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What’s the Best Way to Get Hospitals Involved in Care Coordination?
Pay them to do it, take money away when they don’t — make hospitals accountable for their role in avoiding unnecessary readmissions.
Mark E. Miller, Ph.D., Executive Director, Medicare Payment Advisory Commission testified recently in front of the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance. He opened his remarks by stating:
The health care delivery system we see today is not a true system: care coordination is rare, specialist care is favored over primary care, quality of care is often poor, and costs are high […]
Megatrend Spotting: Collaborative Care Management Networks
“Why can’t we all just get along?” Rodney King
The Megatrend: Collaborative Care Management Networks (CCMNs)
It’s been quite a while since I spotted a new Disease Management Megatrend, but here’s one that’s long overdue:
Collaborative Care Management Networks will be necessary to achieve optimal care coordination.
The trend in a nutshell:  payers (and others) are recognizing that optimal care coordination will require collaboration among health care stakeholders. This CANNOT be achieved with yesterday’s proprietary IT and business models.
CCMNs will share many — perhaps all — […]
From PHRs to PHRSs
Personal health records (PHRs)Â are evolving toward becoming Personal Health Record Systems (PHRSs).
…that’s my key takeaway from attending the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Project Health Design (PHD) conference in Washington D.C. on September 17. The conference was entitled A ‘Report Out’ from Project HealthDesign and Forum on Next-Generation PHRs .
A PHD Fact Sheet capsulizes the evolution from PHRs to PHRSs:
Attend the Best DM/Population Health Conference of the Year!
In a little less than three weeks, DMAA: The Care Continuum Alliance will open its 10th annual meeting , in Hollywood, Fla. – a notable milestone for an organization that has evolved with its membership over the past decade.
I’ll be there, presenting with Dr. Victor Villagra on the "March toward Data Interoperability" and the outlook for disease management.
The content this year promises to be among the best yet, with a new track on […]
Details “Emerge” on the Medicare Medical Home Demonstration
Where would one expect to find CMS’ latest thinking on the upcoming Medicare Medical Home Demonstration project? The obvious answer would be “on the Official CMS MMHD home page ”, but you’d be wrong.
CMS has issued a Medicare Medical Home Demonstration Payment Contractor RFP available on the Federal Business Opportunities website. Thanks to the Google Alert service for digging this out.
For the casual reader, the details of the MMHD are taking shape nicely. CMS and its advisors have obviously […]
Doctors Bat A Thousand in Year Two of PGP Medicare Demo
CMS announced today that all 10 participating groups in the Physician Group Practice (PGP) demonstration achieved quality targets, and that the groups are sharing $16.7 million in incentive payments. The program rewards providers for improved outcomes delivered to Medicare patients with congestive heart failure, coronary artery disease, and diabetes.
This goes a long way in explaining Medicare’s seeming lack of enthusiasm for past or future disease management demos with DM companies and/or health plans.
Congratulations doctors!
UPDATE: The doctors might have batted […]
Medical Home PowerPoint and Latest Perspectives
Last week my esteemed colleague Dr. Jaan Sidorov and I conducted a webinar for WRG on Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH) developments.
The process of updating a PowerPoint forces one to collect one’s thoughts, and I’m glad to share with you the PowerPoint slides along with a few highlights about the evolution of the PCMH. The highlights:
Heartburn Relief: UnitedHealth Joining Google Health and MSFT HealthVault?
From the August 6 edition of HISTalk — Healthcare IT News and Opinion:
"Re: UHG. Was at the Healthcare Quality Conference yesterday in Boston. Got to talking to a United Health exec who informed me that they have signed an agreement with Google Health and have a pending agreement with HealthVault. This backs up UHG’s previous statement that member records would be made portable. Individual made mention that the Google Health relationship extends beyond just claims records transfer and includes a […]
Medical Home Webinar
On behalf of World Research Group, Dr. Jaan Sidorov and I will be conducting a webinar —
Patient-Centered Medical Home Model: Overview and Update.
The webinar takes place next Monday, July 28 at 12 Eastern. Click here for details. Hope you can join us.
The Day the Tide Started Shifting Against Greedy Healthcare
Mark the date — July 9, 2008.
Bob Laszewski describes it eloquently in his blog posting: Senate Votes 69-30 To Rescind Medicare Physician Fee Cuts and Cut Medicare Advantage to Pay For It .
Is healthcare more like schools, fire departments, and roads or is it more like TV sets, shampoo, and movies?
I do think of myself as a strong free market advocate. But, I’ve learned about how isolated, deficient, and expensive the U.S. approach to healthcare is compared to virtually every […]