The Global and Professional Direct Contracting Model will be replaced with a more equity-focused and provider-led Accountable Care Organization Model in 2023, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said Thursday. The agency also officially will end the Geographic Direct Contracting model, which it halted last March. The redesigned model, called the ACO Realizing Equity, Access, and Community…
With the advent of mHealth devices and telehealth platforms, Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) has gained traction as a legitimate care pathway. Using connected health tools that can track patients at home as they go about their daily routines, care providers can now monitor patients’ vital signs, adjust care plans on the fly, intervene when necessary,…
You’ll recall that we ran a long piece (pt 1, pt 2) about Medicare Advantage from former Kaiser Permanente CEO George Halvorson earlier this year. Here’s a somewhat related piece from the current head of The Permanente Medical Group about what actually happened there and elsewhere during the pandemic–Matthew Holt The COVID-19 pandemic has provided…
Allison Brennan is the Senior Vice President of Government Affairs for the National Association of ACOs (NAACOS) in Washington, D.C. where she helps develop and advocate for policies to benefit ACOs. In this special bonus episode, she provides an extensive update on health policy and directly addresses the critics of the Global and Professional Direct…
More than 200 healthcare organizations, including America’s Physician Groups (APG) and the National Association of ACOs (NAACOS), have urged the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to make adjustments to the Global and Professional Direct Contracting Model instead of canceling the program. In a letter to HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra, the groups stressed that shutting down the Direct…
A large group of 222 healthcare organizations, both national healthcare associations and provider organizations, including accountable care organizations (ACOs), sent a letter on Monday, February 14, to Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, urging him not to cancel the Global and Professional Direct Contracting (GPDC) model, but instead make adjustments to it. Among the…
Medicare Part C (Medicare Advantage) enrollment has grown more rapidly than fee-for-service Medicare Enrollment in the last decade, raising questions about changes in the characteristics of different enrollee populations for Medicare Part A only, Medicare Part A & B and Medicare Part C. Microsoft’s Precision Population Health Group partnered with CareJourney to advance understanding of…
The Pharmacy Quality Alliance (PQA) has a new pharmacy performance measure that evaluates adherence to medications for diabetes, hypertension (renin angiotensin system antagonists) and high cholesterol (statins), through a single composite measure.1 You may be thinking, “I thought PQA already had member-endorsed adherence measures for these medications.” The answer is a bit nuanced. There are…
As 2022 unfolds, it is becoming increasingly clear that health care is at a crossroads. Do we keep reacting to crisis after crisis, potentially undermining our ability to provide consistent patient care over time? Or do we start rethinking traditional care delivery models, so they become nimbler and more attuned to our patients’ needs—the clinical…
After nearly a year of health equity work, Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra said the department will continue to make justice in the medical space a top priority. “Dr. King famously called injustice in health the most inhumane and shocking form of inequality,” Becerra began in a keynote address during…