DALLAS– ADVault announced today that noted physicians and prominent healthcare thought leaders Dan Morhaim, M.D. and Rich Feifer, M.D. have joined Debbie Ahl, a former Medicare Advantage plan CEO and healthcare payer strategist, as senior advisors for the organization. ADVault is the nation’s leader in digital advance care planning.
“Drs. Morhaim and Feifer have been powerful, respected, and effective national voices regarding the importance of advance care planning and the need for everyone to make sure their wishes will be heard and considered even when they are unable to speak for themselves,” said Scott Brown, CEO of ADVault. “We look forward to the clinical and policymaking expertise that both will bring to our ongoing conversations with CMS and CMMI leadership, not to mention healthcare providers and health plans, around the importance of advance care planning, particularly as it addresses disparities and inequity in our healthcare system.”
Dr. Morhaim brings to ADVault more than 40 years of front-line clinical experience. Board certified in Internal Medicine and Emergency Medicine, Dr. Morhaim was on the faculty at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health for 16 years, where he taught graduate students, did public health research, and wrote articles for both peer-reviewed and general consumer publications. In addition to his clinical background, Dr. Morhaim served for 24 years in the Maryland House of Delegates where he successfully sponsored numerous bills with bi-partisan support focusing on healthcare environment, procurement reform, and public safety.
He is the author of two books: “The Better End: Surviving (and Dying) on Your Own Terms in Today’s Modern Medical World” and “Preparing for a Better End,” both from Johns Hopkins Press.
Brown says that Dr. Morhaim “will apply his experience as a Maryland legislator and his years as a front-line clinician to provide ADVault guidance on advance care planning policy, in particular with respect to health equity, where he is a noted author and speaker. He will also advise ADVault on the refinement of our solutions and implementation processes to better align them with the needs of hospitals and healthcare systems – after all, technology is not helpful if it does not support clinical workflows.”
Dr. Feifer is a past president of Genesis Physician Services, as well as former executive vice president and chief medical officer at Genesis HealthCare, one of the nation’s largest skilled nursing and long-term care providers. In those capacities his primary focus has been Genesis’ active and successful transformation from volume-based fee-for-service to value-based care. He also served as chief medical officer of the Genesis HealthCare Accountable Care Organization, the only national ACO focused on nursing home patients. A board-certified internist with experience in primary care, geriatrics, and urgent care medicine, Dr. Feifer remains dedicated to the design, implementation, evaluation and communication of strategies that will optimize population health and improve the quality and efficiency of healthcare.
“As a senior advisor, Dr. Feifer will help ADVault improve our business case analyses and technology solutions in the home health and hospice, long-term institutional care, and hospital and healthcare system segments,” said Brown. “In addition to advising ADVault on the subtleties in long-term care and skilled nursing facility operations and clinical workflow realities that drive the need for digital advance care planning tools, Dr. Feifer will work with ADVault’s product and development teams to continuously refine and improve MyDirectives for Clinicians, with a focus on user experience and clinical relevance.”
