are — via text, voice, video, and direct connectivity to the practice — without creating new workflows or adding new burdens for the physician. Its technology platform aggregates clinical data from multiple sources: EHR records, claims, lab feeds, administrative data, and discharge summaries. Health guides have direct access to the medical record and are supported by nurses and care team members, ensuring that no patient slips through the cracks. The model is tiered: the sickest patients receive high-touch coordination, while lower-risk patients receive automated reminders and specialist connection support.The PACN ACO: Why It Matters The PA Clinical Network ACO, active since 2022, allows independent practices to participate in Medicare Shared Savings — earning a share of the cost reductions generated by delivering better, more coordinated care. PACN is the only state medical society-sponsored clinical network and ACO of its kind in the country. With flat fee-for-service reimbursements continuing to decline, ACO participation represents one of the most meaningful opportunities for independent primary care physicians to be compensated fairly for the quality of care they already deliver.The August 1st Deadline — Act Now CMS requires that any practice intending to participate in a Medicare ACO for 2025 submit a letter of intent by August 1st. Critically, this LOI is non-binding — it is simply a signal of interest that reserves a place at the table while both the practice and PACN evaluate fit. The final decision to join can be made several weeks later, into September. Any physician with interest — even preliminary — should reach out immediately.What's at Stake: Hundreds of Moving Parts Dr. Doddamani outlined the complexity behind value-based care success: hundreds of individual tasks spanning quality gap closure, documentation, patient engagement, care coordination, and risk coding — all of which are nearly impossible for a busy independent practice to manage alone. Key opportunities include triple-weighted quality measures that significantly impact scoring, HCC documentation to ensure Medicare accurately reflects the complexity of each practice's patient population, and avoidable hospitalization reduction, which is one of the primary drivers of shared savings. Guide Health's infrastructure handles much of this behind the scenes, allowing physicians to focus on patient care while the network and its partners ensure that care is fully recognized and rewarded.Key TakeawaysThe August 1st deadline to signal intent to join the PACN ACO for 2025 is firm — practices with any interest should reach out to PACN immediately.The letter of intent is non-binding. Expressing interest now preserves your option to join; the final decision can come in September.Guide Health provides remote health guides and technology infrastructure that work within your existing workflows to close care gaps, improve documentation, and reduce avoidable hospitalizations — without adding burden to the practice.Value-based care has hundreds of moving parts. PACN and partners like Guide Health exist to handle the administrative lift so physicians can concentrate on the care they trained to deliver.Triple-weighted quality measures and accurate HCC documentation can significantly impact ACO performance and shared savings distributions — getting these right is essential.The PACN ACO is the only state ...
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    11 mins
  • The PACN Podcast - Dr. Damian McHugh, Curi (Part 3)

    The PACN Podcast - Dr. Damian McHugh, Curi (Part 3)
    May 11 2026
    In the third and final installment of the Curi series, Dr. John Pagan and Dr. Damian McHugh turn their attention to one of the most urgent challenges facing the physician community: burnout. They explore how Curi and PACN are working together to address the systemic roots of physician distress, why collective advocacy is essential, and how bringing physicians together around shared experiences and honest dialogue may be the most powerful tool available. The conversation closes with a forward-looking vision for what the PACN–Curi partnership can accomplish together.New to this series? Parts 1 and 2 cover Curi's origins as a physician-owned liability mutual, its expanded services through Curi Capital and Curi Advisory, and the implications of Pennsylvania's recent venue change ruling.Key HighlightsBurnout Is a System Problem, Not a Physician Problem Dr. McHugh opened with a reframing of the burnout conversation that he finds most meaningful in the recent literature: the shift away from telling physicians to build more resilience — do more yoga, exercise more — toward recognizing burnout as a signal of systemic toxicity. His analogy was vivid: when the canary in the coalmine starts turning gray and falls off its perch, that's not a reflection of the canary's weakness. It reflects the toxicity of the mine. Physicians are among the most capable and resilient people on the planet; when they are burning out at rates higher than the general population, the system needs to change — not the physicians.What Curi Is Doing About It Even before Dr. McHugh joined the company, Curi was already having conversations with its member-owners about burnout — not just acknowledging it, but actively encouraging physicians to talk to each other and to Curi about it. Since joining, Dr. McHugh has worked with a cross-company team to take those initiatives further, vetting and partnering with organizations that can support physicians who self-identify as being in distress. The goal is not a single solution, but a range of supports that address the wide spectrum of what a physician in difficulty might need.The Quadruple Aim: Physicians Cannot Be Left Out Dr. Pagan connected the burnout conversation to the evolution of healthcare's governing framework — from the Triple Aim (better care, better health, lower costs) to the Quadruple Aim, which adds physician and care team wellbeing as a fourth essential dimension. His point: you cannot achieve quality, efficient, patient-centered care if the people delivering that care are suffering. Advocacy for physician wellbeing must extend beyond the hospital C-suite to the legislature and the public, because many of the regulations and EMR burdens that compound physician stress are written into law by well-meaning policymakers who don't fully understand their impact on the people providing care.The Value of Bringing Physicians Together Dr. McHugh described a recent Curi Community Advisory Board dinner in Pennsylvania — a think tank-style gathering where physicians from different specialties came together over a meal to share experiences, identify common challenges, and offer each other perspective. He noted that some physicians drove two hours through traffic to attend. His observation: this kind of peer-to-peer dialogue is becoming increasingly rare as physicians spend more time with computers and less time with each other. Both Curi and PACN see themselves as conveners — creating the trusted spaces where these conversations can happen and where ideas and concerns can be heard and acted upon.Together We Are Stronger Both Dr. Pagan and Dr. McHugh returned to a central theme: the power of collective action. Dr. Pagan put it plainly — if physicians are not at the table when healthcare decisions are being made, they are likely on the menu. The bonds that unite physicians — the shared sacrifice of training, the common commitment to patients — are a foundation for collective strength that too often goes untapped. Curi and PACN both exist to change that.An Open Invitation Dr. McHugh closed with a direct invitation to PACN physicians: whether already a Curi member or considering joining, he encouraged physicians to reach out, share ideas, and bring their concerns directly to him. Curi's role, as he sees it, is to be a trusted listener and a reliable repository for the ideas and observations of the physicians it serves.Key TakeawaysPhysician burnout is a systemic issue, not a personal failing. Addressing it requires changing the conditions of practice, not simply building individual resilience.Curi has been actively engaged on burnout for years — facilitating physician conversations, vetting support organizations, and building internal teams focused on physician wellbeing.The Quadruple Aim is not optional: physician wellbeing is inseparable from care quality, and advocacy for it must extend to legislatures and the public.Peer connection — physicians talking honestly with each ...
