Ted Rath, former VP of Player Performance for the Philadelphia Eagles and two-time “NFL Strength and Conditioning Coach of the Year,” joins Eric to share the most effective approaches to creating a Super Bowl contender in the NFL and provide insights on goal setting, mindset shifts, and building sustainable habits. These lessons can be applied directly to your approach to lifestyle modification programs and value-based care strategies.

About Ted

About Ted Rath

Ted Rath is the author of Beyond Comfort, Master a Growth Mindset with Excellence through Urgency and the former Vice President of Player Performance for the Philadelphia Eagles.

He has two decades of experience working with athletes, almost all of them in the NFL …his resume beyond the Eagles job includes the LA Rams, Miami Dolphins, Detroit Lions and his alma mater, the University of Toledo.

Rath was voted “NFL Strength and Conditioning Coach of the Year” not once but twice and was elected as the inaugural President to represent the Professional Football Performance Coaches Association (PFPCA) in early 2023. Before Detroit, Rath was an Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach at The University of Toledo, where he directed the strength and conditioning programs for all fifteen of the school’s Olympic sports.

Richard Feifer, MD, Chief Medical Officer of InnovAge, joins Eric to explore the transformative potential of the PACE (Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly) model. Richard shares compelling stories and strategies showcasing how PACE integrates medical, physical, social, and emotional care to improve outcomes for seniors and individuals with complex needs.

Listeners will gain insights into:

• The unique interdisciplinary care team (IDT) approach and how it delivers personalized, efficient care.

• Innovations in reducing hospitalizations and shifting care to home-based settings.

• Lessons on advanced care planning and end-of-life support that prioritize patient goals.
  Operational strategies for managing costs while maintaining exceptional patient experiences.

Richard explores the economic and practical sustainability of the PACE model, providing actionable insights for healthcare leaders aiming to replicate its success.

Link to DC Bipartisan Report on PACE mentioned in podcast: https://bipartisanpolicy.org/press-release/improving-access-to-and-enrollment-in-programs-of-all-inclusive-care-for-the-elderly-pace/

About Richard

As a physician executive with broad healthcare industry experience, Dr. Richard Feifer helps organizations achieve their fullest potential in an ever-changing environment. Rich is a board-certified internist with clinical experience in primary care, geriatrics, and urgent care medicine. As a health system leader, he has also developed expertise in population health management, value-based payment models, clinical analytics, and technology-driven healthcare transformation.

Rich has dedicated his career to improving the quality and efficiency of healthcare and the health of populations he has served. Most recently, as executive vice president and chief medical officer of Genesis HealthCare, he led one of the nation's largest skilled nursing and long-term care providers, operating over 400 facilities in 25 states in 2019. As president of Genesis Physician Services, a Genesis subsidiary with over 450 physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants in 2019, he navigated the successful transition to value-based care delivery. In that capacity, he also launched and served as chief medical officer of the only national accountable care organization focused on nursing home residents, LTC ACO.

Prior to joining Genesis, Rich was Aetna’s chief medical officer of National Accounts, leading the department of Clinical Consulting, Strategy, and Analysis, which helped large employers improve the health and productivity of their employees and dependents. Before Aetna, Rich served as vice president of Clinical Program Innovation and Evaluation at Medco, where he was responsible for the organization’s portfolio of care enhancement programs.

A graduate of Brown University and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Rich received his master’s in health services management from Columbia University. He is an assistant clinical professor at the University of Connecticut and a board member of the Accreditation Commission on Health Care.

About InnovAge

Our passion and mission is to help frail seniors age in their own homes with dignity. InnovAge has done this through PACE for more than 30 years.

As the largest provider of the Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) based on participants served, InnovAge is dedicated to expanding this successful program to serve as many seniors as possible nationwide. In some communities, like Philadelphia, PACE is known as Living Independence for the Elderly.

With InnovAge's Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE), older individuals have a team of healthcare professionals focused on providing all the connected care they need. This helps seniors live at home for as long as possible, instead of going to a nursing home or other care facility.

Kenneth Harper, VP & GM of Dragon at Microsoft, joins Eric to discuss how health systems are deploying AI to help busy clinicians. He explains how Microsoft’s AI tool, DAX Copilot, improves access to care by streamlining administrative tasks and lightening clinicians' documentation workloads. Ken shares several examples of health systems successfully using the tool with positive results. The conversation also covers overcoming implementation challenges, including clinician adoption and the future of AI in healthcare.

About Kenn

Kenn Harper has been working in the conversational AI industry for 15+ years, helping to shape virtual assistant solutions across mobile phones, TV’s, cars, wearables, robotics, and most recently healthcare systems. He is currently responsible for running the Healthcare Virtual Assistant business at Dragon, a divisionof Microsoft ( formerly Nuance), which leverages an advanced suite of technologies combined with purpose-built hardware to streamline interactions with the EHR and creation of clinical documentation, allowing physicians to remain 100% focused on the patient without technology getting in the way. Kenn holds a B.S. in human factors engineering from Cornell University and a M.S. in human factors from Bentley University

About DAX Copilot

Serving as an AI assistant for automated clinical documentation, the Dragon Ambient eXperience (DAX) Copilot solution enables physicians to do more with less and improve clinical efficiency, physician and patient satisfaction and financial outcomes. Amplified by the power and scale of the Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare, it combines Nuance’s proven conversational and ambient AI with the newest and most capable generative AI model.

Bright Spots in Healthcare is produced by Bright Spots Ventures

Bright Spots Ventures brings healthcare leaders together to share working solution or "bright spots" to common challenges. We build valuable and meaningful relationships through our Bright Spots in Healthcare podcast, webinar series, leadership councils, customized peer events, and sales and go-to-market consulting. We believe that finding a bright spot and cloning it is the most effective strategy to improve healthcare in our lifetime.

Visit our website at www.brightspotsinhealthcare.com