While reporting on the rollout of the Affordable Care Act, journalist Steven Brill was diagnosed with a life-threatening condition that required heart surgery. “There I was: a reporter who had made hospital presidents and hospital executives and health care executives and insurance executives sweat because I asked them all kinds of questions about their salaries […]
Doing the right thing for the health of a population – in this case improving the health of children with asthma – illustrates exactly why our healthcare system must change. David Bailey, a doctor and CEO of Healthcare Value Network member Nemours, shares his experience with an experiment that brought together a community and improved […]
Looking for a simple, visual way to better understand U.S. health care costs, and what efforts are underway to manage them? Take a look at the Commonwealth Fund’s illustrative presentation for an easy to comprehend explanation. Read about it here!
For Immediate Release For more information contact: Nicole Singer nsinger@blmpr.com (414) 270-3000, ext. 231 ThedaCare Center for Healthcare Value Welcomes Rachel Regan Regan to lead payment initiatives at the Center Appleton, Wis. (Sept. 30, 2014) – Rachel Regan has joined the ThedaCare Center for Healthcare Value as the program manager of payment initiatives, a new […]
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 […]
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
In May 2014, The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology issued a Report to the President on Better Health Care and Lower Costs: Accelerating Improvements Through Systems Engineering. The report discusses “systems engineering” as the approach to improve healthcare. Two organizations that have embraced lean (or “Toyota Production System”, as it is referred to […]
