Monitoring the birth of an industry
by Gregg A. Masters, MPH 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 …
Continue reading “CMS Quality Measure Development Plan: A DRAFT”
by Gregg A. Masters, MPH It has been challenging at times being in the ‘innovation conversation’ dating back to the 70s (who remembers ‘WIN’ [whip inflation now], PSROs or even HSAs (no, not the privatization funding mechanism, but the CON overlords) watching what get’s reported by industry press or online media as ‘innovation‘ or ‘bold …
Continue reading “12 Steps to the Triple Aim or Value Based Healthcare”
by Gregg A. Masters, MPH Beneath the ideological crossfire and mostly bluster of the ACA ‘repeal and replace crowd’, while the latest ‘new, new, thing‘ aka the defacto Rorschach upside of a litany of mostly vaporware or me too ‘meh‘ digital health apps, platforms or S-1 filings (see: ‘Disruptive Idiots from Silicon Valley‘) stumble into maturity amidst …
Continue reading “The Droids You Are Looking For Are Not Here”
by Laura Joszt This week, The American Journal of Managed Care was in Palm Harbor, Florida, hosting the fall live meeting of its ACO and Emerging Healthcare Delivery Coalition, where stakeholders from across the healthcare industry discussed best practices. As the country moves from volume to value, accountable care organizations (ACOs) can play a key role …
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 …
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 …
Continue reading “Health Insurance Industry Consolidation: Any ‘Qui Tam’ Exposure?”
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 …
Continue reading “Another Milestone Marker in Favor of the ACO Model?”
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, …
Continue reading “The @Aetna and @Humana Marriage: Will It Be Different This Time?”
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. …
Continue reading “The ACA, ACOs and Health System Reform 5 Years Later”
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 …
