And ‘the Act’ is…

By Gregg A. Masters, MPH Per the SCOTUS blog: Amy Howe: “We do not expect any additional opinions today, so NO health care today. Few laws have and continue to stir up such emotion, political spin and both authentic and misinformed interest. Perhaps the mood [for some of us] is best captured in the following …

Early Returns: ACOs Improve Management of Patient Populations, Offer Short-Term Savings

by Bryn Nelson, PhD Opportunities to be more efficient are largely under care of hospitalists, ACO director says Several years ago, Presbyterian Medical Group in Albuquerque, N.M., decided to integrate three elements of its healthcare system: its health plan, the employed medical group, and the hospital delivery system. Knitting those parts into a cohesive whole …

How Hospitals Can Test the Waters of Accountable Care

By Gregg A. Masters, MPH Found on the Accountable Care Bulletin. Hospitals considering accountable care strategies have plenty of options to choose from, but deciding where to begin can be confusing. Joseph Damore, Vice President of Engagement and Delivery for Premier, explores how hospitals can test the waters of accountable care, from engaging staff in wellness …

ACOs, Patients, Consumers and the Dark Matter Glue that Makes it All Work

By Gregg A. Masters, MPH It’s been a brutal pace and schedule of late and one of the pieces I’ve omitted from presenting here is titled: ‘Building Patient-Centeredness in the Real World: The Engaged Patient and the Accountable Care Organization‘ proffered by colleague and friend Michael Millenson, aka @MLMillenson, President, Health Quality Advisors LLC. I received …

Un-bundling the Act: Provisions for ACOs

By Gregg A. Masters, MPH We heard a lot about the rough life of Federal legislators when one of the material objections aka ‘talking points’ to actually considering the thoughtful remedies borne via public/private discourse and years if not decades of health policy development and experience outlined in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act …

All Eyes on SCOTUS Decision Expected Later This Week?

By Gregg A. Masters, MPH We’ve been in a quiet period since the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) accepted the series of challenges to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, yet the buzz factor is up via the blogosphere, social media and both broadcast and cable news media outlets as some expect …

Dave Chase CEO of Avado at Health Datapalooza

By Gregg A. Masters, MPH In the flurry of activities associated with the Health Data Forum III in Washington, DC aka (‘health datapalooza‘) I managed to corral  Dave Chase aka @ChaseDave in the Exhibition Hall at the DC Convention Center following his presentation at the ACO breakout session. Amidst the background noise, we hear from …

Atul Gawande at Health Data Palooza Session on ACOs: A Keynote

By Gregg A. Masters, MPH Since he authored ‘The [healthcare] Cost Conundrum‘ piece some three years ago, positing the question of who will emerge as the ‘anchor tenant’ business model in healthcare, I’ve been ‘waving’ at Atul Gawande via social media including Twitter and blog. When I saw that he was faciliating a breakout session …

Recovering from DC Health Data and Innovation Week

By Gregg A. Masters, MPH Whoa! What a week in DC. The events stacked back to back were fast, furious and content rich. I previewed the week here. There is much to report, including my upcoming on ‘This Week in Accountable Care‘ interview with JD Kleinke, pioneering health care information entrepreneur, medical economist, author, and …

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 …