Pioneer ACOs: Anatomy Of A ‘Victory’
On May 4, 2015 Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Burwell announced that the Pioneer ACO program had saved the federal government $384 million and improved quality in its first two years and would therefore be expanded. HHS also released a 130 page independent program evaluation by L&M Policy Research that served as the basis for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Actuary’s certification of the Pioneer program.
Burwell’s triumphant announcement was an intended shot in the arm for the troubled Pioneer ACO program, 40 percent of whose initial 32 members dropped out in the first ...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - June 18, 2015 Category: Health Management Authors: Jeff Goldsmith and Nathan Kaufman Tags: Costs and Spending Featured Following the ACA Medicare Organization and Delivery Payment Policy ACO Medicare Shared Savings Program Patrick Conway Physician Group Practice Demonstration Pioneer ACOs Secretary Burwell Source Type: blogs
The Economic Consequences of the ACA Notch
There is great interest in how the labor market will respond to the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Much of the popular discussion focuses on the implications of the newly-implemented and widely-anticipated employer mandate, which requires firms with 50 or more workers to provide health insurance for full-time employees (defined as workers with 30 or more hours per week). The employer mandate, unsurprisingly, creates strong incentives for companies to scale back employee hours (“29 hour work weeks”) and lay off workers or consolidate part-time jobs into full-time jobs in order to get under the 50 employee threshold.
There i...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - June 16, 2015 Category: American Health Authors: Aaron Yelowitz Source Type: blogs
Co-management agreements have risks. Beware.
Co-management agreements are growing in popularity as health care shifts to outcomes-based reimbursement models. Physicians and hospitals contract with one another in quality-oriented pay-for-performance arrangements, in which physicians oversee and manage service lines (most commonly orthopedics, oncology, and cardiology).
The overarching goal of these agreements is quality improvement, which benefits all parties involved — especially the patient. The hospital benefits financially in part from reducing costs and physicians receive a base fee and/or incentive bonuses for accomplishing quality measures and benchma...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - June 10, 2015 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Alexandra S. Brown, MD Tags: Policy Health reform Hospital Source Type: blogs
Why Large Scale Government IT Projects Fail and What To Do About It
By KEVIN DE SOUZA and KENDRA SMITH
The volume of failed large-scale information technology (IT) projects in the public sector is troubling. These projects are failing at an alarming rate. The long history of public sector IT failures has seen billions of dollars lost, embarrassment, redundancy, waste, and a loss in public trust. In 2004, the U.S. Air Force (USAF) began work on the Expeditionary Combat Support System, a project designed to streamline and automate the USAF’s operations by consolidating over 200 legacy systems. The USAF contracted with Oracle and then Computer Sciences Corporation and by 2012, the project...
Source: The Health Care Blog - June 2, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: John Irvine Tags: THCB Source Type: blogs
Must read links
I don't know if this is true, but if it is, you had better start thinking about it. Zack Kanter thinks that autonomous vehicles -- that get from point A to point B with no human operator -- will pretty much take over within 10 or 15 years. That means you won't own a car, you'll summon one. There will be no traffic congestion, almost zero crashes, and you'll get around faster and with less fuel. That sounds great, right? It will also bankrupt GMC, Ford and Chrysler; destroy the automobile insurance and repair industries and the used car market; put 6 million people with driving jobs out of work; and otherwise transform the ...
Source: Stayin' Alive - May 19, 2015 Category: American Health Source Type: blogs
Notes From The 4th Forum On Health Policy And Management In Berlin, Germany
Editor’s note: This post is part of a series of several posts related to the 4th European Forum on Health Policy and Management: Innovation & Implementation, held in Berlin, Germany on January 29 and 30, 2015. For updates on the Forum’s results please check the Center for Healthcare Management’s website or follow on Twitter @HCMatColumbia.
An innovation is a (new) course of action intended to improve on the status quo. In health care, a field that overflows with self-proclaimed visionaries, innovations are a dime a dozen. Any halfway sentient being can conceive (and market) a vision and attach to it a “strategi...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - May 18, 2015 Category: Health Management Authors: Lawrence Brown, Katharina Janus and Michael Sparer Tags: Featured Hospitals Organization and Delivery Population Health caregivers Center for Healthcare Management David Blumenthal Health Policy Innovation Ron Kuerbitz Source Type: blogs
It’s Time For Value-Based Payment In Oncology
Value-based health care has risen to the top of the health policy agenda, as public and private payers search for ways to improve outcomes. The value principle---reimbursing hospitals, physicians, and other health care providers for quality or quality improvement that also help lower costs---aligns incentives between payers and providers. It’s time to apply this principle in oncology.
