The Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) remains committed to moving the health care system towards value-based care in the early years of the Biden Administration, though the center’s leadership is doing some soul-searching on how best to pursue its mission, according to CMMI’s new director Liz Fowler. Fowler made her first public remarks…
A lot has happened in health care since 2012, when final rules permitted provider-organized ACOs to be the driving force of Value-Based Care under the 2010 Affordable Care Act (ACA). As we pass the ACA’s eleventh anniversary, a dwindling number of Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) ACOs are entering a new phase marked by higher…
The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, at its meeting on Thursday, approved several Medicare policy recommendations that will appear in its June report to Congress. The congressional advisory panel will recommend that CMS simplify its approach to alternative payment models. Commissioners approved an updated version of the recommendation presented by MedPAC’s staff at last month’s meeting….
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently announced that Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) saved Medicare $739.4 million in 2018, up from $314 million in savings the year before. Those savings were achieved despite policies that Rooke-Ley and colleagues argue in a recent Health Affairs Blog post disadvantage ACOs relative to Medicare Advantage (MA) plans. Their analysis concludes that ACOs cut costs…
The Medicare Advantage (MA) program, which allows Medicare beneficiaries to voluntarily enroll in a private plan that administers health benefits, was established by the Balanced Budget Act (BBA) of 1997 as a vehicle to bring private-sector competition and innovation to Medicare beneficiaries. When the program was announced, the goal was to create greater competition on…
Medicare Advantage insurers added 1.4 million members to their rosters for 2019 coverage, as they looked to grow membership in a market known for being politically safe and predictably lucrative. But Advantage membership is growing at slower pace compared with previous years. According to the latest federal data showing enrollment as of this month, 22.4…
Medicare Advantage is a growing market and an attractive opportunity for payers to offer quality plans to older beneficiaries. Competition is increasing in the MA environment, and beneficiaries have more options than ever to meet their coverage needs. With more choice comes higher rates of disenrollment as members select the most valuable plans for their…
CMS recently announced that it advanced a demonstration that would waive Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) requirements for eligible clinicians participating in at-risk Medicare Advantage plans. If approved, the Medicare Advantage Qualifying Payment Arrangement Incentive (MAQI) demonstration would apply to eligible clinicians sufficiently involved in Medicare Advantage plans that resemble Advanced Alternative Payment Models (Advanced…
Payers will now be able to work with companies like Uber or Lyft to provide transportation, for example, as part of a more complete set of benefits for the quickly growing MA population. CMS issued a final rule in May giving MA plans more flexibility in determining the types of supplemental benefits they can offer chronically…
Payers striving to compete in the Medicare Advantage (MA) market can add more value to their health plans by taking advantage of regulatory changes established under a new final rule. Starting in plan year 2019, payers can offer a greater variety of Medicare Advantage plans with more variation of health benefits, specialized cost-sharing designs, and…