From an early surge in Medicare accountable care collaborations (ACOs) to the problematic rollout of the nation’s historic health insurance exchanges during a 16-day government shutdown, healthcare in 2013 was nothing short of unpredictable. Respondents to HIN’s tenth annual Healthcare Trends and Forecasts survey identified a trifecta of value-based priorities for 2014, deeming population health management (56 percent), care coordination (51 percent) and integrated care delivery (42 percent) initiatives most worthy of their attention in 2014.
In tandem with these Triple Aim priorities, respondents also selected the accountable care organization (ACO) as the care delivery model most likely to transform healthcare, from both cost and care delivery perspectives. The patient-centered medical home has held this distinction for the last two years.
Some key findings from the survey include the following:
- The top business areas affected by the 2013 economy were growth (65 percent, still the top area but down from 72 percent in 2012); hiring and recruitment (65 percent); capital improvement (48 percent); and service expansion (43 percent).
- The top five factors impacting healthcare business in 2013 were not limited to purely financial issues as they have been in recent years: budget constraints (42 percent), the Affordable Care Act, or ACA (30 percent), reimbursement (28 percent), care transitions (27 percent), and the economy (25 percent).
- Beyond the ACO and the patient-centered medical home (PCMH), the care delivery systems with the most transformational potential were comprehensive primary care (19 percent) and bundled payments (11 percent).
- Beyond population health management, care coordination and integrated care delivery, the areas of healthcare most ripe for development are e-health and telehealth (39 percent), access to healthcare (33 percent), health and wellness (26 percent) and dual eligibles (25 percent).
- Impacts from continued rollout of ACA initiatives in 2014 include (in respondents’ own words): expansion of customer base from implementation of physician ACO and bundled payment programs; reduced reimbursement, requiring more efficiency and cost reductions; the challenge of delivering primary care services with improved outcomes and transparency in reporting; and revenue streams created by exchanges, along with a need to add primary care practitioners.
Excerpted from Healthcare Trends & Forecasts in 2014: Performance Expectations for the Healthcare Industry.
Tags: ACOs, PCMH, Population Health Management
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