It’s one thing to report on a story from the outside. It’s quite another to see it from an insider’s perspective. My recent experience with hip replacement surgery reinforced the importance of care coordination — or lack of it — when confronting a serious or chronic health condition. Importantly, it’s driven home the frustration, confusion, and feelings […]
Expect tough questioning from Senate Democrats when Congressman Tom Price appears before two of their committees in his bid to become the next secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. His confirmation journey continues Jan. 18 with a hearing before the Senate HELP (Health, Education, Labor and Pensions) Committee. Then it’s on to […]
The Affordable Care Act created many opportunities for Medicare to test new ways of paying for health care. One of the biggest and most dramatic tests is now getting underway: bundled payments for hip or knee replacement. Unlike most Center for Medicaid and Medicare Innovation (CMMI) projects on payment and delivery reform, this one is […]
Late last month we wrote about criticism leveled at the federal government’s latest bundled payment proposal. Since then, other experts have come forward to criticize not only the Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement (CCJR) proposal announced last month, but also the Bundled Payments for Care Initiative (BPCI) program that began in April 2013. Both programs […]
We’ve told you over and over again on this blog that the Affordable Care Act isn’t just about coverage. It’s also about changing how health care is delivered, moving away from fee-for-service to a more value- and quality-based system. Medicare is aiming to have half of its payments under alternative payment models by 2018. That […]