The Rundown | Week of 6.12.2017

Healthcare is a rapidly evolving industry – it’s difficult to read up on everything that matters to you. But the success of your practice can depend on how knowledgeable you are about changes in the healthcare landscape. Privia has compiled a weekly list of important articles we are reading on healthcare industry trends, clinical best practices and legislative updates for your convenience. Here are some of the important articles and blogs on healthcare that stood out this week:

• AHIP: No matter the political landscape, value-based care will continue, Healthcare Finance

>> “The experts agree value-based care will continue, no matter the political landscape. ‘I think the key system of health transformation will continue,’ said Patrick Conway, MD, deputy administrator for Innovation and Quality for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and director for the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation. Also continuing, according to Conway, is CMMI, which has 26 major payment models. The election of President Trump brought speculation that Congress would do away with CMMI because it initiated models without first gaining Congressional funding approval. ‘None of the legislation on the Hill changes the Innovation Center,’ Conway said during America’s Health Insurance Plans Institute & Expo in Austin, Texas. ‘We’re seeing a shift towards alternate payment models across the private and public sector.’”

• Top three patient care essentials, Managed Healthcare Executive

>> “When Myers says care has to be personal, what he means is clinicians need to spend more time with patients—and the care patients receive has to be evidence-based, while realizing that there’s no ‘one-size-fits-all approach,’ he said.”

• For first time, physician practice owners are not the majority, AMA Wire

>> “2016 marks the first year in which physician practice ownership is no longer the majority arrangement. According to data drawn from the AMA’s Physician Practice Benchmark Surveys, 47.1 percent of physicians are practice owners. The same percentage of physicians are employed, while 5.9 percent are independent contractors.”

• These 10 health care rules are bad for care, providers and patients argue, Advisory Board

>> “According to the authors, 24 Alliance members participated in the challenge. Overall, participants listed 342 rules, regulations, and hospital practices that they said posed little or no value to patients. The top 10 rules that respondents said should be changed are: 1. Visiting hours and other policies that limit visitors’ ability to spend time with patients, which garnered 15 mentions.”

• The Doctor Is In. Co-Pay? $40,000., New York Times

>> “Money has always made a big difference in the medical world: fancier rooms at hospitals, better food and access to the latest treatments and technology. Concierge practices, where patients pay several thousand dollars a year so they can quickly reach their primary care doctor, with guaranteed same-day appointments, have been around for decades. But these aren’t the concierge doctors you’ve heard about — and that’s intentional. Dr. Shlain’s Private Medical group does not advertise and has virtually no presence on the web, and new patients come strictly by word of mouth. But with annual fees that range from $40,000 to $80,000 per family (more than 10 times what conventional concierge practices charge), the suite of services goes far beyond 24-hour access or a Nespresso machine in the waiting room.”