Alfred Lewis

Troublemaker-in-Chief

Google on “Invented disease management” and the entire first page of “hits” will be Al Lewis, the originator of risk-based population health contracting and outcomes measurement.

He is widely acclaimed for his expertise in benefits design strategy, and in 2013 was named one of the unsung heroes changing health care forever.

Al Lewis is founder and President of the Disease Management Purchasing Consortium International, Inc. (DMPC–www.Dismgmt.com), which performs contracting and outcomes measurement consulting for health plans and self-insured employers seeking vendors and programs to enhance their benefits offering, distinguishing those from ones whose value is questionable at best.  Though he is independent, he has  served as a consultant to The Validation Institute.

He also confers the only recognized certifications in two areas. The Consortium website, www.dismgmt.com, lists the 200 people who have earned Critical Outcomes Report Analysis (CORA) Certification. The CORA curriculum covers the development and interpretation of risk contracts and outcomes reports. Likewise, 25 employers, health plans and states have received Savings Measurement Validity certification. He also provides and guarantees Letters of Validation for programs that achieve savings when validly measured.

His Gold Standard designation has been sought by many population health organizations (covering wellness, monitoring, other devices and coordinated care) and is considered the highest measurement validity accolade that an organization can achieve.

His critically acclaimed category-bestselling book on outcomes measurement, Why Nobody Believes the Numbers, chronicling and exposing the innumeracy of the health management field, was named 2012 healthcare book of the year in Forbes. His co-authored book, Cracking Health Costs: How to Cut Your Company’s Health Costs and Provide Employees Better Care, released in 2013, was also a trade bestseller.

His 2014 co-authored book Surviving Workplace Wellness has also received great accolades and excerpts are appearing in Harvard Business Review and elsewhere.

Al’s co-authored “Is It Time to Re-Examine Workplace Wellness ‘Get Well Quick’ Schemes?” became January 2013’s most tweeted Health Affairs article, a lay version of which was featured in the Harvard Business Review and an updated and expanded version in the Wall Street Journal. He has also published op-eds or essays in the Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle and Newsweek. A full list of publications is at http://www.dismgmt.com/in-the-news. He is a sought-after speaker on disease management and wellness economics.

He is also the “whistleblower” whose forensic analysis has led to the proposed dismantling of North Carolina’s expensive and ineffective Medicaid patient-centered medical home program.

His radio program, The Big Fix, exploring novel economic policy ideas, was carried on the NPR-affiliate in Washington, DC and may be renewed for 2015.

Prior to DMPC, Al was CEO and Chairman of Peer Review Analysis, Inc., at one point the youngest person to hold those positions for a NASDAQ-listed company, and had previously been a partner at Bain & Co.

Al holds undergraduate (1978) and law (1982) degrees from Harvard University phi beta kappa and taught economics at Harvard, and is currently a Visiting Scholar in health policy at Brandeis University.

But he still can’t get his kids to clean up their rooms.