Interview With Eric S. Weaver, FACHE, FACMPE, FHIMSS, President of the Central Texas Market for Innovista Health Solutions

Abstract

Eric S. Weaver, FACHE, FACMPE, FHIMSS, is a nationally recognized leader in population health. In 2015, Mr. Weaver was appointed president of the Central Texas market for Innovista Health Solutions, a population health management services organization based in Austin. In that role, he oversees several physician-led accountable care organizations (ACOs) in the state. Mr. Weaver previously served as president and CEO of Integrated ACO and managed a portfolio of cardiology practices for HCA/St. David's HealthCare, an integrated delivery system in Austin and a 2014 recipient of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.During his tenure with Integrated ACO, a physician-led Medicare ACO with more than 50 medical practices, Mr. Weaver was instrumental in leading the company to achieve a 4.5% reduction in Medicare expenditures, one of the few ACOs to succeed in the first year of the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP). In the second performance year, Integrated ACO experienced an 8.3% reduction in Medicare expenditures, placing it in the highest tier of performance in the country.Mr. Weaver is currently completing his doctorate in healthcare administration at the Medical University of South Carolina and was the 2014 recipient of the HIMSS Foundation Doctorate Scholarship. He is a 2016 recipient of the Texas State University Young Alumni Star Award. As an adjunct professor at Concordia University Texas, in Austin, Mr. Weaver teaches health administration courses.Mr. Weaver serves on various nonprofit boards and is the president of both the Texas Medical Group Management Association and the Central Texas Chapter of ACHE. In 2015, Becker's Hospital Review named him to its list of Rising Stars: 25 Healthcare Leaders Under 40.Mr. Weaver is the 2016 recipient of ACHE's Robert S. Hudgens Memorial Award for Young Healthcare Executive of the Year.Dr. Kash: Share some highlights about your career path. How would you counsel a young, talented healthcare administration student?Mr. Weaver: I would say my career journey started when I was a student at Texas State University in San Marco. The college experience was a leadership laboratory that taught me the fundamental skills to succeed in the business world. I think with the formalized education I received there, along with the professional development attained by leading various campus organizations, I was really positioned to hit the ground running in the healthcare field. In 2000,1 was recognized as the LBJ Outstanding Senior Student, which is the most prestigious award a Texas State University student can receive during the year of graduation.So I began at this high point, which coincided with a really low point in my life. I had a crushing defeat right after receiving my undergraduate degree when I failed to gain entry into medical school. I had always dreamt of being a physician and thought the setback was absolutely insurmountable, that my dream of achieving any significant level of success in healthcare was gone. After several months of reflection, I began to think of the challenges and opportunities that a career in healthcare administration would bring. I received my master's degree in health administration a few years later and never looked back.I have had an amazing journey thus far. My leadership experience is varied- from private physician practices to a large for-profit health system and from specialty care to primary care. All in all, I feel that the highlight of my career happened when I learned that my passion and strengths came together at the intersection of physician practice transformation and health information technology. Leading physician practices toward value-based care is really where my heart is.If I were to counsel a healthcare administration student, a couple of basic guidelines come to mind, precepts that served me well as an up-and-comer. The first is that you don't want to follow a career path that is incongruent with your passion; doing so will leave you unfulfilled and you'll lose sight of why you chose a career in healthcare administration in the first place. …