Finance executives at hospitals and health systems see the most opportunity to work with commercial insurers to increase downside risk in payment contracts, according to a new survey. The survey, published Wednesday by consultancy Navigant, found 64% of finance leaders said they plan to assume additional risk in contracts with commercial payers in the next…
Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) may not be as effective as many believe when it comes to reducing healthcare costs and improving outcomes, according to a new study. The study, published in Annals of Internal Medicine, examines data from ACOs participating in the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP). It finds that savings and quality improvements previously attributed to the design of…
Beneficiaries who participate inconsistently in Accountable Care Organizations (ACO) under the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) have much higher healthcare costs than do beneficiaries who never participated in an ACO to begin with, according to a report released Friday afternoon by the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC). Beneficiaries who participated in the same ACO consistently year after…
While alternative payment models such as ACOs aim to improve quality while lowering cost, 86 percent of U.S. physicians are still reimbursed in a fee-for-service model. This is a disincentive to engage in preventive care and reduce readmissions on a global scale. During an executive roundtable hosted by Change Healthcare at the Becker’s 2nd Health IT…
How can federal healthcare officials effectively stimulate forward the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) for accountable care organizations (ACOs)? A team of healthcare policy researchers believes that senior officials at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will need to rethink the financial incentives for ACO leaders—and will need to face up to a…
Download Slides As provider organizations prepare for Pathways to Success and determine their best approaches for aligning with CMS’s accelerated risk path, ACO’s have important decisions to make in order to ensure their success under CMS’s value-based initiatives, including how to: – Determine the right performance track and when to select it – Find…
A recent study by the HHS Office of Inspector General suggests that Medicare ACOs coordinate care more effectively when they have the right health IT tools in place, particularly when ACO members share one EHR platform and have access to a robust HIE. Folks, I know that reading OIG reports can be about as exciting as watching…
ABSTRACT Care for people living with serious illness is suboptimal for many reasons, including underpayment for key services (such as care coordination and social supports) in fee-for-service reimbursement. Accountable care organizations (ACOs) have potential to improve serious illness care because of their widespread dissemination, strong financial incentives for care coordination in downside-risk models, and flexibility…
How is your hospital, healthcare system, or clinic measuring up to national standards? Are your patients receiving proper and timely care? For many small and rural systems, these are difficult questions to answer without proper (and often third-party) support. In late 2017, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) introduced the Meaningful Measures initiative,…
Caravan Health, a company that helps community health systems build accountable care and population health programs, is partnering with the Texas Hospital Association (THA) with the aim to assist hospitals and other healthcare providers succeed under value-based payment models. Through the new collaborative, THA and Caravan Health will launch Value TX Health, a statewide clinically…
