AJMC® in the Press, December 30, 2016

An article in HealthIT Analytics by Jacqueline Belliveau discussed the findings of a study recently published in The American Journal of Managed Care^® (AJMC^®) about the impact of a value-based program on high-need patients. The study, “Sustained Participation in a Pay-for-Value Program: Impact on High-Need Patients,” evaluated whether pay-for-value programs adopted by primary care practices (PCP) translated into better care for high-need patients. The study found that while PCPs participating in the program could reduce 30- and 90-day readmissions, reduce emergency department visits, and improve the overall quality of care for the patients, medical and surgical costs were not lowered.

 

Participation in an accountable care organization (ACO) has significant bearing on the adoption of health information technology (IT) compared with non-ACO hospitals. This was the bottom line of another AJMC^® study, which included an analysis of data from US nonfederal, acute care hospitals. Measures considered in the analysis included those of Meaningful Use (MU), Stage 1 and Stage 2 core and menu criteria,  patient engagement—oriented health IT, and health information exchange participation. Referencing this study in her article in Hospital EMR & EHR, Anne Zieger expressed hope that ACO incentives will push participating hospitals to make more strategic investments in health IT than ever before.

 

But does health IT impact patient satisfaction scores? According to a paper in The American Journal of Accountable Care^® (AJAC^®), it may not. What does this mean for healthcare providers who are adopting health IT sparked by federal incentive programs, such as MU, asks Sara Heath as she discussed the AJAC^® study in Patient EngagementHIT. The retrospective study compared the percentage of top-box patient responses on the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Provider and System survey, prior to and after the implementation of electronic medication administration record, computerized provider order entry, and electronic progress notes. The researchers found that the combined impact of health IT had mixed results, none of which were significant.