The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) today issued quality and financial performance results for its two Accountable Care Organizations (ACO) programs, showing the ACOs have successfully improved the quality of care for Medicare beneficiaries by fostering greater collaboration between doctors, hospitals, and health care providers and keeping patients healthy rather than treating them […]
A new bipartisan bill was recently introduced that builds upon the premise of the ACO’s (Accountable Care Organization) model in which provider reimbursement is shifted from fee for service to financial incentives based on improved patient health outcomes. The new bill offers more tools and incentives than the original ACO model. For more details read […]
Medicare is expanding its bundled payment program, called Bundled Payments for Care Improvement. Candidates from hospitals and medical groups apply to be a part of the test program and are [financially] rewarded after reducing costs. Currently, there are 243 candidates who have signed up to test the program. CMS aims to add 4,100 candidates to […]
Moving away from fee-for-service is widely agreed upon as the only way to improve healthcare value. Read about the successful outcome of a 3-year trial between Dayton Physicians Network, an oncology group based in Ohio and insurer UnitedHealthcare. Physicians in the pilot received bundled payments to cover the cost of their patients’ entire course of […]
Lean principles and peer-to-peer learning improve patient value Appleton, Wis. (July 29, 2014) — Members of the Healthcare Value Network (HVN) first released results of their latest healthcare improvement efforts in May and are continuing that commitment to transparency by providing a new set of quarterly results on the power of lean principles to drive […]
Dr. Toussaint has published another blog post on the Huffington Post, this time focused on the Military Health System review of quality. The private sector should take a lesson. Click here to read.
BlueCross BlueShield reports big wins in both cost and quality with their innovative, value-based programs which are focused on changing payment incentives, partnering with clinicians, and engaging patients throughout the country. Read more here: Blue Cross Value Based Programs Provide Solid ROI
John Toussaint M.D. and Stephen Shortell PHD published an article in Healthcare: The Journal of Delivery Science and Innovation. The article describes the power of public reporting and publicly available data sets to drive improvement. Read Modern Healthcare’s summation of the article here.
John Toussaint, MD, CEO and founder of the ThedaCare Center for Healthcare Value, shares his thoughts about the root cause of the VA’s current problems in a recent guest blog post with the Huffington Post. Read the entire article here.
Spectrum Health in Grand Rapids, MI hosted a visit June 26-27 for members of the Healthcare Value Network, with a focus on the spread of a continuous improvement culture across the system. The Grand Rapids Business Journal reported on the event with an article titled, “Spectrum Hosts ‘Gemba’ Visit for Health Care Leaders: Hospitals are incorporating the […]
