Wael Barsoum, M.D: New President, Chief Transformation Officer at Healthcare Outcomes Performance Company

by Elizabeth Hofheinz, M.P.H., M.Ed.

Wael Barsoum, M.D., the Robert and Suzanne Tomsich Distinguished Chair in Healthcare Innovation at Cleveland Clinic Florida has accepted a position as President and Chief Transformation Officer at Healthcare Outcomes Performance Company (HOPCo), a company focusing on musculoskeletal value-based health outcomes management, service line management and practice management.

Asked about the impetus for this new role, Dr. Barsoum told OSN, “Throughout my career as both a surgeon and an executive I have been a proponent for the shift to value-based care models. After six incredible years serving as CEO and President of Cleveland Clinic Florida, I was ready for the next step in my career. I had seen what HOPCo has done over the years in terms of creating value-based partnerships across the country in the musculoskeletal space and it seemed like both the future and a natural fit for me.”

As indicated in the news release, “For the past six years, Dr. Barsoum served as the CEO and President of Cleveland Clinic Florida and was responsible for significant growth in both size and revenue. Last year, HOPCo expanded into the Florida market through a partnership with Jacksonville based Southeast Orthopedic Specialists. Dr. Barsoum will remain in Ft. Lauderdale to help lead HOPCo’s expansion both in Florida and on a national level beginning on August 15, 2020.”

“The addition of Dr. Barsoum is a major milestone for us,” said Founder and CEO of HOPCo, Dr. David Jacofsky.  “Our executive team is comprised of some of the most forward-thinking minds in healthcare and Dr. Barsoum’s history of innovation and commitment to value-based care makes him the ideal leader to assume this role”.

Dr. Barsoum told OSN: “My first steps will be to utilize my experience to continue to optimize HOPCo’s existing partnerships around the country, as well as implement organizational strategies to support HOPCO’s pipeline of growth opportunities. I will also be looking to help expand HOPCo’s unique model to other markets throughout the country by identifying ideal partners who share our values.”

As indicated in the news release, “During his tenure as CEO and President of Cleveland Clinic Florida, Dr. Barsoum cultivated and transformed Cleveland Clinic Florida from a $600M, single, 155-bed hospital system with 9 remote sites to a $1.8B, 5-hospital, 1,083-bed tertiary and quaternary care hospital system with over 40 regional sites. Dr. Barsoum is an effective visionary adept at forecasting future challenges and instituting roadmaps for organizational success, while simultaneously being an active joint replacement surgeon and the Co-Editor in Chief of The Journal of Hip Surgery. He has over published over 200 peer-reviewed articles, presented at over 300 conferences internationally and is a member of the prestigious Hip Society as well as the Knee Society.”

Asked how he hopes to continue to shift from volume-based care to value-based care models, Dr. Barsoum commented to OSN, “One of my primary responsibilities will be to continue to align provider, health system, and payor stakeholders and help them to better understand both the operational and financial advantages of value-based care. Orthopedics and spine have historically been reliant on the volume-based models and many health systems are not sure where to even begin when it comes to implementation of population health and provider alignment strategies. HOPCo’s proven track record and turnkey systems allow stakeholders to seamlessly shift into these models while providing the leadership, evidence-based protocols and IT tools required to be successful.”  

Dr. Barsoum, who holds over 50 granted or pending US patents, added, “I will continue to serve as a part-time member of the Cleveland Clinic professional staff as an orthopaedic surgeon, and as a Professor of Surgery in the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine. I will also remain at Cleveland Clinic until August, working with Interim CEO and President Joseph Iannotti, M.D., Ph.D., through the transition process.”