Despite a decades-long push toward value-based payment, physician compensation arrangements at health system-owned practices still primarily revolves around the volume of services delivered, according to a new study from RAND Corporation. The study recently published in JAMA Health Forum examined physician compensation structures at 31 physician organizations affiliated with 22 health systems in four states….
Patient navigators could be effective in closing racial disparities in primary care access, according to new data, with the healthcare professionals able to connect more Hispanic patients than if patients went at it alone. The report, published in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine, particularly showed that Hispanic patients working with a…
Are 66 new accountable care organizations (ACOs) in a year a sign of progress or a disappointing result? That depends on who you ask. CMS announced last week that 66 additional ACOs joined the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) for ACOs in 2022, bringing the total up to 483 ACOs. However, that number is only…
There are few silver linings related to the COVID-19 pandemic, but one that stands out is the growing recognition that health equity must be an essential guiding principle for health care organizations going forward. The broader health care system suffered greatly due to the coronavirus outbreak that has infected tens of millions and killed hundreds…
The global pandemic spurred a rapid uptake of telehealth for nearly all health care providers and has permanently changed how health care is delivered. At present, providers and insurers are grappling with how to balance telehealth and in person care, focusing discussions around reimbursement models and logistical considerations. In this article, the authors discuss whether…
As team-based care becomes more common in medical practice, healthcare organizations are considering how they invest in non-clinician personnel, like recruiting and hiring community health workers. A community health worker is “a frontline public health worker who is a trusted member of and/or has an unusually close understanding of the community served,” according to the…
Today’s environment is one of two narratives: On one hand, there’s optimism as more Americans receive vaccines and resume in-person interactions. On the other hand, people are frustrated as the pandemic drags on with new variants and mixed guidance, and the return to normal is stymied by price inflation and supply chain disruptions. For health…
In an attempt to curb rising costs, the U.S. medical system is moving away from traditional fee-for-service healthcare. Traditional fee-for-service and volume-based healthcare models pay providers for the amount of healthcare services they provide, not the quality of that care. Value-based care is the new model: a system in which providers are paid for performance and patient…
A new partnership with Mass General Brigham and The New Commonwealth Racial Equity and Social Justice Fund (NCF) will invest $2.5 million to improve maternal health equity, support a diverse maternity practitioner workforce, and boost patient care and clinical outcomes. Particularly, the funding will help Mass General and The NCF build a cohort of Black…
Despite the growth in value-based payment arrangements from payers, health systems continue to pay physicians based on the volume of services they provide. A new study published in the journal JAMA Health Forum finds that volume-based compensation was the most common type of base pay for more than 80% of primary care physicians and for more…