Care Coordination

Strategies for integrating specialty care into value-based care models

April 4, 2024 - Value-based care models must address both primary and specialty care to improve patient outcomes and reduce spending. A CMS Innovation Center strategy details ongoing efforts to integrate specialty care into the healthcare system. Past studies have shown that Medicare beneficiaries are seeing more specialists and experiencing more fragmented care....

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Primary care delivery is similar across all Medicare patient mixes

by Victoria Bailey

Care delivery, care coordination, and administrative challenges were similar across primary care physicians serving traditional Medicare patients and those serving Medicare Advantage patients, a...

AMGA: FTC Non-Compete Agreement Ban Will Hurt Healthcare Workforce

by Victoria Bailey

The American Medical Group Association (AMGA) is urging the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to withdraw its proposal to ban non-compete agreements, stating that the ban would hinder care coordination,...

How Social Media Helped an Accountable Care Organization Save $50M

by Jacqueline LaPointe

Coordination is key to the online retail industry. From the moment you click “order” on Amazon or Walmart.com, the retailer instantly starts packaging and mailing your item, providing you...

Advocate Aurora Invests in People, Infrastructure for ACO Success

by Jacqueline LaPointe

Accountable care organization (ACO) success was no stranger to physicians at Advocate Health Care and Aurora Health Care. Now that the two major health systems are combined, the new...

25% of Total Healthcare Spending Attributed to Waste, Study Finds

by Jacqueline LaPointe

Despite initiatives to reduce spending and promote value over volume, a new study showed that the US healthcare system still wasted between $760 billion to $935 billion, representing approximately...

GAO Finds Medicare Billing Codes for Care Coordination, Planning

by Jacqueline LaPointe

Care coordination and planning are becoming increasingly important to caring for the millions of Medicare beneficiaries suffering from two or more serious health conditions, such as diabetes and heart...

5 Care Coordination Strategies for Medicare ACO Success

by Jacqueline LaPointe

Embedding care managers in the emergency department, establishing networks of high-performing skilled nursing facilities, and home visits are strategies accountable care organizations (ACOs) are using...

Team-Based Care for Kidney Disease Saves Park Nicollet $1.2M

by Jacqueline LaPointe

End-stage renal disease comes with a hefty price tag for both patients and providers. But Park Nicollet Health Services, an integrated care system in Minnesota, found that a team-based care approach to...

How Mercy Improved Care Transitions for Risk-Based Care Success

by Jacqueline LaPointe

For the thousands of patients released from their 23 acute care hospitals a year, Mercy Health ensures that each patient receives the highest value care. But there is only so much providers can do...

Care Coordination, Community Health Workers Reduce ED Costs, Use

by Jacqueline LaPointe

Average direct emergency department costs dropped 15 percent for frequent emergency department users after Brigham and Women’s hospital implemented a care coordination program using community...

Provider Collaboratives Combat Healthcare Merger Pressures

by Jacqueline LaPointe

Value-based reimbursement continues to drive healthcare merger and acquisitions activities. But hospitals and health systems can remain independent and achieve healthcare cost reduction and value-based...

Patient Engagement Critical to Bundled Payment Model Success

by Jacqueline LaPointe

Under bundled payment models, healthcare providers take on the clinical and financial risk payers traditionally managed. But providers at OrthoCarolina found that patients also play a major role in...

32 Orgs to Cut Healthcare Costs, Use Under CMS Community Demo

by Jacqueline LaPointe

As part of the Accountable Health Communities Model, CMS recently selected 32 organizations to participate in two of the three program tracks that aim to lower healthcare costs and utilization by...

Health IT, Care Navigators Most Effective at Lowering Costs

by Jacqueline LaPointe

While countless strategies are out there for making care delivery more efficient, a recent Health Affairs study revealed that interventions that use health IT and community health workers realized the...

ACO Incentives, Coordination Improve Complex Pediatric Care

by Jacqueline LaPointe

Children with medical complexities, or children who require the highest level of service and support, are one of the most expensive pediatric patient populations. But provider collaboration and...

HHS Sec. Burwell Shares Vision for Value-Based Care Future

by Jacqueline LaPointe

In a recent Health Affairs blog post, HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell called for value-based care progress after the Obama administration ends through more alternative payment models, care delivery...

Payment Reform Suggestions to Improve Complex Pediatric Care

by Jacqueline LaPointe

Payment reform for medically complex children is needed to support a more family- and patient-centered care delivery model that requires extensive care coordination and non-face-to-face services, a new...

AMA Backs Team-Based Care Delivery, Value-Based Drug Pricing

by Jacqueline LaPointe

The American Medical Association (AMA) recently released updated organization-wide ethical guidelines that detailed how organizations can lower healthcare costs using team-based care delivery as well as...

Group Calls for Dual-Eligible Claims Reimbursement Changes

by Jacqueline LaPointe

In a recent report, the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Health Project has urged federal officials to improve care delivery for dually eligible Medicaid and Medicare beneficiaries by revising claims...

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