This week, HMA principal Lori Raney, MD, provides an overview of telepsychiatry, a type of telemedicine where general psychiatric services are provided via videoconferencing, and how it can play a role in addressing the nationwide psychiatric workforce shortage. Dr. Raney highlights the opportunities for telepsychiatry in the market today, as well as identifies several of the obstacles to telepsychiatry implementation.
Healthcare Delivery Development & Redesign
Vermont Publicizes Draft All-Payer Model Waiver
This week, we reviewed the draft waiver agreement between the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Governor of Vermont, the Green Mountain Care Board (GMCB), and the Vermont Agency of Human Services (AHS) to form an all-payer accountable care organization (ACO) model in Vermont. The agreement, if approved by all parties, would implement ACO assignment targets, outcomes and quality milestones, and would require Vermont to keep all-payer and Medicare-specific total cost of care growth per beneficiary below annual growth rate thresholds. The all-payer model (APM) encourages alignment across Medicare, Medicaid, and commercial payers, moving toward next generation ACO models with all-inclusive population-based payments. Vermont and CMS have reached preliminary agreement on the draft waiver, with state and federal officials conducting further review at this time.
TeleHealth Services – Spotlight on Econsults
HMA principals Greg Vachon, MD, MPH, and Jean Glossa MD, MBA, provide an overview of econsultations. Greg and Jean define econsults and provide an overview of the spectrum of econsult services in place today, evaluate the benefits and challenges of econsults, and look at recent developments in the econsult market.
HMA Conference on Integrated Delivery Is Just a Month Away, More than 200 Already Registered to Attend
This week, we are providing an update on HMA’s inaugural conference on The Future of Publicly Sponsored Healthcare: Building Integrated Delivery Systems for Vulnerable Populations, October 10-12, 2016, at The Palmer House in Chicago. More than 200 industry leaders have already registered to attend, including top executives from hospitals, health systems, clinics, provider practices, community-based organizations, and Medicaid managed care plans. Featuring 37 high-level industry speakers, conference panels and breakout sessions are designed to inspire discussion about real-world approaches to helping provider organizations improve the health status of patient populations, lower costs, and ensure a more satisfactory patient experience. Visit the conference website at https://fpsh.healthmanagement.com/ for complete details.
Prepare Now: New Codes for Integrating Primary Care and Behavioral Health
Integrating primary care and behavioral health is a central focus in health care delivery reform for many states and payers as they work towards addressing quality and cost containment. Significant research demonstrating the effect of co-morbid behavioral health conditions on overall health outcomes, and the subsequent cost increases, has led to exploring the implementation of new models of care.
30-plus Speakers Slated for HMA Conference on Integrated Care Delivery
HMA’s inaugural conference “The Future of Publicly Sponsored Healthcare: Building Integrated Delivery Systems for Vulnerable Populations” is slated for October 10-12 in Chicago. This premier event, presented by HMA and HMA’s Accountable Care Institute, will address key issues facing health systems, hospitals, clinics and provider practices seeking to integrate care in an environment of rising quality and cost expectations. More than 30 speakers have been confirmed to date. Early Bird registration is now open. Click here for complete conference details.
MACRA: Will these carrots and sticks work?
The comment period for MACRA proposed rules started a couple of weeks ago and ends June 26, 2016. CMS is to be commended for valiantly translating MACRA legislation into specific rules that will apply at the start of the first performance period scheduled to be January 1, 2017 (wow!). However commendable though, we should all be clear about the inherent problems, of which there are a number. I’ll briefly outline one central problem: behavioral economics.
New Leadership, Team Building Workshop for Those Serving Vulnerable Populations
Transformation of healthcare delivery is requiring those of us who serve vulnerable populations to cultivate new leaders and form new kinds of teams inside and outside of our organizations.
HMA and Rush University Medical Center-Chicago are launching a new, one-day intensive workshop that will introduce proven strategies for developing a deep bench of collaborative leaders and empowered providers.
HMA is launching a new blog
Change is the new normal for healthcare today. The industry is in constant flux. Healthcare reform is prompting us to reimagine what we do and how we deliver healthcare. It seems many public, private and nonprofit stakeholders are taking different approaches, sparking a daily stream of research, studies and trends to inform your next move.
But who has time to sift through all that data? Keeping current with the latest developments alone is a full-time job. That’s where HMA can help.
You’ve counted on us for decades to provide clear insights into policy, programs and financing to get the job done. We provide counsel, research, whitepapers, webinars and weekly updates.
And now, we’re writing a blog.