Supercharge Your ACO ROJI Health Intelligence Terry Hush
ACOsFuture of Health CareRiskValue-Based Health Care
April 20, 2023

Supercharge Your ACO to Compete Under Risk

Never has it been more important for ACOs to amp up Value with significantly higher cost savings and outcomes performance. More payment models are risk-based, changing economics for providers. Corporate health care and equity-backed practices are nabbing ACO physicians, making it hard for ACOs to sustain and grow. The next two years may be the last grace period for ACOs to show that provider-directed organizations can produce Value, before Medicare Advantage health plans—now chosen by half of beneficiaries—becomes the predominant model. That's why our spring 2023 eBook, Supercharge Your ACO: 6 Key Strategies for Top Value, is your essential guide…
Read More
ACOsAlternative Payment Models (APM)Future of Health CareHealth EquityValue-Based Health Care
April 5, 2023

Jumpstart ACO Health Equity with Data-Based Collaborative Initiatives

Ever since the first pandemic data revealed the enormous cost of health inequities, the pressing question of how to rectify unfair access to quality health care has become a major policy discussion. Now the debate is turning to action, as the first Value-based Payment Model to address health equity comes online. ACO REACH is Medicare's response to blending several key values in its most advanced payment model to date. In addition to traditional ACO quality and cost values, ACO REACH also includes population-based payments (including global payments), rather than Fee-for-Service, and promotes health equity as a central goal. If your…
Read More
ACOsData Best PracticesRiskValue-Based Health Care
March 30, 2023

Promote ACO Success Under Value-Based Payment with These 5 Data Sources

ACOs have used "old school" data sources for many years to focus coordination of care activities. Perhaps your ACO has done the same, using reports such as admissions and ER discharges, post-acute admissions, visit history and missing labs to target patients for outreach. Similarly, your ACO might use HCCs to identify patients with higher risk factors for population health. Basic, easily found data like these sources provided a means for ACOs to launch valuable efforts in population health, when comprehensive claims and EHR data were not easily available. But as the pendulum swings toward financial Risk, your ACO needs to…
Read More
ACOsAPP ReportingQuality Payment ProgramValue-Based Health Care
March 2, 2023

Amplify Your APP Payoff: Boost Quality and Costs with 3 Essential Data Types

Many ACOs are in the throes of planning to adopt APP Reporting. It’s a massive undertaking that can be costly, depending on your ACO's configuration of practices. If your ACO is scrambling to sort this out, you’re not alone in your abrupt initiation into the world of EHR data. Welcome to the joy ride. In our last post, we explained how to maximize the value of data aggregated for quality, as produced by either the HL7 and flat file method, or the QRDA method. Here we break down the data you need to achieve better quality in terms of patient…
Read More
Roji Health Intelligence ACO Data APP Reporting
ACOsAPP ReportingValue-Based Health Care
February 2, 2023

Three Lies and a Truth About ACO Data for APP Reporting

If you're an ACO worried about APP Reporting, we get it. Your concerns about the feasibility and costs of aggregating data from multiple systems are completely valid. But don't let data complexity hoodwink you into a simplistic solution that will cost you more than the data is worth. Your solution to data aggregation needs to focus on "value," which means that your data aggregation should also garner the most return for your investment. If you are a one-EHR type of ACO, your data aggregation is relatively straightforward, and the cost will be reasonable. But you’re facing very different challenges if…
Read More
ACO ReportingAPP ReportingCMS RulesValue-Based Health Care
January 5, 2023

Prepare Your ACO for APP Reporting with Our Ultimate Guide

No way out. That's the message of the CMS 2023 Final Payment Rule regarding APP quality reporting for ACOs. ACOs hoping for a reprieve to avoid all-patient quality reporting did not get it. APP Reporting will go forward by 2025, and ACOs must aggregate the patient data from provider systems to enable it. CMS has made it clear that accountable health care requires all-patient data to support both quality and equity in patient health care. You will need to act quickly. It takes experience, technology, and time to create the framework for a multi-practice database. You will need to become…
Read More
ACOsCMS RulesCorporate Health CareEpisodes of CareFuture of Health CareValue-Based Health Care
December 13, 2022

5 Key Health Care Trends to Watch for in 2023

After an intense few years in health care, will 2023 deliver more punches? While 2022 was dubbed a COVID “recovery” year, as patient volume rebounded, health care staffing shortages festered. Burnout prompted physicians to retire, sell practices to corporate owners, or leave traditional health care for other employment. Simply put, 2022 was short on recovery and stability. Even still, 2022 fostered important new trends and discoveries. Despite inflation and recession fears, corporate health care continued its growth undaunted, with new startups and equity-backed practice expansion. Value-Based Care spurred corporate territorial reach into legacy health care preserves. Optum, ACO enablers like…
Read More
APM transition strategy, Terry Hush, Race to Value
ACOsAlternative Payment Models (APM)Value-Based Health Care
December 7, 2022

How to Define Your Transition Strategy to APM Success

Health care systems that have struggled to survive pandemic pressures won’t get a reprieve from competition any time soon. Since Covid shook the world, private investors in health care delivery have emerged as the most potent force driving change in delivering Value-Based Care. Equity-backed medical groups, ACO enablers with venture capital funding, and corporate health care have built their future around Alternative Payment Models (APMs) with population-based payments, which create a predictable revenue stream for their operations and investors, while drawing physicians and patients away from legacy systems. In this November 21, 2022 interview on Race to Value with Dr.…
Read More
ACOsAPM Performance PathwayClinical Data RegistryValue-Based Health Care
November 30, 2022

Catapult Your Performance Using the APP and Achieve Data Sufficiency

In a previous post, we demystified the Alternate Payment Model Performance Pathway (APP) and explained how, by partnering with a Clinical Data Registry experienced in data aggregation and result submissions to CMS, you can avoid the bugaboos falsely attributed to APP reporting—perceived high costs and impossible timelines. Here we’ll show you how to leverage your new skills to elevate your ACO’s performance across the board, from quality scoring to effective patient management—and achieve data sufficiency, in the process. Achieve Better Scores and Insights from Quality Reporting Once your ACO’s data from all practices is aggregated, you will be ready to…
Read More
Roji Health Intelligence Alternate Payment Model Performance Pathway APP
Alternative Payment Models (APM)APM Performance PathwayClinical Data RegistryPerformance Improvement
November 16, 2022

No Worries About ACO APP! It’s Your Pathway to Improvement

With the release of the 2023 Physician Fee Schedule Final Rule, CMS upheld its commitment to sunset its Web Interface for ACO quality reporting after 2024. Beginning in 2025, ACOs will be required to report through the Alternate Payment Model Performance Pathway, or APP. Some have expressed concerns about the APP. But this new reporting process actually has some significant advantages. It presents ACOs with a valuable trove of data to advance along the path toward better outcomes, health equity, and curtailed costs. In fact, the baseline for APP—data from provider systems, including their EHR data—is the foundation for data…
Read More