- 17 new health systems join Next Gen ACO model. Seventeen new health systems signed up for CMS' Next Generation ACO model this year, according to CMS data. With the addition of the 17 new systems and the loss of three prior participants, the Next Generation ACO model now has 58 participants. The model now covers about two million patients, according to CMS.
- Providers in the dark on MIPS exemptions. MACRA's Quality Payment Program (QPP) entered its second reporting year this month, but CMS has yet to inform health care professionals of whether they will be required to adhere to the QPP's Merit-based Incentive Payment System reporting requirements. CMS has estimated 934,000 providers will be exempt from MIPS for the 2018 reporting year.
- NJ doctors create bundled payment system for breast cancer. Andrew Pecora and Stuart Goldberg, physicians at Hackensack Meridian Health in New Jersey, have developed a disease classification system for breast cancer bundled payments. HHS is reviewing the system to see whether it could be used nationwide.
From Advisory Board:
- Learn how to build a high-performing clinical enterprise: Part 2. Join us on Friday, Jan. 26, where we'll provide the blueprint for building an efficient physician enterprise that is highly productive and economically sustainable.
- Advance health equity—and improve outcomes of at-risk patients. Join us on Thursday, Feb. 1, to pinpoint the areas of health inequity that need the most attention in your community. Learn the steps for gathering quantitative and qualitative data to determine community-level health disparities and inform strategic plans.
- Get the strategies to manage your cancer program's margins in 2018. Join us on Thursday, Feb. 8, to learn how changes in reimbursement and regulations are affecting your cancer program's margins and get the strategies to identify and grow profitable oncology services.