Providers

The ability to have a plan that’s going to work and be large enough that it makes sense for those involved is a barrier for employers who want to pursue alternative payment models, said David Merrill, HR benefits manager, Volusia County, Florida, and John Robinson, CEBS, REBC, RHU, president and CEO, RobinsonBush.

Syapse, a leading precision medicine company, and Roche have joined forces to advance precision medicine in oncology. They will work together to bring real-world data to providers, bring oncology into the value-based care era, advance patient-reported outcomes, and optimize clinical trial recruiment.

A chief medical officer for a major payer outlines the challenges making sure that certain high-cost therapies are directed to the patients who need them.

Vivor has a provider-facing technology platform that empowers providers to address financial toxicity by proactively identifying financial resources for their patients, said Ian Manner, MBA, co-founder, CEO, Vivor.

Representatives from 3 payers who partnered with providers on the Oncology Care Model (OCM) took the stage at Community Oncology Alliance (COA)’s Payer Exchange Summit on Oncology Payment Reform to outline their experience with OCM and how it has differed from other care models.

The move to give entrepreneurs access to patient-approved continuous glucose monitoring data fits with the company's prediction that insulin pumps will become a thing of the past, and most of the heavy lifting of delivery will be done by a smartphone.

The report finds that the same technology that physicians use to remind patients about appointments can be used to send reminders about screenings or that a payment is past due.

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute has released the first-ever COPD National Action Plan, which is aimed at ending the illness.

The Network for Excellence in Health Innovation finds potential areas of innovation and then tries to eliminate the obstacles to those ideas so its members can achieve the triple aim, according to Susan Dentzer, president and CEO of The Network for Excellence in Health Innovation.

Over 65,000 ineligible providers have been culled from the Medicaid program due to a component of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that requires periodic recertification of eligibility.

What we’re reading, January 17, 2017: a newly finalized federal rule eases record sharing of drug abuse treatment between providers; numerous rallies in support of Obamacare draw thousands across the nation; HHS nominee Representative Tom Price allegedly introduced a Congress bill that favored his stock holdings.

Using precision medicine to implement clinical decisions can help healthcare providers achieve the triple aim, said Leonard M. Fromer, MD, FAAFP, executive medical director of the Group Practice Forum.

As the healthcare system adjusts to the transition to value-based care, providers in particular are having a hard time keeping up with all of the changes, said Andrei Gonzales, director of value-based reimbursement initiatives at McKesson Health Solutions.

Last month, the healthcare payment network InstaMed announced that it was the first in the industry to achieve point-to-point encryption (P2PE) v2.0 validation. How important is this level of encryption for healthcare? What will this mean for those who seek better protection of their payment card data?

At the Payer Exchange Summit V, sponsored by the Community Oncology Alliance (COA), 2 employer groups and a provider participated on a panel to provide practical insight into the extraordinary challenges and decisions faced by employers and employees with a cancer diagnosis.

Lawmakers have been working on the problem of what to do about out-of-network bills that result from emergency room care for more than a year.

There are signs that smaller providers, in particular, are not moving toward value-based reimbursement at the same pace as larger healthcare stakeholders.

Coverage from Patient-Centered Diabetes Care, April 7-8, 2016. Presented by The American Journal of Managed Care and Joslin Diabetes Center.

Marketplace consumers desire more health plan measures on how well plans support long-term patient—physician relationships. Consumers are skeptical of measures about rewarding providers for high quality.

The Affordable Care Act and additional legislation that has mandated extending mental health parity coverage are contributing to an increased demand for mental health services that the United States is not meeting.

Cancer pathways can potentially improve patient outcomes and reduce costs. Recent concerns about pathway adoption deserve attention, including excessive administrative burden to clinics.

Members of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) have articulated concerns regarding the current proliferation of clinical pathways in oncology that could affect patient access and care quality. In response, ASCO established an ad hoc Task Force, which issued a policy statement to guide the future development and implementation of these treatment management tools.

The state's first-of-its-kind model for delivering Medicaid creates brings managed care concepts without commercial insurers to the one of the nation's poorest markets.

An accompanying editorial says doctors are not irresponsible; they lack access to information about patients'prior overdoses.

Sessions on obesity and the role of technology in disease management will be part of the annual gathering of stakeholders, presented by The American Journal of Managed Care, April 7-8, 2016, at the Teaneck Marriott at Glenpointe in Teaneck, New Jersey.

Providers and payers came together to discuss challenges and share success stories as they adapt to the changing healthcare realm.

Critics say there's little documentation for the $51.3 million in savings the Branstad administration says it will achieve in the first 6 months of 2016.

An earlier plan from Governor Gary Herbert that was paid for with existing state funds was rejected by the legislature. The current plan would add 95,000 Utahns to Medicaid, with hospitals paying most of the state's share after 2017.

An analysis of provider networks offered in the Affordable Care Act's marketplaces found large variation of the prevalence narrow networks among the states, according to researchers at the University of Pennsylvania.

With various healthcare stakeholders having different wants and needs from the healthcare system, meetings that bring all parties together in one room are important, according to Suzanne F. Delbanco, executive director of Catalyst for Payment Reform, and keynote speaker at the spring live meeting of the ACO and Emerging Healthcare Delivery Coalition.