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People-Portfolio-Process Field Guide

A self-assessment you can run with your team this week

Managed Care Glossary (PDF)

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Managed Care Week 2027

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Kevin W. Barron
Kevin W. Barron

Kevin W. Barron, MBA, FHFMA, FACHE, has spent 34 years in healthcare finance across five states, building managed care departments from the ground up at public, nonprofit, and for-profit health systems. He's a Vice President of Payer Relations at a large academic medical center in Texas and creator of the People-Portfolio-Process (3P) Model for payer strategy. Kevin chairs the Texas Hospital Association's Policy Committee on Hospital Contracting and Payment, has been an HFMA member for 30 years, and was named one of Becker's 20 Payer Relations Executives to Know in 2026. He writes Mastering Managed Care to pass on what he wishes someone had handed him early in his career.

Payer Contracting

+1

Value-Based Care Fails in the Contract, Not the Clinic

Oct 20, 2026

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4 min read

Value-Based Care Fails in the Contract, Not the Clinic

Five (5) things every healthcare finance leader needs settled before signing a value-based care agreement with a payer

Kevin W. Barron
Kevin W. Barron

Healthcare Finance Leadership

+2

New Negotiators Don't Lose Deals Over Rates. They Lose Them Over Words.

Oct 13, 2026

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5 min read

New Negotiators Don't Lose Deals Over Rates. They Lose Them Over Words.

Eight managed care contracting terms every new negotiator, benefits manager, and plan sponsor needs to know before their first payer meeting

Kevin W. Barron
Kevin W. Barron

Artificial Intelligence

+2

AI Isn't Coming for Your Contracting Job. Complacency Is.

Oct 6, 2026

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4 min read

AI Isn't Coming for Your Contracting Job. Complacency Is.

What managed care and payer relations professionals need to change before artificial intelligence changes it for them

Kevin W. Barron
Kevin W. Barron

Revenue Cycle

+2

The Denial Nobody Owns Is the One Costing You the Most

Sep 29, 2026

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4 min read

The Denial Nobody Owns Is the One Costing You the Most

Why payer contracting must collaborate across patient access, coding, billing, collections, and revenue integrity to close the revenue cycle's most expensive blind spot

Kevin W. Barron
Kevin W. Barron

Revenue Cycle

+2

Nobody Was Checking. One Analyst Found $2 Million.

Sep 22, 2026

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3 min read

Nobody Was Checking. One Analyst Found $2 Million.

The most innovative payment methodology means nothing if nobody checks whether it works. Without that, it's not an innovation. It's an assumption.

Kevin W. Barron
Kevin W. Barron

Revenue Cycle

+2

Front-Line Staff Are Costing You Millions. It's Not Their Fault.

Sep 15, 2026

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2 min read

Front-Line Staff Are Costing You Millions. It's Not Their Fault.

How healthcare organizations can turn payer relationships into revenue strategy: denial reduction, cash acceleration, and staff education as infrastructure

Kevin W. Barron
Kevin W. Barron

Credentialing & Enrollment

+3

Your Payer's Directory Is Wrong. Your Contract Doesn't Care.

Sep 8, 2026

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3 min read

Your Payer's Directory Is Wrong. Your Contract Doesn't Care.

Why the most-used document in managed care gets the least attention by your contracting team.

Kevin W. Barron
Kevin W. Barron

Payer Mix Strategy

+2

You Don't Have a Contract Portfolio. You Have a Pile.

Sep 1, 2026

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5 min read

You Don't Have a Contract Portfolio. You Have a Pile.

The payer contracts were never the asset. What they add up to is the asset, and until somebody does the math, you're just managing a very well-organized pile of documents.

Kevin W. Barron
Kevin W. Barron

Payer Mix Strategy

+2

Walking Away Isn't a Strategy. It's What You Do Without One.

Aug 25, 2026

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5 min read

Walking Away Isn't a Strategy. It's What You Do Without One.

When the only remedy available is contract termination, that is what gets used. Not because it is right, but because it is the only thing left in the drawer.

Kevin W. Barron
Kevin W. Barron

Revenue Cycle

+2

You Negotiated With People. A Computer Denied Your Claim.

Aug 18, 2026

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5 min read

You Negotiated With People. A Computer Denied Your Claim.

Your appeal rights were written for a clinician who would read the chart. The denial came back in eleven minutes, so in this case, nobody did.

Kevin W. Barron
Kevin W. Barron

Revenue Cycle

+2

Your UR Nurse Holds Your Best Payer Contract Evidence

Aug 11, 2026

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5 min read

Your UR Nurse Holds Your Best Payer Contract Evidence

Your best enforcement record already exists. It's sitting in a queue on the wrong floor, in front of someone nobody thought to ask.

Kevin W. Barron
Kevin W. Barron

People

+1

The Person Across the Table Can't Say Yes. Find Out Who Can.

Aug 4, 2026

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5 min read

The Person Across the Table Can't Say Yes. Find Out Who Can.

Your counterpart isn't stalling you. She can't say yes, and nobody in the room is going to tell you that.

Kevin W. Barron
Kevin W. Barron

In the Media

+2

The Hidden Cost of Winning the Rate (MGMA Insights Podcast)

Jul 29, 2026

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1 min read

The Hidden Cost of Winning the Rate (MGMA Insights Podcast)

MGMA Insights Podcast - Daniel Williams, Senior Editor & Host

Kevin W. Barron
Kevin W. Barron

Payer Contracting

+1

Your Contracts Are Intact. Your Patient Mix Isn't.

