CMS issued a final rule Dec. 21 that makes sweeping changes to the Medicare Shared Savings Program, including overhauling the way ACOs share in risks and rewards. Here are seven takeaways from the final rule: 1. There are currently four MSSP tracks. The final rule streamlines the program by discontinuing Track 1, a one-sided risk model,…
In this webinar we will cover the following topics: What is Blue Button data? Using Direct Messaging How EHR Connector and APIs align more effectively with referral providers within the ACO What is FHIR
Even if the Affordable Care Act is ultimately deemed unconstitutional, stakeholders wouldn’t allow the momentum surrounding value-based care models and biosimilars to stall, experts and provider groups said. A Texas federal judge ruled last week that the Affordable Care Act couldn’t stand without the individual mandate, rendering the entire law unconstitutional. The decision is likely to weave…
The Health Care Transformation Task Force, a 41-member group that includes some of the nation’s top health systems and payers, revealed Dec. 18 that members have made substantial progress toward transitioning to value-based payment arrangements. At the end of 2017, the group’s provider and payer members had put 47 percent of their businesses into such…
Interoperability remains one of the greatest challenges in health information technology, and resolving these issues holds great promise to enhance innovation. As we move into a new year, a recent report by the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) for Health Information Technology sheds light on the state of interoperability and where health systems should focus to…
As part of its mandate for more widespread interoperability, The 21st Century Cures Act called on the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT to create a Trusted Exchange Framework, and Common Agreement, outlining an inclusive vision for how healthcare data can and should be exchanged among stakeholders and care settings. ONC’s draft of…
An updated independent estimate suggests Medicare Shared Savings Program ACOs saved more than $1 billion more than CMS says they did. MSSP ACOs generated $2.66 billion in gross savings from 2013-16, according to an estimate from healthcare consulting firm Dobson DaVanzo & Associates, commissioned by the National Association of ACOs… Full Article
An important feature of the health reform legislation passed in March 2010 is a provision that enables Medicare to reward health care organizations that meet quality-of-care and cost-reduction goals with a share of the savings that result. To participate in the program, health care providers must organize themselves into accountable care organizations (ACOs)—a term used…
Accountable care organizations in the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) have saved Medicare $2.7 billion to date, including $859 million in 2016, according to a new analysis from the National Association of ACOs (NAACOS). The latest financial data outpaces calculations by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) which says ACOs saved $1.6 billion…
Intense debates on every subject are constantly swirling in the healthcare policy sphere; that has always been the case. But one debate that is both impactful and being closely watched is the intensifying argument between the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, particularly CMS Administrator Seema Verma, and some leader organizations in the accountable care…
