Viewpoints: Forcing Competition Among Insurers; CMS And The ‘Most’ Attractive ACO Model
Vox: Obamacare Shows Why Health Insurers Should Be More Like Southwest Airlines
For competition to revolutionize the insurance market, enrollees have to actually force insurers to compete for their business. Happily, that’s exactly what enrollees did. (Ezra Klein, 4/14)Health Affairs Blog: Today’s Most Attractive National ACO Model Is Offered By…CMS
A large national payer recently announced the opportunity for Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) to share in 100 percent of the savings they create for the payer’s largest book of business. Providers will have complete autonomy in how they manage the health of their population, and the payer will ensure the timely flow of datasets needed to support care improvement activities. The payer will pre-define the ACO’s population and its spending benchmark, which will be adjusted for the risk of the ACO population. Consumers aligned to the ACO will be offered supplemental benefits and financial incentives to seek care from the ACO’s network. (Chris Dawe, Nico Lewine, and Mike Miesen, 4/15)The Wall Street Journal: How The 15-Minute Doctor’s Appointment Hurts Health Care
How would you react if you sent your sputtering car to the auto mechanic, and they stopped trying to diagnose the problem after 15 minutes? You would probably revolt if they told you that your time was up and gave back the keys. Yet in medicine, it’s common for practices to schedule patient visits in 15-minute increments—often for established patients with less complex needs. Physicians face pressure to mind the clock while they examine you. (Peter Pronovost, 4/15)STAT: Why Aren’t Millions Of Americans Getting Preventive Care?
We were recently involved in a new report that analyzed prevention measures across all 50 states. It looked at prevention through the lenses of access to health care, immunizations, and efforts to prevent chronic disease. The final report, United Health Foundation’s America’s Health Rankings Spotlight: Prevention, released in partnership with the American College of Preventive of Medicine, revealed troubling disparities in access to recommended preventive care. (Reid Tuckson and Daniel S. Blumenthal, 4/15)The Des Moines Register: Let Medicare Negotiate Prices For Prescription Drugs
In newspaper ads across America, an entity calling itself the American Action Network encourages seniors to call their congressmen and voice their opposition to a bill that would, supposedly, harm Medicare beneficiaries. The American Action Network is not a grassroots of organization of seniors, although you might think that from the ads, one of which has appeared in The Des Moines Register. They depict seniors and use the phrase, “Don’t Cut Our Medicare!” (4/14)
Category: Articles
