Optum* is launching a new artificial intelligence (AI)-powered tool for value-based care (VBC) called Value Connect, in today’s bite-sized hospital and health industry news from California, Minnesota, and Texas. Full Article
Health Affairs’ Jeff Byers welcomes Brown University’s Andrew Ryan to the pod to discuss his recent Forefront article that explores whether value-based payment and managed care can lead to addressing the core drivers of spending. Full Article
Primary care is critical for population health, health equity, and the overall efficiency of the health care system.1 It also has been consistently associated with improved life expectancy and reduced health care disparities. The four defining features of high-functioning primary care are: accessibility comprehensive care for most patient problems continuity of care over time coordination of…
Download Slides Many healthcare organizations can see performance—but far fewer can translate that performance into financial truth. As providers, ACOs, payers, and community health centers move deeper into value-based care, the gap between analytics and contract reality becomes a critical risk. In this session, Syntax—a division of Lightbeam Health Solutions—introduces the missing layer in…
February 26, 2026 – Long-term care is becoming a care concept rather than a care setting. It’s another node in the care ecosystem where medication intelligence is the connective tissue and a critical success factor for home-based care. If you mention long-term care (LTC), most people think of nursing homes – brick and mortar facilities where…
I spent most of my space in last week’s blog post thanking AHIP for saving the annual progress report on alternative payment model (APM) adoption from the clutches of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Make America Healthy Again movement. I spent the balance of the post on some interesting data from the…
CMS continues to bring accountable care to more people with Medicare in 2026, expanding the benefits of high-quality, whole-person health care to achieve better health outcomes for millions of older Americans. As of January 2026, 14.3 million Medicare beneficiaries are estimated to receive care coordinated by Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs), up from 13.7 million in…
Download Slides Specialty costs have long been a gnarly issue for ACOs, which currently have no ability to either steer or manage specialty costs. But Change is in the air, and it’s coming through ASM and TEAM, two large-scale specialty care risk payment models. Both payment models require referrals to primary care physicians for…
Health systems are responding to fragmented behavioral healthcare delivery in different ways: expanding telepsychiatry in rural states, building pediatric health hubs that integrate mental and physical health on one campus, launching behavioral health urgent cares, and investing in navigators and data infrastructure to keep patients connected after discharge. In West Virginia, the access challenge is…
The Medicare Advantage (MA) Star Ratings program is undergoing a fundamental shift. Instead of primarily rewarding health plans’ operational compliance and administrative performance, the focus is moving toward measurable clinical outcomes and member experience. As a result, medication management will increasingly influence both Star Ratings performance and financial outcomes, making it a critical area for…