In Pursuit of the Triple Aim: Can Population Health Management Lead the Way?

By Fred Goldstein, MS and Gregg Masters, MPH Every sector in health care is under pressure to articulate and implement a viable population health initiative that delivers on the triple aim of better health, better quality at a better cost. Despite a significant investment of resources, we have only achieved ‘mixed results’ to date, and …

The Road From Volume-To-Value: The Pivotal Role of Population Health

By Fred Goldstein, MS and Gregg Masters, MPH Two macro trends are converging to further season and ultimately catalyze the transformation of the American healthcare enterprise: the predominant fee-for-service model that fuels the provider ecosystem (hospitals, health systems, medical groups, IPAs, ACOs, or managed physician networks, etc.) and their ‘partner’ financing plans, payors or administrators. Ecosystem incumbents …

Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services Releases Accountable Care Organization Performance Results

by Gregg A. Masters, MPH Friday, October 27th, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released details for participating Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) in the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) for the 2016 performance year.  For reporting ACO results view the entire report here. The National Association of ACOs (NAACOs) weighed in below: The new results …

Leavitt Partners Weigh in on Medicare, APMs and Provider Readiness for Pivot

by Gregg A. Masters, MPH It’s been busy since our re-launch at This Week in Accountable Care primarily due to the heavy lifting support from National ACO co-founders, Andre Berger MD, CEO, and Alex Foxman, MD, President and Chief Medical Officer, respectively. While I moderate the series, Drs. Berger and Foxman serve as co-hosts and subject matter …

ACOs Fudging the Numbers?

by Gregg A. Masters, MPH I came across this piece on the Healthcare Blog penned by Kip Sullivan, Esq, critiquing this article posted in Health Affairs last May ‘Bending The Spending Curve By Altering Care Delivery Patterns: The Role Of Care Management Within A Pioneer ACO‘. Sullivan raises valid points as the the legitimacy of …

Tufts Health Plan Forms MassHealth Accountable Care Organization Partnership with Four Provider Organizations

Press Release | Watertown, MA | August 18, 2017  The Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS) recently announced that Tufts Health Plan has signed contracts to form Medicaid (MassHealth) Accountable Care Organization (ACO) partnerships with four provider organizations:  Atrius Health, Beth Israel Deaconess Care Organization, Cambridge Health Alliance, and Boston Children’s Accountable Care Organization. The new ACOs feature a value‐based …

Florida Association of ACOs Partners with Caredove

Sponsored Post: 22 Aug 2017 7:00 AM | Jacksonville, FL Partnership Broadens Florida Based Organization The Florida Association of ACOs (FLAACOs), the premier professional organization for Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) and value based healthcare leaders throughout Florida, announced today a strategic partnership with Caredove, Inc. to provide its Statewide ACO membership with access to Caredove’s advanced, online e-referral platform …

The ‘Value Pivot’: The CAPG Story

by Gregg A. Masters, MPH While HMOs have been around since President Richard Nixon – yes a Republican who embraced the vision of ‘universal coverage‘ for Americans via the HMO Act of 1973 – healthcare stakeholders in the volume fueled fee-for-services (FFS) ecosystem have been mostly change resistant with some exceptions. Nixon’s sanguine call for …

CBO Weighs in on Trumpcare 3.0

by Gregg A. Masters, MPH The non-partisan Congressional Office weighed in today on the impact of the Better Care Reconciliation of of 2017 as amended and rebranded as the ‘Obamacare Repeal Reconciliation Act’. Their summary notes the coverage impact as follows: The number of people who are uninsured would increase by 17 million in 2018, …

Senate GOP Health Reform Fail: Many Knew This Day Was Coming

by Gregg A. Masters, MPH Unlike many in the conversation on social media including the likes of Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and blogs such as ACO Watch, I have been active in the health reform exchange of ideas since registering my twitter handle @2healthguru in August of 2008. My participation has been of the ‘sweat equity’ …