The Beat

From Fragmentation to Flow: Ben Forrest on How Olio Is Reimagining Care Coordination Across the Continuum

Episode Summary

Care coordination shouldn’t feel like a black box. In this episode, Ben Forrest, CEO of Olio, discusses how his team is reimagining collaboration among payers, health systems, and post-acute providers for the most complex patients. He shares why fragmented workflows create massive administrative burden, how real-time engagement across 100+ care sites improves outcomes, and why downstream provider relationships directly shape cost and quality. Ben also reflects on the future of AI in care coordination and the bold bets he believes will reshape medical spend. Tune in and learn how better coordination can transform patient journeys.

Episode Notes

About Ben Forrest:

Ben Forrest is the CEO of Olio, a care coordination technology company focused on improving collaboration among payers, health systems, and post-acute providers for the most complex patients. With a 14-year background in the medical device industry, Ben saw firsthand how fragmented workflows and siloed care settings created barriers to quality and efficiency—an insight that led him to build Olio. Under his leadership, the platform now enables real-time engagement across hundreds of care sites, helping organizations reduce administrative burden, improve outcomes, and better manage medical spend. Ben is dedicated to bringing modern software, thoughtful workflows, and emerging AI capabilities to one of healthcare’s most persistent challenges: truly connected care.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Care coordination is deeply fragmented, especially for complex patients moving across hospitals, skilled nursing, home health, behavioral health, and other community settings.
• Olio’s platform connects payers, health systems, and post-acute providers in one shared workflow, enabling daily engagement and reducing administrative burden.
• Better downstream provider engagement directly improves outcomes and lowers costs, especially in Medicare Advantage, Medicaid, ACO, and bundled payment environments.
• Scaling coordination statewide requires more than EMRs; it requires workflow technology that ensures transparency, accountability, and consistent communication across 100+ care sites.
• Economics drive engagement: care coordination intensity increases where organizations hold risk or face pressure to manage total medical spend.
• The future of AI in care coordination is still emerging, and smart companies will focus on doing one operational problem exceptionally well before expanding.
• Payers will face mounting pressure to reduce medical spend, making true care coordination, not just better authorization practices, a strategic necessity.
• Olio was born from the realization that healthcare excels at delivering care in silos but struggles when patients move between settings, especially under value-based models.

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Ben Forrest on LinkedIn.
• Follow Olio on LinkedIn and discover their website.