Background
Medicare implemented value-based payment for hospitals in 2012. Reimbursement is based in part on how well the hospital performed on three sets of measure: process of care, patient satisfaction, and mortality. About 1,231 hospita...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - April 28, 2015 Category: Health Management Authors: Dana Goldman Tags: Costs and Spending Equity and Disparities Health Policy Lab Payment Policy Quality cancer care oncology outcomes value based care Source Type: blogs
Implementing Value-Based Payment Reform: Learning From The Field Of Practice
For the last four years, our team at the University of Washington (UW) has been evaluating seven value-based payment reform programs in six states for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). We found that although the foundational work of value-based payment is proceeding apace for the most part, what’s missing is the sense of urgency required to move payers and providers toward patient-centered global payment based on value. Clusters of innovation are emerging across the country, and these experiments are generating valuable insights into the design and implementation of value-based payment—both what works and what...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - April 14, 2015 Category: Health Management Authors: Douglas Conrad Tags: Innovations in Care Delivery Source Type: blogs
GlaxoSmithKline Plans Adjustments To Its Sales Incentive Program
GlaxoSmithKline’s 2012 Corporate Integrity Agreement made mandatory the company’s “Patient First” program (or a “substantially equivalent” program), under which GSK agreed not to provide incentive compensation or discipline to its sales reps based upon the volume of sales of GSK products. This past week, Bloomberg reports that GSK “is considering changes to its compensation model for sales staff.” The company is "looking into 'more comprehensive options to simplify the Patient First program' and will provide a report within a month,” states Bloomberg.
Patient First Program
In 2011, GSK became ...
Source: Policy and Medicine - April 14, 2015 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan Source Type: blogs
Fact Checking a Fact Checker: About Rand Paul and Reagan
Alan Reynolds
Washington Post fact checker Glenn Kessler gives Senator Rand Paul Three Pinocchios for making the following claim on TV:
Ronald Reagan … said we’re going to dramatically cut tax rates. And guess what? More revenue came in, but tens of millions of jobs were created.
Before examining whether or not “more revenue came in,” consider just how dramatic the Reagan-era tax changes really were. Under the first bill in 1981, all personal tax rates were eventually reduced by 23%. But it is often forgotten that these rate reductions in were foolishly delayed until 1984. By then, however, the 49% tax brack...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - April 13, 2015 Category: American Health Authors: Alan Reynolds Source Type: blogs
Top stories in health and medicine, April 7, 2015
From MedPage Today:
Nicotine Replacement in Pregnancy: How Risky? The absolute risk of major congenital anomalies was similar among infants born to smokers and those born to women on nicotine replacement therapy (NRT), but respiratory problems were worse in the latter group.
AS Activity Tied to Future Risk for Heart Disease. Early inflammation and disease activity predicted future elevations in arterial stiffness in ankylosing spondylitis (AS).
Medicare Is Stingy in First Year of Doctor Bonuses. Dr. Michael Kitchell initially welcomed the federal government’s new quality incentives for doctors. His medical group in...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - April 7, 2015 Category: Journals (General) Authors: MedPage Today Tags: News Emergency Heart OB/GYN Source Type: blogs
Over-Budget Hospitals
Nicole Kaeding
The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is plagued with problems. Veterans wait months for medical care and have few options for accessing non-VHA providers. In addition to all of the issues relating to providing health care, construction of VA medical facilities is mismanaged, which burdens taxpayers with billions of dollars in extra costs.
However, the VHA might be trying to change direction. Glenn Haggstrom, the individual who oversees VHA construction, “stepped down” last week after being put under internal investigation. Hopefully, he will be replaced by a reform-minded leader. In 2013 the Govern...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - March 31, 2015 Category: American Health Authors: Nicole Kaeding Source Type: blogs
Jodie’s Story: A Little Girl Lost After Illegally Given an Untested 8-in-1 Vaccine
Conclusion
Jodie was harmed beyond repair when a doctor decided to allow her to be injected with an untested 8-in-1 vaccine. She survived the shot, but sadly, has lived her life in severe pain because of what was done to her. She will live the rest of her life suffering brain damage, bowel problems, seizures, not being able to communicate easily, not being able to eat properly nor take care of herself.
Many parents whose children greatly suffer and need constant care worry about their injured child’s future and what is best for them. Although the family is thankful and blessed that Jodie survived, they have deep concerns...
Source: vactruth.com - March 14, 2015 Category: Allergy & Immunology Authors: Augustina Ursino Tags: Augustina Ursino Case Reports on Vaccine Injury Human Top Stories Brian Deer Dr. Andrew Wakefield Experimental Vaccines Jodie Marchant MMR vaccine William Marchant Source Type: blogs
