CMS’ Physician QRUR Tables Highlight High-Value Referral Patterns for Medicare Population

Posted on January 31, 2017 by Administrator

Among other data, detail tables in a physician practice’s Quality Use and Resource Reports (QRURs) pinpoint specialist referral networks for Medicare beneficiaries, explains William Holding, consultant, PDA, Inc., which can help physician practices determine their highest value referral pathways.

In this audio interview, Holding explains the benefits of tapping CMS-generated QRUR reports to enhance performance under Merit-Based Incentive Payment Systems (MIPS), one of two payment paths for physician reimbursement under MACRA.

During Physician MACRA Preparation: Using QRUR and Other CMS Data To Maximize Your Performance, a January 2017 webinar now available for replay, Holding and colleague Nancy Lane, president of PDA, Inc., share the critical steps physician practices should take when analyzing their QRUR data, along with details on other CMS data points that can help practices improve MIPS performance.

Length: 3:07 minutes

MACRA for Small Physician Practices: Don’t Let the Technology Intimidate You

Posted on July 21, 2016 by Administrator

Rather than threatening to drop Medicare volumes or open a concierge practice, small and solo physician practices daunted by MACRA technology requirements should sit tight and avail themselves of current and promised education and training from CMS to support the transition, advises Eric Levin, director of strategic services, McKesson.

In this audio interview, Levin describes what’s at risk for practices that don’t engage in at least one physician reporting program and four benefits of tapping into MACRA technical assistance from CMS.

During a July 2016 webinar, The New Physician Quality Reporting: Positioning Your Practice for MACRA’s Merit-Based Incentive Program, now available for replay, Levin offers a brief MACRA overview and outlines 2016 focus areas for practices to help them avoid reimbursement penalties in 2017 based on the proposed rule.

Length: 4:00 minutes

HCSC’s Community Behavioral Health Links Essential to Duals Care Coordination

Posted on March 4, 2014 by Administrator

Relationships with community organizations that support mental health as well as recovery from addiction are essential to care coordination of Medicare-Medicaid beneficiaries, notes Julie Faulhaber, vice president of enterprise Medicaid at Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC). These collaborations enable HCSC to address the needs of duals as “a whole sick person, and not just as a diagnosis,” she explains, noting that duals often suffer from depression along with some physical disability. HCSC also has its own integrated team with behavioral health expertise.

Julie Faulhaber shared her organization’s approach to designing a care coordination model for dual eligibles and initial findings from these new programs during a March 12, 2014 webinar Moving Beyond the Medical Care Coordination Model for Dual Eligibles, a 45-minute program sponsored by The Healthcare Intelligence Network.

Length: 4:06 minutes

Deconstructing Health Reform: 3 Reasons Medicare and Pioneer ACOs May Not Survive

Posted on February 12, 2014 by Administrator

Given changing reimbursement incentives and collaborative models for physicians and hospitals, Greg Mertz, managing director of Physician Strategies Group, LLC, discusses why the Congressional proposal “Better Care, Lower Cost Act” of 2014 is financially more attractive to providers than ACO models and whether he thinks it will be passed. He also deconstructs CMS’ recently reported financial results for such health reform delivery initiatives as Medicare ACOs, Pioneer ACOs, and the Physician Group Practice demonstration, and weighs in on which, if any, model he considers the most sustainable.

Greg Mertz helped healthcare organizations assess which value-based healthcare delivery model is right for their organization during Physician Alignment: Which Model Is Right for You?, a February 19th, 2014 workshop at 1:30 p.m. Eastern.

Length: 5:58 minutes

Healthcare Trends & Forecasts in 2014: Expect Surge in Commercial ACOs to Continue

Posted on October 16, 2013 by Administrator

Despite the migration of some Pioneer ACOs to CMS’s Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP), expect the surge in commercial accountable care organizations to continue in 2014, predicts Steven Valentine, president, The Camden Group. In this audio interview, Valentine suggests improvements to patient handoffs, an area in which ACOs have disappointed, in Valentine’s view, as well as expectations for the other much-modeled care delivery platform, the patient-centered medical home (PCMH).

In both the ACO and the PCMH, Valentine anticipates specialists will be critical parts of the solution, especially when it comes to emerging payment models, quality and performance.

Steven Valentine and Catherine Sreckovich, managing director, healthcare, Navigant, provided a roadmap to the key issues, challenges and opportunities for healthcare providers and payors in 2014 during an October 30, 2013 webinar, Healthcare Trends & Forecasts in 2014: A Strategic Planning Session.