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    16 mins
  • The PACN Podcast - Dr. Damian McHugh, Curi (Part 2)

    The PACN Podcast - Dr. Damian McHugh, Curi (Part 2)
    Apr 24 2026
    In this follow-up conversation, Dr. John Pagan and Dr. Damian McHugh pick up where Part 1 left off — moving beyond Curi's core medical liability product to explore the company's expanding suite of services for physicians. The conversation also takes a timely turn toward one of the most pressing legal developments affecting Pennsylvania physicians: a recent Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling on venue change and what it may mean for malpractice exposure in the years ahead.Haven't heard Part 1? Start there for the story of Curi's origins, Dr. McHugh's path from emergency medicine to physician advocacy, and why the PACN–Curi partnership is a natural fit.Key HighlightsCuri Has Grown Well Beyond Liability Insurance While medical professional liability remains Curi's foundation, the company has expanded into two additional service areas in direct response to what its physician member-owners asked for.Curi Capital — A wealth management arm staffed by approximately 25 registered independent advisors with deep expertise in both physician personal finance and practice asset management, including retirement plan administration. The arm grew out of member physicians who admired how prudently Curi managed its own investment portfolio and asked whether they could access similar expertise for their own financial lives.Curi Advisory — A business consulting arm that provides physicians with software tools for practice management, online reputation management, and organic growth strategies. Curi initially partnered with an analytics company called Alytics, found it so effective that it acquired the company outright, and built Curi Advisory around it. The result is a suite of business consulting and risk management solutions designed to make practices more successful operationally.Dr. McHugh signaled that continued innovation is coming — additional services are in development as Curi works to support physicians in medicine, business, and life.Legislative Advocacy: A Core Commitment Dr. McHugh shared a personal story from 2011, when a looming malpractice crisis in North Carolina brought him and Curi together in the legislative arena for the first time. Curi invested significant time, talent, and resources assembling medical and legal experts, equipping physicians to meet directly with lawmakers, and bringing firsthand bedside stories to the legislature — a form of advocacy Dr. McHugh has found consistently effective. Curi has since maintained an active legislative presence across multiple states, including Pennsylvania.The Venue Change: A Significant Development for Pennsylvania Physicians A substantial portion of the conversation focused on a recent Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling that effectively overturned the venue protections established by the MCare Act of 2002. Under that law, malpractice cases had to be heard in the county where the medical event occurred. The Supreme Court has now ruled that cases can be filed in almost any county in the state — opening the door to plaintiffs choosing favorable jurisdictions, most notably Philadelphia, regardless of where care was provided.Curi has been tracking this issue for six to seven years and has been an active supporter of efforts to address it, including through the work of its general counsel, Jason Newton, whom Dr. McHugh described as one of the foremost medical-legal minds in the region. The venue change takes effect January 1st of the upcoming new year. While neither Dr. McHugh nor Dr. Pagan expected an immediate flood of filings on that date, both acknowledged that an uptick in litigation activity in plaintiff-friendly counties is anticipated at some future point, given the typical lag between a medical event and a filed suit.Curi is already working at the advocacy and legislative level to explore potential solutions, including whether it may be feasible for physicians to ask patients to sign agreements consenting to venue in the physician's home county in the event of a dispute. In the meantime, Curi noted it has existing experience defending cases across the Commonwealth's major counties and feels well-prepared to defend its member-owners wherever cases may be filed.Key TakeawaysCuri has evolved from a single-product liability carrier into a three-legged platform: medical professional liability, wealth management (Curi Capital), and business consulting (Curi Advisory) — all built around what physician members asked for.Curi Capital offers independent financial advisory services tailored specifically to physicians, covering both personal wealth and practice retirement plans.Curi Advisory provides practice management software, online reputation tools, and growth strategies through its Alytics platform.The Pennsylvania Supreme Court's venue ruling is a material development for physician liability exposure in the state. Physicians should be aware it takes effect January 1st and should discuss its implications with their liability carrier.Curi is ...
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    14 mins
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