Roji Intel Blog

Evelyn Herwitz 0
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Consumers & PatientsCost TransparencyFuture of Health Care
February 16, 2022

More Health Care Transparency Means Provider Conversations Need to Change

New federal laws and regulations focused on improving health care transparency are giving consumers significant access to essential health care information, particularly regarding costs. In a recent interview with Erika Grotto at HFMA, Roji CEO Terry Hush explains why that means the conversations that providers are having with their patients need to change. Listen to the podcast, and read the full transcript here. Read the blog post by Erika Grotto here. Founded in 2002, Roji Health Intelligence guides health care systems, providers and patients on the path to better health through Solutions that help providers improve their value and succeed in…
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Theresa Hush 0
92
ACOsConsumers & PatientsFuture of Health CareMedical Decision-MakingValue-Based Health Care
February 9, 2022

Seven Key Strategies for Health Systems and ACOs to Attract and Engage Consumers

Despite incredible work by health care workers during the pandemic, consumer and patient trust and belief in the health care system is dangerously low. Why is this a big problem now? Because as pressure to implement Value-Based Care initiatives is intensifying and creating more financial pressure on your already-slim margins, your health system or ACO must depend on patient-consumers to shore up your enterprise and revenues. Without building better consumer relationships, healthier consumers will seek alternatives and leave you with less revenues and sicker patients. In our previous post we delved into the reasons behind that breakdown in trust. Now…
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Theresa Hush 0
66
Consumers & PatientsFuture of Health CareValue-Based Health Care
January 24, 2022

Will Consumers Derail Your Value-Based Care Success?

Your health care organization may be on the tightrope of still coping with COVID-related illness and delivering essential patient care, amidst staffing and supply shortages. But in 2022, life is not poised to give health care a breather. Likewise, there is no slow-down to the expansion of Value-Based Care and payment models or development of further stages in 2022. This year, providers in traditional Medicare will rack up stiffer penalties if costs are higher than CMS algorithms calculate. More ACO providers will progress along the path to Risk, and more will participate in alternative payment models (APMs). This will be…
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Theresa Hush 0
24
ACOsAlternative Payment Models (APM)Future of Health CareRiskValue-Based Health Care
January 6, 2022

Five Predictions for the Fate of Value-Based Health Care in 2022

Only a few days into 2022, it seems obvious that many predicted “trends to watch” floated in late 2021 won’t, in fact, be what will matter most in this critical year for health care. Not that these issues aren’t important, but they are not new (if you’ve been paying attention and, hopefully, planning your strategies). The major predictions are underwhelming: Telemedicine and other types of virtual care will continue to advance. Digitization of health care for consumers will disrupt traditional channels of information and engagement. There will be more collaborations and blurred lines between payers and providers, and even more…
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Theresa Hush 0
208
ACOsFuture of Health CareRiskValue-Based Health Care
November 17, 2021

Supercharge Your Way to Value-Based Care

Whether you are an ACO, a health system considering value-based payment, or a medical group weighing your options for Value-Based Care, Roji’s new eBook, Supercharge your ACO for Top Value, has the strategies you need to reduce the cost of care and get clinician backing for innovation. The health care market’s reconfigured landscape puts ACOs—and health care organizations still in a Fee-for-Service contracting circuit—in danger of losing their ability to capture the savings from more effective and efficient health care driven by data, strong physician buy-in, and direct-to-consumer marketing. Medicare Advantage and equity-backed medical groups are competing with traditional providers…
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Theresa Hush 0
18
ACOsConsumers & PatientsFuture of Health CareValue-Based Health Care
August 24, 2021

Cost Savings Aren’t the Only Objective for ACOs: Growth Matters, Too

Keeping within expenditure limits is a top priority for most ACOs for Medicare. That makes sense. Savings are the main distinguishing feature of an ACO arrangement, as opposed to straight Fee-for-Service reimbursement. ACOs that accept downside risk can’t afford to exceed the expenditure target. It’s in their best interest to create initiatives to cut costs and control expenses—especially for services outside the ACO, such as post-acute care. But a cost strategy only focused on trimming expenses will likely fail the ACO in the long run. Why? Medicare ACOs face an annually decreasing expenditure limit that mandates them to lower costs…
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Theresa Hush 0
4
ACOsFuture of Health CareRiskValue-Based Health Care
August 19, 2021

New ACO Playbook: Three Ultimate ACO Strategies to Keep Physician Practices Onboard

ACOs have zealously protected their favored status under Medicare Value-Based payment models, ensuring enough time for organizations to feel comfortable with financial risk and make investments in infrastructure. But if your own ACO is losing physicians to new equity-financed networks or to hospitals consolidating practices, more time does not help you. Primary care physicians are being picked off by your competition, and their patients go with them. Private equity firms and venture capital-funded groups have gained significant ground in acquiring physician practices, with mergers and acquisitions hitting record highs in 2019 and 2020, and accelerating in 2021. Equity firms and…
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Theresa Hush 0
8
ACOsConsumers & PatientsFuture of Health CareValue-Based Health Care
July 29, 2021

Five Important Health Care Trends that Consumers Should Track

In the world of health care, change is never-ending. Politics, government regulation, scientific advancement, technology, and the economics and financing of health care foster shifts to reshape how care is delivered and how much it costs. Many of these shifts are completely invisible to us as health care consumers. But they also drive what is happening to and around us, determining availability and affordability of physicians or other services. This came home to me last month when we had friends over for dinner, and the conversation turned to our work. I mentioned Accountable Care Organizations and got blank stares. The…
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Theresa Hush 0
1
ACOsFuture of Health CareValue-Based Health Care
May 13, 2021

New ACO Playbook: Three Touchstones for ACO Viability

Some believe that an ACO’s leadership structure predicts its success. They point to differing savings results for physician-led versus hospital-led ACO shared savings models (MSSPs) to make their case. In particular, they make the argument that future Value-Based Care (VBC) policies should benefit the growth of successful physician-led ACOs, protecting them from policies that force them into Risk. There are significant flaws to tying ACO structure to the viability or value of the model, however, or in discrediting ACOs which don’t yet produce those savings but may have other important characteristics for the long term. In a more competitive health…
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Theresa Hush 0
1
ACOsEpisodes of CareFuture of Health CareRiskValue-Based Health Care
April 29, 2021

New ACO Playbook: Can Coordination of Care Save Enough Money to Save ACOs?

Central to the controversy about ACOs’ potential for Value-Based Care is whether they actually save enough money and reduce costs fast enough. Researchers and advocates have produced various independent studies of ACO savings, the most generous estimating $1.8 billion in cumulative savings over the first three years of the program, almost double CMS estimates. Many others, however, dismiss the small proportion of savings—at a few percentage points—relative to total Medicare spending. The previous CMS administration was clearly dubious about the shared savings model. It favored payment models that put providers at financial risk to increase cost reduction incentives, even though…
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