David Quirke, Corporate CIO, Trivergent Health Alliance, Chapter 1

Across the industry, operating margins are getting slimmer while the demand to deliver high-quality care is increasing, leaving many organizations with no choice but to explore M&A. There is, however, another option. In 2014, three health systems joined to form Trivergent Health Alliance, an entity that enables them to maintain their identity as individual institutions while leveraging the purchasing power of big player. In this interview, David Quirke talks about how the concept came about, the pros and cons of being a “trusted advisor” to three organizations, and his biggest goals for 2017. He also discusses the work his team is doing in population health and patient engagement, and the benefits of having walked in different shoes before landing in the CIO role.

Chapter 1



* Trivergent’s conception

* 3 health systems, 1 Triple Aim

* “The purchasing power of a $billion organization”

* Sharing best practices — “There’s tremendous opportunity.”

* Challenge: Having to sell three times

* Alliance-wide IT steering committee

* Double duty as site CIO at Fredericks & corporate CIO

* Pop health plans



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Bold Statements

The concept was hatched in terms of what we could do together while remaining three separate independent health systems, yet coming together in a model where costs could be shared, efficiencies could be gained, and best practices could be shared.

Each organization runs between $300 to 500 million a year, yet we have the purchasing power of a billion-dollar-plus organization. In that regard, I think there’s tremendous opportunity for the three organizations to stay true to their core purpose while getting some of the benefits of a larger scale organization.

We validate each strategy, each approach, and each operational opportunity three times. And so you sell a concept three or more times before you move it through, but we’ve been very effective at minimizing the bureaucracy.

Each organization’s strategy is different, and that’s off-limits in terms of where we can and can’t participate. But we’re finding that our population health initiatives and many of the supply chain drivers and access to physician drivers remain very similar across the three health systems.

Gamble:  Hi David, thanks so much for taking some time to speak with us.

Quirke:  You’re very welcome, Kate.

Gamble:  I think a good way to start would be to give some background information about Trivergent Health Alliance — specifically how and why the organization was formed.

Quirke:  The concept for Trivergent Health Alliance was originally formed on Halloween night of 2013 when the CEOs of the three health systems involved — Frederick Regional Health System, Meritus Medical Center, and Western Maryland Health System — got together and were having discussions and dialogue around the challenges that standalone health systems faced in terms of viability and sustainability, and essentially focused around the triple aim of quality and cost efficiency.

The concept was hatched in terms of what we could do together while remaining three separate independent health systems, yet coming together in a model where costs could be shared, efficiencies could be gained, and best practices could be shared across the three health systems. A working group was put together and the concept was formed. Originally, we talked about moving seven entities into this new shared services model. They were information services, of course, laboratory, pharmacy, human resources, revenue cycle, and supply chain. And at the time it also included urgent care or immediate care, but they had some anti-trust restrictions, so we decided to not do urgent care. Essentially, that was the model.