Roji Intel Blog

Theresa Hush 0
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ACOsCost TransparencyMedical Decision-MakingRisk
September 23, 2020

ACOs, You Probably Think Cost Transparency Isn’t Your Problem. Think Again.

ACOs have largely sidestepped the cost transparency dispute raging between Medicare and medical providers, especially hospitals, due to CMS rules requiring providers to give consumers coverage-based cost estimates. If you're an ACO, you probably assume that cost transparency is not your problem. So you probably won't like to hear that your ACO should be helping your patients manage costs via cost transparency. Moreover, doing so will benefit you as much as your patients. Let's examine why this makes sense. Lack of Cost Transparency Disables Discussion of Value for Consumers Cost transparency really means giving advance price information to consumers so…
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Theresa Hush 0
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Consumers & PatientsFuture of Health CareMedical Decision-MakingValue-Based Health Care
January 15, 2020

Can Consumers Be the Answer to Health Care Cost Control?

In the intense ramp-up to accepting Value-Based Health Care payment models that include financial risk, providers have implemented an array of technologies and programs to improve cost performance. They are in a race against time. Capitation is re-emerging as a dominant payment type under Medicare Value-Based Primary Care Models and commercial contracts. Alternative Payment Models demand payback for excess costs. In the crunch, however, the most important health care goal is getting lost: how to reduce long-term costs while improving patient outcomes. The most effective solutions will require more than just technology. They will require provider-consumer partnering, facilitated by consumer-focused…
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Theresa Hush 0
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Consumers & PatientsFuture of Health CareValue-Based Health Care
January 9, 2020

Get the eBook: Turn Health Care Chaos into Value – Give Voice to Providers and Consumers

Are we on a real path to reducing health care costs and improving our citizens' health? Those were stated goals in the early 2000s that developed into what is now called Value-Based Health Care (VBHC). VBHC has come to mean a major reform effort to slow the pace of cost increases through changes in incentives for both providers and health care consumers. So far, however, the gains have fallen short of expectations. VBHC reforms require significant changes in the role of providers and consumers in order to succeed. These role changes are evolving too slowly. Health care costs continue to…
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Theresa Hush 0
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Consumers & PatientsFuture of Health CareValue-Based Health Care
December 18, 2019

Bottom Line: Can Consumers Survive Value-Based Health Care?

As 2019 nears its close, health care has reached a crossroads. Value-Based Health Care was intended to clarify consumer choices and motivate providers to offer high value services that improved outcomes, as well as to improve patient access to those services. But has that goal been realized? Has anything really changed? Or are health care consumers even worse off than before? Since September, we've been evaluating the consumer perspective of Value-Based Health Care, examining whether the movement is helping consumers achieve affordability, better choices, and good quality. We’ve focused on two central questions: Is Value on the right track? Has…
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Theresa Hush 0
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Consumers & PatientsFuture of Health CareMedical Decision-Making
November 21, 2019

How Aching Joints Can Teach Consumers to Question the Evidence

As explained in our last article, there’s more to managing personal health care costs than concentrating on insurance payments and uncovered costs. As health care consumers, we’d all benefit from learning how to determine whether the value of the services—as delivered by a given provider—is worth the cost, potential risk, and benefits. Here, again, are the four key questions: Request evidence for new or continued treatment; Ask about your providers' cost and quality performance and service standards; Question what doesn't seem right about your experience, diagnosis, and treatment; Request episode-based cost information. There's a good chance that some consumers will…
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Theresa Hush 0
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Consumers & PatientsFuture of Health CareValue-Based Health Care
November 13, 2019

How to Manage Your Health Care Costs – Beyond Just Coverage Costs and Gaps

Consumers are rapidly becoming aware that costs for health care coverage extend well beyond premiums, copays, and deductibles—costs such as additional charges for out-of-network physicians and facilities. There is also a growing understanding that different providers charge varying costs for services—and that other hidden variables can increase the final bill for treatment. But consumer health care costs are not only a price issue. The cost of health care is the final sum of many decisions that are—at least partly—controllable by consumers or providers. Unfortunately, most consumers don't know all the factors that make up health care costs, and why those…
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Theresa Hush 0
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Consumers & PatientsFuture of Health CareValue-Based Health Care
October 16, 2019

The Hedge Bet for Risk is Patient Experience

Creating a good Patient Experience in health care has gained little traction, despite being touted as one of the Triple Aim’s key goals in Value-Based Health Care. Health systems have been more focused on how to increase patients via health plan negotiations and consolidating regional providers, rather than focusing on the slower paced process of improving customer appeal. But now Patient Experience appears to be gaining some attention, and some forward-thinking providers are innovating to be more attractive to patients. Why? Because in the fiscal landscape of Risk, growing patient volume is essential. Providers are beginning to realize that there…
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Thomas Dent, M.D. 0
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ACOsSpecialty PhysiciansSpecialty ServicesValue-Based Health Care
October 9, 2019

How Physicians Can Navigate to Get Better Value from Specialty Services

In recent articles, we’ve discussed how Value-Based Health Care must help consumers make good decisions. Equally as important, CMS is now emphasizing how physicians should serve as navigators for their patients, providing information and guidance. Let’s take a closer look at how the triad of primary care physician, specialist consultant, and patient can effectively engage in a process that improves Value through better outcomes and lower cost. To focus on the shifting role of primary care physicians (PCPs), we use “physician navigation” to describe PCP actions to coordinate care for their patients. To emphasize continuity of care at stake for…
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Theresa Hush 0
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Consumers & PatientsFuture of Health CareMedical Decision-MakingValue-Based Health Care
October 2, 2019

How Consumers Can Choose Quality in Value-Based Health Care

In our last article on how Quality should be reflected in Value-Based Health Care, we looked at the problematic route of quality measurement and reporting. The intent to develop payment for quality has resulted in a complex measurement system that produced provider-specific performance scores across hundreds of measures, yet has failed to advance achievement of better health care outcomes. The system creates flexibility for providers by allowing choice of measures, which eliminates consumers’ ability to see differences among providers. The quality agenda needs to mature. In its developmental period, there was a need to achieve consensus on the standard of…
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Robert McNutt, M.D. 0
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Future of Health CareMedical Decision-MakingResearch
September 11, 2019

Fixing Clinical Science Requires a Moonshot

“We chose to go to the moon” President John Kennedy’s statement instigated a monumental marshaling of resources to achieve a remarkable goal. Those famous words also established a powerful metaphor for aiming high. We need an equally monumental shift in purpose and commitment of resources for how we conduct clinical science. Nothing less than our nation’s health is at stake. In my view, there are only three possible ways research efforts might proceed: First, the conduct of research might not change, but continue to rely on observational studies and non-generalizable randomized trials (RTs). If so, populations of subjects included in…
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