DALLAS, April 23, 2026 – Lantern, the leading Specialty Care Platform serving 12 million people across the U.S, today announced the establishment of the Lantern Quality and Safety Institute, a Patient Safety Organization (PSO), listed by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Lantern is the first and only independent center of excellence to have an established AHRQ-listed PSO.
Quality is the most critical input to the rapid expansion of Lantern’s network, which now includes more than 2,000+ surgeons and 725 facilities across the country. 98% of Lantern’s 12 million members are within driving distance of care. Lantern’s network is directly contracted and audited annually for quality, ensuring every surgeon and facility meets the company’s high standards. The Lantern Quality and Safety Institute allows participating clinicians to report safety concerns with strong federal confidentiality and privilege protections, helping maintain those quality standards as Lantern continually expands access.
“When clinicians know their reports are protected, they report more openly,” said Jason Tibbels, MD, Chief Medical Officer at Lantern. “The Lantern Quality and Safety Institute aggregates this data across providers to identify patterns that would be invisible at a single facility and recommends best practices to improve care nationwide. The result is a safer network that advances our consistently strong outcomes.”
Initially listed in 2024, the Lantern Quality and Safety Institute identifies systemic patterns and investigates reports from any stakeholder if a specialist’s performance raises concerns. The Lantern Quality and Safety Institute operates under a separate governance structure with dedicated clinical leadership, allowing for non-biased review.
“The Lantern Quality and Safety Institute is at the forefront of fostering highly reliable, high-quality patient care,” said Peggy Binzer, Executive Director, Alliance for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety. “Patient Safety Organizations play a critical role in advancing a culture of safety across healthcare. Lantern’s Institute is committed to ensuring safe, high-quality care for every patient we serve by creating the infrastructure needed to learn from real-world data, identify risks, and continuously improve care delivery.”
Lantern Expands Clinical Leadership for Cancer and Infusions
Lantern has named Stephen Speicher,MD, Associate Chief Medical Officer for cancer and specialty infusions. In this role, Dr. Speicher joins a team of 20 embedded clinicians at Lantern, including Jason Tibbels, MD, Chief Medical Officer and trained primary care physician, and Raymond Hwang, MD, Associate Chief Medical Officer for Surgery and a practicing spine surgeon.
Dr. Speicher is a practicing pediatric hematologist/oncologist with experience practicing at City of Hope and UCLA and brings over a decade of experience spanning academic medicine and health systems, and community care settings. His appointment reflects the company’s belief that clinical programs, especially those supporting cancer care, require day-to-day physician leadership. Most recently, Dr. Speicher served as head of clinical oncology and patient safety at Flatiron Health, where he led the development and deployment of digital tools at the point of care for community oncologists throughout the U.S.
“I’ve spent much of my career working across both academic and community care settings, and have seen how the challenges they navigate differ,” said Dr. Speicher, Associate Chief Medical Officer of Lantern. “Access to additional clinical perspectives grounded in deep expertise can make a meaningful difference. The goal is to extend that support more consistently, so patients benefit from both local care and broader clinical insight.”
Speicher’s background brings a dual perspective that will help shape how Lantern delivers and scales its clinical programs, including its recently expanded comprehensive cancer care solution. At Lantern, Dr. Speicher will work alongside a multidisciplinary team to support care delivery across complex patient journeys and advance its quality mission. This model is designed to ensure that clinical decisions are informed not only by guidelines, but by real-world expertise and continuous expert insights.
“Too often, clinical models rely on advisory structures without real-time physician accountability,” said Dickon Waterfield, President at Lantern. “Dr. Speicher strengthens Lantern’s clinician-led approach by introducing an additional layer of physician oversight, enhancing the rigor of our reviews and strengthening trust in the guidance Lantern provides.”
Lantern Expands Use of Patient-Reported Outcome Measures
Lantern is also expanding its use of patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) for all major procedure categories, as well as cancer. These efforts are designed to capture outcomes that traditional claims data cannot, including how patients feel and function following treatment, to inform more personalized, outcomes-driven care. By integrating this data into its clinical model, Lantern can more effectively assess real-world outcomes, support appropriate care decisions, and continuously strengthen the quality of its network.
About Lantern
Lantern is the leading Specialty Care Platform built to simplify and elevate the most complex care journeys through a unified, value-driven approach. Lantern supports 12 million members and over 1,000 employers nationwide to deliver high-quality surgical, infusion, and cancer care. Lantern’s Network of Excellence is the nation’s leading specialty care network built on direct contracts and bundled payments with top-tier specialists and facilities. Lantern’s distributed network is the most locally accessible in the industry, leading to higher utilization and a 4% overall annual reduction in healthcare costs observed across Lantern’s book of business.