Length: 8:13 minutes

Dual Eligibles: Closing Care Gaps and Engaging Members in Self-Management

Posted on September 30, 2013 by Administrator

The philosophy that healthcare is local — and therefore, care needs to be local and community-based — forms the core of WellCare’s efforts to connect its dually eligible population to health services, explains Pamme Taylor, WellCare’s vice president of advocacy and community-based programs. The Tampa-based healthcare company takes a culturally competent approach to assessing duals’ unique personal circumstances, ensuring their “soft landing” into WellCare’s care coordination system.

Care managers at the heart of WellCare’s multidisciplinary team, conducting a comprehensive needs assessment with each Medicare-Medicaid beneficiary and driving the resulting care plan, ensuring duals’ complex care needs are met at the most appropriate time and level.

Ms. Taylor shared Wellcare’s strategies for meeting members’ needs with community-based partnerships and engaging duals in self-management of their care during an October 2, 2013 webinar, Dual Eligibles: Closing Care Gaps and Engaging Members in Self-Management.

Length: 7:16 minutes

Medicare Pioneer ACO Year One: Lessons from a Top-Performer

Posted on September 10, 2013 by Administrator

Lauded for its care coordination service, Monarch had to overcome a few challenges when retrofitting the Naylor Transition of Care (TOC) model for the ACO — among them insufficient patient access, patient skepticism and resource limitations. By focusing on readmissions reductions and four disease management conditions — ESRD, COPD, CHF and diabetes — and creating a care coordination team that included the newly created care navigator, case managers, and pharmacist, the organization has improved patient compliance, reduced negative drug interactions and hospital days and improved patients access to community services.

During Medicare Pioneer ACO Year One: Lessons from a Top-Performer, a September 18th webinar at 1:30 pm Eastern, Colin LeClair, executive director of ACO for Monarch HealthCare, shared first year lessons from its Medicare Pioneer ACO experience, how it evolved in year two and the impact on its organization’s participation in other accountable care organizations.

Length: 14:03 minutes

Empowering Patients Toward Self-Management To Reduce Readmissions

Posted on May 14, 2013 by Administrator

To rise to the challenge of non-compliant patients, providers should ask how they can work together to empower patients toward self-management rather than why patients are non-adherent in the first place, suggests Alicia Goroski, MPH, senior project director for care transitions for the Colorado Foundation for Medical Care (CFMC). CFMC coordinates the work of state-based Quality Improvement Organizations (QIOs), who have been working with hospitals and community providers to improve care transitions and reduce readmissions.

In this interview, Ms. Goroski describes some of the interventions focused on patients, providers or both groups that have not only lowered key Medicare readmission rates but also reduced participants’ overall admission stats.

Ms. Goroski shared lessons learned from the 14 communities that participated in the CMS care transition demonstration project and details on program rollout to over 12 million Medicare beneficiaries in 400 communities during a May 22, 2013 webinar, now available for replay Patient Engagement and Provider Collaborations Across the Healthcare Continuum to Improve Care Transitions.

Length: 5:42 minutes

Medicare Pioneer ACO: Case Study on Atrius Health’s Focus on the Triple Aim

Posted on May 2, 2013 by Administrator

A core desire to create a single population-focused model of care for all Medicare beneficiaries, rather than multiple payor-driven approaches, drives Atrius Health’s participation in the CMS Pioneer ACO program, explains Emily Brower, executive director of accountable care programs at Atrius Health. The success of the Atrius ACO hinges on several preferred partnerships it has cultivated, including a collaboration with skilled nursing facilities, as well as outreach by population health managers, who guide patients in the management of chronic illness and prevention.

Ms. Brower shared the first year lessons from its experience as a Medicare Pioneer ACO and how the program is evolving in year two during a May 9, 2013 webinar, Medicare Pioneer ACO: Case Study on Atrius Health’s Focus on the Triple Aim, now available for replay.

Length: 9:02 minutes

A Strategic, Best Practice Approach to Improve CMS Star Quality Ratings

Posted on April 9, 2013 by Administrator

Low scores on patient outcomes measures within the CMS Star Quality ratings program — metrics CMS weights most heavily in its assignment of stars — can typically be traced to poor provider and member engagement, notes Joseph Johnson, vice president of L.E.K. Consulting. Johnson suggests ways to enlist support from these two stakeholder groups, and describes how MA plans should prepare for the possible display in 2014 of CAHPS care coordination ratings along with with its star scores (though the care coordination ratings will not be factored into star ratings).

Johnson shared tactics to improve quality ratings as well as insight into the future direction of the CMS Star Quality program during an April 16, 2013 webinar, now available for replay: A Strategic, Best Practice Approach to Improve CMS Star Quality Ratings, a 45-minute program sponsored by The Healthcare Intelligence Network.

Length: 7:57 minutes

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