Person-centered care is a framework that healthcare payers and providers use to ensure care plans address the full spectrum of health-related needs that members face, including medical, behavioral, and social determinants of health (SDOH). In contrast to other models of care, a person-centered approach to care recognizes that each member deserves a care plan that…
On August 25, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released performance results for the eighth performance year (2020) of the Medicare Shared Savings Program(MSSP). The results for this year need to be interpreted carefully given that the majority of the performance year occurred during the global COVID-19 pandemic. As a result of the pandemic,…
About 4 months after emergency medicine physician Jessica (a pseudonym used out of fear of retaliation from her employer) joined a Michigan hospital in 2014, the department’s staffing group was bought out by TeamHealth, a staffing firm backed by the private-equity behemoth Blackstone. Ever since Emergency Medicine Specialists (EMS) — which touts itself as one of the…
The COVID-19 pandemic put a spotlight on the health disparities across the United States and is fueling overdue discussion on how they can be systematically addressed to achieve the bigger goal of delivering the best care everywhere. Much of this discussion is focused around how to best leverage the valuable troves of health care data…
Several medical groups say a new round of cuts to Medicare payments set to go into effect in 2022 will derail their move to value-based care and impact hiring of new staff. Medical groups spoke about the need for Congress to avert a series of cuts during a briefing on Tuesday sponsored by the American…
People living in rural America have lower incomes, less education, and are in poorer health than those living in other areas of the United States. For more than a century, these measures have been “sticky” with little change despite many efforts to do so. It is also well-known that most rural areas have a shortage of primary care and specialist physicians and lack of…
Medicaid will be an increasing focus of alternative payment models (APMs) from the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation (CMMI), Ellen Lukens, MPH, said Wednesday at the annual Population Health Colloquium hosted by Thomas Jefferson University. “Models have been predominantly Medicare-oriented, and have disproportionately served white beneficiaries,” said Lukens, who is policy and programs group…
A leader from PACE program Summit Eldercare believes there should be at least half the number of nursing homes in the country, in order to adequately provide value-based care. Instead, prospective SNF residents would be better served in community housing options. This is coupled with a trend Summit Eldercare is seeing among the SNFs it…
Dr Alex Ng discovered during his early medical career in a role as chief resident at the Middlemore hospital in New Zealand that he wanted to support those who are underprivileged. The hospital was a referral unit for tertiary and quaternary care for the South Pacific islands, which allowed him to witness the impact of…
Every American deserves high-quality, affordable health care, and yet health care is becoming unaffordable for far too many families. One driver behind the rising costs is the surge in physician practice acquisitions by private equity firms. The increased private equity purchases are driving up health care costs for Americans. By 2018 private equity represented 45% of all health care…
