The Evolution of Healthcare Transactions & the Rise of Ambulatory Care with Eric Tower

In this episode of the Becker's Healthcare Podcast, host Scott Becker sits down with Eric Tower, a seasoned healthcare attorney and former in-house leader at Advocate Healthcare, now a partner at Blank Rome. Tower reflects on his career journey, from his early days in for-profit healthcare law to leading physician group expansion at Advocate, where he grew a medical group from 200 to nearly 2,000 physicians. He highlights the transformative shift in healthcare delivery, particularly the rapid evolution of ambulatory care and the decline of traditional hospital-centric models. Tower emphasizes the growing importance of site-neutral payments, the rise of 'payviders,' and the increasing convergence between health systems and ambulatory providers, driven by cost efficiency, patient proximity, and value-based care. He also shares personal insights from his education at St. Ignatius, Northwestern, and University of Wisconsin, drawing wisdom from books like Herman Hesse’s 'Siddhartha' and Heinrich Bull’s 'The Clown,' which shaped his reflective, lifelong learning mindset. Tower pays tribute to visionary leaders like Dr. Lee Sachs, whose pioneering work in clinical integration laid the foundation for modern value-based care and population health strategies.