July brings us baseball, fireworks, and CMS’s Proposed Rules. In 2,248 pages of proposals, CMS has outlined its plans for MIPS, ACOs, and other Advanced Alternate Payment Models, and how they will transition from fee-for-service into a value-based care arrangement through the Quality Payment Program (QPP). We already know from the 2024 Final Rule that […]
ACOs: Scale Up Data to Achieve APM Success
Last updated July 27, 2022 More data is required for ACOs, now that Alternative Payment Models have moved to high gear. In this article we’ll take the mystery out of how to realistically gauge your data needs and scale up data, so that your ACO can be successful. We’ll show you how to identify the […]
Pathways to Success: How CMS is Encouraging ACO Participation Despite Impending Financial Risk
CMS closed 2018 with a farewell to upside-only ACOs. Perhaps the biggest surprise in the “Pathways to Success” Final ACO Rule is its consistency with the Proposed Rule, which floated the revamped ACO Track back in August. Citing superior performance among two-sided participants, as well as the belief that upside-only tracks reduce patient choice and […]
Medicare Paths to Value-Based Health Care: Which Way is Up?
If you’re scratching your head about the direction of Value-Based Health Care (VBHC) in Medicare, you’re not alone. The current mix includes a swirl of separate initiatives, some new and others recently re-labled. As CMS pushes toward VBHC, providers may feel confused and frustrated as concepts emerge that will affect multiple programs. Within the last […]
ACOs Must Create Learning Environment for Physicians to Be Partners in Change
The idea behind ACOs sounds simple enough: Build a network of primary care physicians, specialists, hospitals and other health care organizations that share risk and responsibility to provide coordinated care for each patient. Medicare or private insurers offer financial incentives to ensure that ACOs provide quality treatment while limiting unnecessary spending. Primary care physicians serve […]
ACO Economics 101: Optimize the Physician Network For Patient Choice
The inaugural MIPS 2017 submission period closed in a fog of uncertainty. The demise of MIPS looms on the horizon, with little discussion of opportunities for improvement. Heath and Human Services Secretary Azar has advocated for removing the quality reporting component of MIPS, while the Medicare Payment Advisory Committee (MedPAC) recommended scrapping MIPS altogether and pushed […]
Can Provider-Led ACOs and AAPMs Deliver Health Care Transformation?
“In times of rapid change, experience could be your worst enemy,” said J. Paul Getty. He might have been giving us advice on how to transform health care. We have reached the tipping point for broader adoption of ACOs and other Advanced Alternative Payment Models (AAPMs) to organize health care and payment under both Medicare […]