The United States spends roughly $380 billion each year on musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions—more than any other diagnostic category. Meanwhile, outpatient shifts have splintered workflows, and care gaps are widening in the very populations that most need coordinated care.
That’s why we’re convening the Downeast Digital Summit, September 18–20 at the Westin in Charlotte, NC: an invite-only working meeting for people who want to do the work, not just talk about it. Edmondo Robinson, MD, MBA, MS, FACP—Founder & CEO of Downeast Digital and former SVP/Chief Digital Officer at Moffitt Cancer Center (previously Chief Transformation Officer at ChristianaCare)—is co-organizing the summit with us. If you’re serious about using AI and modern operating models to move the needle on population health in orthopedics, this room is for you.
Why now
CMS has finalized the Transforming Episode Accountability Model (TEAM)—a mandatory, five-year episode model launching January 1, 2026. TEAM will reward organized, high-quality, cost-conscious episode care and penalize fragmentation. Translation: the window to redesign perioperative pathways, data flows, and patient engagement at scale is now.
What makes this different
This isn’t a trade-show floor. It’s a build space. We’ll mix short, provocative talks with table-top design sprints—small, cross-functional groups that leave with 90-day pilots, shared metrics, and lightweight governance plans. Think:
* Pre-op to 90-day episode playbooks aligned to TEAM quality measures presented by Medisolv
* AI-enabled intake and triage that actually reduces cancellations and post-op ED visits by RevelAi Health
* PROMs and patient education that patients complete (and clinicians trust).
* Closing Care Gaps by design: tracking outcomes by neighborhood deprivation and social driver capture with interventions that close gaps—not just report them.
We’ll publish a short post-summit brief summarizing the playbooks, pilots, and partnership commitments that emerge—so the work compounds across institutions.
Who’s in the room
We’re bringing together policy thinkers, health-tech builders, payers, surgeons, and data leaders who have already shipped meaningful work—and want to partner up for the next phase. Among the leaders we’ll be highlighting this week:
* Annunziato (“Ned”) Amendola, MD — 2025–2026 President of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS).
* Travis Zack, MD, PhD — UCSF oncologist and AI researcher; clinical leader at OpenEvidence.
* Shruti Shah — Partner, Symphonic Capital. symphoniccapital.com
* Benjamin Schwartz, MD, MBA — Fellow Orthopedic Surgeon, Innovator and Incoming SVP of Care Services & Strategy at Commons Clinic. By the way, check out his substack!
* Richard “Chad” Mather III, MD, MBA — Chief Medical Officer, Optum Specialty Care.
* Michael Pencina, PhD — Chief Data Scientist, Duke Health; Vice Dean for Data Science, Duke School of Medicine. Duke Health
* Erin Heilman, CPHQ and Kristen Beatson, BSN — Quality reporting and value-based care leaders at Medisolv.
…and a growing roster of founders, clinicians, and health system operators who are ready to get specific and ship.
What you’ll leave with
* A TEAM-ready episode blueprint you can adapt at your org.
* A shortlist of AI use cases (with guardrails) that cut cancellations, reduce ED revisits, and lift PROMs completion—plus how to measure impact.
* New partners—from quality reporting to AI governance, and care coordination—aligned on deliverables, timelines, and shared metrics.
* A path to population health grounded reporting, using pragmatic proxies that translate to operational action.
Who should apply
AI/health-tech founders, quality leaders, researchers, entrepreneurs, surgeons and ASC leaders, service line and population health execs, payer medical directors, analytics and operations teams—anyone accountable for results in MSK care who wants to collaborate.
Join us
The Downeast Digital Summit runs September 18–20 at the Westin Charlotte. We have a limited number of additional invitations available for the Techy Surgeon community. Apply to attend here MSK DownEast Digital Summit or message me directly if your team is ready to co-design a use case at the summit. Techy Surgeon Subscribers can also message me directly for limited discounted registration spots.
Let’s stop admiring the problem. Let’s build the playbooks, pilot them together, and publish what works—so we can spend the next year scaling solutions that patients, clinicians, and payers can all say yes to.
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