An inspirational leader and ‘disruptive‘ politician taken down well ahead of his time once opined:
“Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country…” John Fitzgerald Kennedy
Fast forward some 55+ years and season such an invitation with the relentless drone of 24/7/365 faux patriotism, hate mongering, intolerance, and emotive ‘hell no‘ sound-bytes proferred by those who self righteously claim title to the ‘take back our country’ narrative and you may ask yourself how did we get from there (the Peace Corps) to here (carpet bomb em)?
Yet, in our unique strain of American democracy even through studies empirically demonstrate a consistent disconnect between what Americans want and what their representatives codify via policy with a capital ‘P’, the bottom line is look in the mirror ‘we are the government’.
Whether it’s the creation and passage of what merged into the ‘Affordable Care Act‘ (ACA) or how the ‘public’ participates in both the legislative process and its implementation via the rule making process initiated aka the ‘notice of proposed rule making’ (NPRM), we are presented with both the opportunity and as it turns out obligation to engage in and thus granularly shape (via a dialectical bottoms up vs. top down exchange) the ground rules which in turn govern our economy and the conduct of its constituent industry stakeholders.
In the quest to advance the efficacy of quality initiatives (garbage in garbage out) one recent effort is the DRAFT release of the ‘CMS Quality Measure Development Plan: Supporting the Transition to the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) and Alternative Payment Models‘.
As an industry we are process oriented sometimes to a fault. Moreover the ‘check the box’ or drop down nature of many of these measures lends itself to the argument that the state of the industry to actually measure, document and report healthcare quality is at best a crude representation of what is actually going on. Clearly there is more work to be done if this industry is to matter.
To help readers of this blog, the introduction of the executive summary is pasted below:
I. Executive Summary
Background
A transformation of the U.S. healthcare delivery system gained momentum in 2010 with the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Affordable Care Act).1
The law established the Health Insurance Marketplace to extend consumer access to affordable care through private payers and provided strong incentives in publicly financed healthcare programs to connect provider payment to quality of care and efficiency.
Building on the principles and foundation of the Affordable Care Act, the Administration announced a clear timeline for targeting 30 percent of Medicare payments tied to quality or value through alternative payment models by the end of 2016 and 50 percent by the end of 2018.
These are measurable goals to move the Medicare program and our healthcare system at large toward paying providers based on quality, rather than quantity, of care.2
The passage of the Medicare Access and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP)
Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA)3 supports the ongoing transformation of healthcare delivery by furthering the development of new Medicare payment and delivery models for physicians and other clinicians. Section 102 of MACRA4,i requires that the Secretary of Health and Human Services develop and post on the CMS.gov website “a draft plan for the development of quality measures” by January 1, 2016, for application under certain applicable provisions related to the new Medicare Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) and to certain Medicare alternative payment models (APMs).
The law provides both a mandate and an opportunity for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to leverage quality measure development as a key driver to further the aims of the CMS Quality Strategy:
• Better Care,
• Smarter Spending, and
• Healthier People. 5
Measure Development Plan Purpose
The purpose of the CMS Quality Measure Development Plan (MDP) is to meet the requirements of the statute and serve as a strategic framework for the future of clinician quality measure development to support MIPS and APMs. CMS welcomes comments on this draft plan from the public, including healthcare providers, payers, consumers, and other stakeholders, through March 1, 2016.ii The final MDP, taking into account public comments on this draft plan, will be posted on the CMS.gov website by May 1, 2016, followed by updates annually or as otherwise appropriate.i
So here it is… have at it. Perhaps your input will in fact shape the substance and steward the glide-path of how the transformation from volume to value can be realized. Certainly it’s worth your consideration. Afterall, another attributed Kennedy quote with biblical DNA may apply here:
“We are not here to curse the darkness, but to light a candle that can guide us through the darkness to a safe and sure future. For the world is changing. The old era is ending. The old ways will not do.
The problems are not all solved and the battles are not all won and we stand today on the edge of a New Frontier – a frontier of unknown opportunities and perils, a frontier of unfulfilled hopes and threats.
It has been a long road to this crowded convention city. Now begins another long journey, taking me into your cities and towns and homes all over America.
Give me your help. Give me your hand, your voice and your vote.”
― John Fitzgerald Kennedy
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