Dr Michael Kolodziej on the Transition to Value-Based Payments

Despite the politics involved in healthcare, it seems unlikely that the industry to going to stop its migration toward more accountability for quality, said Michael Kolodziej, MD, national medical director of managed care strategy at Flatiron Health.

Transcript (slightly modified)

Do you think the decision by HHS Secretary Tom Price, MD, to back away from mandatory bundled payments will affect the industry’s transition to value-based payments?

Ironically, Dr Price’s biggest bone was with the mandatory bundle, and he is, of course, an orthopedist.

I think in oncology, because the OCM [Oncology Care Model] was a voluntary model, people tell me that it’s very popular in Washington, DC. People really like it; it is a much more patient-centric model as opposed to a purely economic model. I believe we will definitely see the OCM survive—there may be tweaks.

I think the real question is—and if you know this please share it with me—in 3 years, where does the administration sit in terms of what happens in healthcare? You know, this last week we had the introduction of the Medicare for All stuff, I think pretty much everybody believes that that’s posturing and is not going to go anywhere. But, I think the idea that we are going to successfully migrate to some sort of accountability for quality and rewarding financial equality—I don’t think we’re going back from that. I think we’re going forward. MACRA [Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act] may be a clumsy attempt at it, but I think that MACRA is a pretty good indicator that this is going to affect every nook and cranny of American medicine.