by Gregg A. Masters, MPH First there was section 30222 prescribed by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“ACA”), which added section 1899 to the Social Security Act that requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish the [Medicare] Shared Savings Program (MSSP), see: ‘Summary of Final Rule Provisions for Accountable CareOrganizations under the Medicare […]
Category Archives: Affordable Care Act
Health Insurance Industry Consolidation: Any ‘Qui Tam’ Exposure?
by Gregg A. Masters, MPH If you’re a health policy junkie like me, then the best show in town (or anywhere for that matter) was in the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C., where HMO industry veteran and Chairman, President and CEO of Aetna Mark T. Bertolini and Anthem President and CEO Joseph R. Swedish among […]
ACOs: The Results So Far (It Depends)
by Gregg A. Masters, MPH It might have been prescient but minimally it was perfect timing. While Fred Goldstein, President of Accountable Health, LLC, and me were prepping for our session to re-cap on PopHealth Week (@PopHealthWeek) some of the insights from our deep dive series into Population Health and ACOs, reporting insights from embedded executives at physician […]
Another Milestone Marker in Favor of the ACO Model?
by Gregg A. Masters, MPH I awoke this morning to an email from a PR rep who supports outbound news for one of the emerging ACO management companies enabling physician led participation in the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) aka Aledade (@AledadeACO). I then copy, pasted and tweeted the headline: ‘Aledade Creating New Medicare Accountable Care […]
The @Aetna and @Humana Marriage: Will It Be Different This Time?
by Gregg A. Masters, MPH Wow! Ahead of the 4th of July weekend Mark T. Bertolini (@mtbert) and Bruce D. Broussard (@BruceDBroussard) both savvy and seasoned managed health care industry players and visionary captains at @Aetna and @Humana respectively, announced their marriage via a $35 billion, see Bloomberg story: ‘Aetna-Humana Deal to Lower Consumer Costs, […]
The ACA, ACOs and Health System Reform 5 Years Later
By Gregg A. Masters, MPH In the relentless sound byte and laughable misrepresentation of facts proffered by ideologues intent upon diluting if not repealing the ACA, one consistent voice of reason and evidence mindfulness is that presented by the cogent and thoughtful reflections on the indicia of ACA implementation courtesy of ‘team Commonwealth Fund’ aka @CommonWealthFnd. […]
Three Reasons Your ACO Will Likely Fail
by Gregg A. Masters, MPH I’ve seen this before, and many times at that, see: 6 Reasons Your ACO Will Fail (A Series), Any One Will Do.‘ While some continue to debate and attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act, the underlying market dynamics on which the vision of ‘Accountable Care‘, the triple aim or […]
A Fork in the Road: ACOs vs. Direct Practice?
by Gregg A. Masters, MPH In the run up to the passage of the Affordable Care Act (select milestones here), the Senate Finance Committee under the leadership of Chairman Max Baucus presided over a comical volume of amendments proffered by his colleagues on the other side of the isle, see: ‘Senate Democrats Lead Historic Passage […]
‘Non-Profit IDNs’: Where’s Da Beef?
By Gregg A. Masters, MPH I have followed this narrative for quite some time albeit inside the industry contained debate of whether so-called ‘non-profit’ [501(c)3] hospitals or their parent systems (really more aptly characterized as “tax exempt”) actually earn this financial advantage via material ‘returns’ to the communities they serve. As can be expected you […]
Is Evolent Health the ‘New, New’ Healtheon?
By Gregg A. Masters, MPH There are parallels worth considering! But first for those who’s event horizons’ don’t reach back to the Healtheon era (mid to late 1990’s) a little history may help with the construction of this narrative. Perhaps the dots are optimally connected by the talented and best selling author Michael Lewis in his book […]
