Key Steps to Successfully Implement Bundled Payment

By Gregg A. Masters, MPH Are you tasked with ‘accountable care’ strategy, clinical integration or even business model innovation at your hospital, health system, medical group, practice or healthcare network? Then you will be interested in this timely session on Bundled Payment. Just consider the history (and on again off again promise) of bundling payment …

From FutureMed to ACO Congress and Health Insurance Exchange West Summits

By Gregg A. Masters, MPH Today I drove north some 150 miles or so from San Diego to the Century City Plaza Hotel complex in Los Angeles on the suitably named ‘avenue of the stars’ adjacent to the Fox entertainment empire. The Sunday session at FutureMed hosted at the Hotel Del Coronado was infectious and …

Busy Week in DC

By Gregg A. Masters, MPH Last week it was xx in health, followed by the Health Datapalooza and winding down at Medcity News Engage: Unlocking Patient Engagement Through Innovation where I moderated the panel: ‘Patient Engagement in An ACO World‘: This week it’s back to back sessions beginning Monday, June 10th at the National Bundled …

So What’s with the [ACO] Bundled Payment Thing?

By Gregg A. Masters, MPH It’s interesting to note the more ‘things change’, the more they ‘[seem] to stay the same?’ Let me explain…. In a recent observation by Rob Lazerow featured in the post ‘How Are ACOs Doing‘ the Advisory Board Senior Consultant dubs 2013 as the ‘year of accountable care’. He then goes …

The Anatomy of a Patient Centered Medical Home: the Physiology of an ACO?

By Margalit Gur-Arie Obamacare is here to stay, and with it a host of initiatives small and large, some intended and some not so much so, targeting massive transformation of the health care delivery system. One of those initiatives involves the adoption of the principles of a Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH) for primary care as formulated …

Transformational Potential of Medicare ACOs – Part 1

Dr. David Ballard, Chief Quality Officer and Senior Vice President at the Baylor Health Care System in Dallas, TX and Executive Director of its Institute for Health Care Research and Improvement, introduces a series of articles appearing in the August 2012 issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings where he shares a 3-part interview with 3 leading …

William J. DeMarco on Provider Contracting, ACOs, Value Based Purchasing, and Practice Acquisition

By Gregg A. Masters, MPH Courtesy of Clive Riddle and MCOL aka @M_C_O_L, author, consultant and long term managed care industry verteran reflects on the ACO environment, unbundles and expounds on the range of entrants in the ACO space and reports on the status of the playing field as of the May 2012 data point. …

ACO Timeline: Key Dates and Application Process

By Gregg A. Masters, MPH According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) as of July 1, 2012 89 new Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) began serving 1.2 million Medicare beneficiaries in 40 States and Washington, D.C. These 89 new ACOs have entered into agreements with CMS, taking responsibility for the quality of care …

Towards a Framework of an ACO (Accountable Care) and Meaningful Use Crosswalk

By Gregg A. Masters, MPH Lets begin with the core observation that both ACOs (or more broadly cast and therefore agile accountable care undertakings) and the Meaningful Use program are for the most part children of statute with intent to impact a less than optimal if not failing health care delivery and financing paradigm. The …

Today on MU Live Radio: ACOs & Meaningful Use Connecting the Dots

By Gregg A. Masters, MPH ACOs, Meaningful Use (aka MU), the persistent ‘whitewater’ of health reform and the quest for the elusive ‘triple aim’ will be at the center of our chat today on Meaningful Use: MU Live Radio. MU Live! is a 30 minute internet talk radio show hosted by our HITECH Answers experts. Our session …