Before there was ‘accountable care’, the current full court press towards innovation – whether digital health app, platform or service delivery model, an emerging culture of transformation or the attendant pursuit of the triple aim, not to mention the most recent obsession with ‘retail as cure’ for that which ails healthcare, the best and the brightest minds (both clinical and administrative guided by thoughtful health policy wonks) convened in the grand theater of ‘managed care’ or managed competition.
The model and industry writ large (both public and private sectors), variably expressed as HMO, PPOs and derivative strains of contracting models stimulating the development of IPAs, PHOs, PPMC’s, MSOs and DPOs (direct purchasing organizations) had a run from the mid 70s until its abandonment as the official vehicle to restrain the rising cost and variable quality of healthcare in the late 90s. What followed was somewhat of a meandering decade of incremental tweaks here and there to an otherwise burning platform of fee-for-service healthcare delivery and financing.
In 2015 with healthcare costs now approaching 20% of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product and the viability of the entire U.S. Government at risk to projected costs increases and unfunded liabilities of the Medicare and Medicaid programs (estimated at $64 trillion), business as usual fee-for-service medicine is no longer an option and the many cathedrals of medicine built by ‘do more to earn more’ largesse are clearly at risk in the shifting sands of value based care.
While the ‘value’ v. volume agenda has been around for a while via risk based contracting including case rates, bundled payment and even capitation – both global and professional only versions – their penetration of mainstream medicine was relatively modest – until now. That is if you can believe the growing prevalence and penetration of risk bearing ACOs arrangements, a tapestry of bundled payment participation via Federal programs and a less transparent portfolio of privately negotiated ‘value based arrangements’.
Into this theater steps one of the trophy consulting companies with both wide (global) and deep (extensive client penetration into the health plan, provider and IDN communities) aka Accenture Health (follow via @AccentureHealth).
Into this developing narrative with a ‘value tutorial’ of sorts steps Gerry Meklaus, the Managing Director of Accenture North America for Clinical & Health Management Services. We speak with Gerry Wednesday at 12 Noon Pacific/3PM Eastern at Pophealth Week where my colleague and co-founder Fred Goldstein, President of Accountable Health, LLC will engage Gerry in the value conversation and the many touch points between a value framework for ACOs and population health strategies of provider organizations.
Key terms to un-bundle and digest are the ‘BIG Three’: 1) to ‘improve outcomes’ via emerging best practices, the reduction in variation and effective engagement of the patient in shared decision making, 2) the effective lowering of costs from a ‘total cost of care’ perspective (not just niche wins – if you will), and 3) the well known challenge to de-silo the many silos in the healthcare ecosystem driving fragmentation, redundancy and a less than patient centric experience.
Join us as we gain insight into the challenges and successes in the market to date!
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