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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 Aledade, and CVS and Walgreens all expanded their patient care services. Physician employment in corporate health care outpaced hospitals and traditional organizations.
Meanwhile, CMS and commercial health plans reaffirmed the push to Value-Based Care. CMS new rules assuaged provider concerns about financial risk and enticed providers to participate in VBC. Private health plans expanded ACO Agreements with providers, some shifting emphasis to population-based payments. CMS also initiated ACO Reach for organizations willing to participate in risk.