On October 16, 2025, the PCC hosted a webinar exploring how emerging technologies and new tools can empower primary care teams and streamline participation in value-based care.
This is the second webinar in a series of discussions PCC is hosting in 2025 about how to reduce the administrative burdens associated with participation in value-based care. Earlier this year, panelists discussed the role of multi-payer alignment and reducing the burden of collecting and reporting quality measures.
Panelists included Yair Lewis, MD, PhD (Navina), Sara Pastoor, MD, MHA (Elation Health) and Lisa Bari, MBA, MHA (Innovaccer) with Drew Albano, DO, MBA (Atlantic Health, Primary Care Collaborative) moderating.
Panelists described the current challenges and some promising next generation tech tools. All agreed that cluttered workflows and fragmented data act as major drivers of burnout and missed opportunities in primary care. Pastoor described the Electronic Health Record (EHR) as a clinician’s “living room,” arguing it should invisibly handle non-clinical tasks like coding while streamlining cognitively heavy work such as chart review, inbox management and care coordination.
Lewis explained Navina’s “physician co-pilot” which utilizes claims, clinical and Health Information Exchange (HIE) data to summarize histories and provide actionable insights. Bari emphasized Innovaccer’s role as a cross-system “data janitorial” layer that standardizes information across disparate records to build a usable longitudinal patient view.
On policy, all three called for stronger enforcement and clearer guidance on information blocking rules to unblock data flow while aligning expectations across agencies. Pastoor urged national consistency so clinicians can share the right data without legal ambiguity and align reporting across CMS, payers and registries to cut redundant measure work.
Lewis asserted that meaningful “sticks” alongside “carrots” may be needed to make interoperability real in production, not just on paper via FHIR certification. Bari cautioned that hyper-fixation on specific standards can slow progress; the goal is safe, broad, practical data exchange that actually reaches points of care.
On AI governance, panelists supported trustworthy, responsible use with risk-based oversight that distinguishes background AI from semi-autonomous decision tools. They highlighted the current federal patchwork, state experimentation and varied health system governance models as sources of confusion that can slow adoption.
Pastoor recommended harmonized annual federal standards centered on safety, privacy, accuracy, usefulness and clarity, aligned with frameworks like the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Bari flagged unresolved liability when “humans in the loop” are held responsible for AI-driven harms, urging clear answers before there’s a greater reliance.
Pastoor warned small practices and FQHCs often lack technical vetting capacity and can be whipsawed by “vaporware”; she advocated for AI-native EHRs to concentrate tools on a single platform and reduce fragmentation.
Looking ahead to 2030, Lewis predicts agentic AI as a routine first point of contact for simple primary care interactions.
Pastoor envisioned clinicians shifting from data entry to trusted interpreters and coaches, with AI enabling proactive, coordinated, population-level care that integrates social needs.
Bari, however, cautioned against a future where AI replaces human care. She argued for a balanced model that preserves human relationships and ensures clinician accountability.
The session closed with practical takeaways including the need for better technology and utilization of technology for primary care as well as better data to power it in order to develop stronger relationships with patients and deliver better care.
The PCC also reminded attendees of our next webinar on November 12 at 1:30 p.m., the release of our 2025 Evidence Report, titled Closing the Distance in Rural Primary Care: Evidence, Stories and Solutions.
Resources:
Administrative Burden in Primary Care: Causes and Potential Solutions – The Commonwealth Fund (2025)
- As primary care clinicians face growing administrative burden, this Commonwealth Fund issue brief identifies its causes and potential solutions
AI for value-based care: Independent study shows Navina’s impact – Navina (2025)
- An independent study shows how AI can support value-based care through reducing administraitve burden and improving health outcomes
A Poor Prognosis: More Than One-Third of Burned-Out U.S. Primary Care Physicians Plan to Stop Seeing Patients – The Commonwealth Fund (2024)
- The Commonwealth Fund survey found high rates of burnout in primary care
Evaluation of the Primary Care First Model – Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (2024)
- Evaluations of CMMI models also identify the administrative barriers to participation in value-based payment
- The PCC heard similar challenges when we convened practices to inform CMS and CMMI leadership in 2023 and 2024
Health Plans Take Action to Simplify Prior Authorization – AHIP (2025)
- Trump administration convenes payers and tech organizations to drive alignment toward uniform standards
- This report outlines objectives to make high-quality primary care available to everyone in the United States
- To improve care coordination and advance HIT for primary care, changes are needed to design digital health that serves patients, their families and the interprofessional primary care teams
Multi-Payer Alignment Blueprint – HCP-LAN (2023)
- Includes recommendations, best practices and examples.
- Current efforts are underway in CA, NC, and other states.
Trends in Physician Exit From Fee-for-Service Medicare, Neprash, H & Chernew, M. (2025)
- This cohort study analyzed Medicare claims data between 2010 and 2024 to quantify the rate of physician exits from traditional Medicare
- This article shows primary care exiting Medicare at higher rate than other specialties
Use of Ambient AI Scribes to Reduce Administrative Burden and Professional Burnout – Olson, K., Meeker, D., & Troup, M. (2025)
- These findings suggest that AI may help to reduce administrative burdens for clinicians to allow more time for direct patient care and lower burnout
White House, Tech Leaders Commit to Create Patient-Centric Healthcare Ecosystem – Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (2025)
- Trump administration convenes payers and tech organizations to drive alignment toward uniform standards
Why Primary Care Practitioners Aren’t Joining Value-Based Payment Models: Reasons and Potential Solutions – The Commonwealth Fund (2024)
- Interviews of primary care barriers to joining value-based care for The Commonwealth Fund
