Healthcare Executive Advocates Structural Changes to U.S. System

Lynn Barr, founder of Caravan Health, states that the U.S. healthcare system faces structural challenges that new tools and technologies alone cannot resolve. She points to gaps in comprehensive data and misaligned incentives as primary obstacles. She founded Caravan Health to help rural providers move toward value-based care.

During her time as chief information officer at a 25-bed critical access hospital, Barr observed that 50 staff members were dedicated solely to billing and coding tasks. She said these resources could have supported direct patient care instead. Barr later served in healthcare system design and data infrastructure roles at county, state, and national levels.

She currently teaches as an adjunct professor at UC Berkeley and serves as a commissioner at the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission.

Barr advocates for a national data infrastructure that would allow secure access to longitudinal patient records. She projects that such a system could lower annual healthcare costs by thousands of dollars per person within five years. She also supports training programs for mid-career professionals from rural areas to strengthen leadership pipelines in Medicare and Medicaid policy.

Caravan Health previously reported saving Medicare more than $500 million while directing half that amount to rural providers across 44 states.