The American Hospital Association (AHA) engaged McManis Consulting to develop a model of ACO-related start-up and ongoing costs for Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs). The recently released analysis was based primarily on information gleaned from studying four case examples of provider organizations of different types and sizes that have already established many of the 23 types of
The American Hospital Association (AHA) engaged McManis Consulting to estimate the start-up and ongoing costs for Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs). The recently released analysis was based primarily on information gleaned from studying four case examples of provider organizations of different types and sizes that have already established many of the 23 types of “ACO activities”
The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation has announced a new “Pioneer ACO” program, available to provider organizations that are already experienced in population management and bearing risk for performance and cost. The new program has a three year term, with the first 2 years offering a higher level of risk/gain-sharing than is permitted under
In a May 11th letter to CMS Administrator, Dr. Don Berwick, the American Medical Group Association (AMGA) President, Don Fisher, complained that the draft regs for the Medicare Shared Savings Programs were “overly prescriptive, operationally burdensome, and the incentives are too difficult to achieve to make this voluntary program attractive.” In particular, Fisher mentioned concerns
The transformation of our health care system requires many different people to change their behaviors. Leaders of health care organizations have to be willing to make investments that they have historically not been willing to make. Physicians have to change the way they relate to patients, the way they interact with their non-physician team members
How does behavioral economics and “gamification” relate to ACOs? Read More »
— This morning, I read a blog post from someone in the “business intelligence” industry complaining that, after years of innovation, “BI” is not really having the envisioned effects. The author wondered whether it was because BI, like most other business applications, are not “fun.” The author suggested that BI applications should consider borrowing
We don’t need more data. We need better story-telling. Read More »
— Yesterday afternoon, I had the opportunity to have my first mentoring conversation with Wanyu Liu, a talented young undergraduate at the University of Washington. Wanyu is studying statistics, economics, and applied computational mathematical sciences. She is thinking about becoming an actuary. I always learn the most when I am trying to teach others. Teaching forces one
Victoria Boyarsky, Howard Kahn, David Mirkin, and Rob Parke from Milliman recently released a Healthcare Reform Briefing Paper entitled “ACOs beyond Medicare.” The paper notes the unfavorable reception by providers to the economics of the draft regs for the Medicare Shared Savings Program, and suggests that emerging ACOs focus instead on commercial (non-Medicare) populations. In
According to an article in Healthcare IT News, an advisory panel that is shaping measures for the next stage of meaningful use has suggested delaying Stage 2 by one year, until 2014, as an option to give vendors and healthcare providers more time to update and roll out more advanced technology. The panel is chaired
Possible one year delay to Stage 2 Meaningful Use? Read More »
Victoria Boyarsky, Howard Kahn, David Mirkin, and Rob Parke from Milliman recently released a Healthcare Reform Briefing Paper entitled “ACOs beyond Medicare.” In the paper, the authors argue that the Medicare Shared Savings Program (and the associated regulations regarding the formation of ACOs), as defined in the draft regulations released on March 31, 2011, will