Jul 28, 2026

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3 min read

Your Contracts Are Intact. Your Patient Mix Isn't.

The agreements are signed. The rates are set. The population they were built for is gone.

Kevin W. Barron
Kevin W. Barron

Credentialing & Enrollment

+1

Credentialing Delays Are a Revenue Problem, Not Paperwork

Jul 21, 2026

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4 min read

Credentialing Delays Are a Revenue Problem, Not Paperwork

Credentialing and provider enrollment delays create unpaid claims. Why enrollment is a financial lever and a contract enforcement issue, not paperwork.

Kevin W. Barron
Kevin W. Barron

Payer Mix Strategy

+2

Most Denials Aren't a Billing Problem. They're a Contract Problem.

Jul 14, 2026

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4 min read

Most Denials Aren't a Billing Problem. They're a Contract Problem.

Why most denials point back to the contract, and how to enforce the terms you already negotiated

Kevin W. Barron
Kevin W. Barron

Healthcare Finance Leadership

+2

You Inherited a Payer Problem You Didn't Create. Start Here.

Jul 7, 2026

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5 min read

You Inherited a Payer Problem You Didn't Create. Start Here.

How years of absorbed underpayments teach payers to test you, and three habits new contract managers can build from day one

Kevin W. Barron
Kevin W. Barron

Revenue Cycle

+1

A Mid-Contract Policy Change Isn't a Clinical Dispute

Jun 30, 2026

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4 min read

A Mid-Contract Policy Change Isn't a Clinical Dispute

Why a mid-contract payer policy change is a contract performance issue, not a clinical dispute

Kevin W. Barron
Kevin W. Barron

Revenue Cycle

+2

Payer Relations and Patient Access Are One System on Two Floors

Jun 23, 2026

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4 min read

Payer Relations and Patient Access Are One System on Two Floors

Seven ways to connect contracting and patient access so the terms you negotiate actually hold up at the front desk

Kevin W. Barron
Kevin W. Barron

People

+1

Ghosted by a Payer? Eight Ways to Restart the Negotiation

Jun 16, 2026

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4 min read

Ghosted by a Payer? Eight Ways to Restart the Negotiation

Why silence in a payer negotiation is usually logistical, not personal, and how to bring a counterpart back to the table

Kevin W. Barron
Kevin W. Barron

Medicare and Medicaid Policy

+1

2026 Texas ACA Marketplace: What Actually Happened

May 31, 2026

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6 min read

2026 Texas ACA Marketplace: What Actually Happened

Part two of two: how 2026 enrollment, premiums, and subsidies in Texas compared with what the rate filings predicted

Kevin W. Barron
Kevin W. Barron

Medicare and Medicaid Policy

+1

2026 Texas ACA Premiums: What Each Insurer Filed

May 30, 2026

•

5 min read

2026 Texas ACA Premiums: What Each Insurer Filed

Part one of two: the 2026 individual market rate filings in Texas, carrier by carrier, with a focus on San Antonio's Rating Area 7

Kevin W. Barron
Kevin W. Barron

Healthcare Finance Leadership

+3

Your HFMA Membership Has a Gym Membership Problem

May 26, 2026

•

3 min read

Your HFMA Membership Has a Gym Membership Problem

Why HFMA Enterprise Membership underdelivers when organizations pay for access without activating it, and the three moves that fix it

Kevin W. Barron
Kevin W. Barron

Healthcare Finance Leadership

+2

How Exposed Is Your Payer Relations Job to AI? Free Assessment

May 19, 2026

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6 min read

How Exposed Is Your Payer Relations Job to AI? Free Assessment

A free AI prompt that maps your healthcare finance role's exposure to AI and builds a plan to stay ahead of it

Kevin W. Barron
Kevin W. Barron

Payer Contracting

+1

7 Terms to Get Right in Transplant Network Contracts

May 12, 2026

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4 min read

7 Terms to Get Right in Transplant Network Contracts

Seven terms to get right in transplant network agreements, from inclusion criteria and phased bundled payments to stop-loss and quality metrics

Kevin W. Barron
Kevin W. Barron

What Readers Say

“Managed care strategy and negotiations for hospitals and other provider groups has always been an apprentice model. This is great content that helps deepen your knowledge of this vital work, and highlights the new issues and approaches that the current dynamic environment requires. Kudos to Kevin for bringing this to life.”

Brandon Edwards

Brandon Edwards

CEO (Retired), Unlock Health | Partner, Oxeon

"Kevin has a unique ability to take complex payer relations and managed care contracting issues and turn them into practical, relevant insights. ... That is what I value most about Kevin’s content: it isn’t just informative and educational; it gives healthcare leaders something they can actually use."

Valerie Daniel, MBA, CHFP, CRCR, CSPR

Valerie Daniel, MBA, CHFP, CRCR, CSPR

Director, Revenue Cycle - Baylor, Scott & White Health

"Payers get away with so many interferences that go unchecked, this gives us the ammunition to push back and hold them accountable instead of just absorbing the fallout."

Michelle McGinnis, BBA, MHA

Michelle McGinnis, BBA, MHA

Director, Managed Care - UT Health, San Antonio

In the Media


250,000+ article views · 9,000+ LinkedIn followers · 34 years in healthcare finance
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