- AMA, ASAM to pilot new APM for opioid use disorder. The American Medical Association and the American Society of Addiction Medicine are seeking physician practices and insurers interested in piloting a new alternative payment model (APM) aimed at curbing costs, improving care quality, and facilitating care coordination for the treatment of opioid use disorder. The APM, called P-COAT, features two kinds of payment plans, one focused on initiating medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for opioid use disorder—including evaluation and diagnosis—while the second would support MAT maintenance, including social services and continuing outpatient care.
- Study: ACOs may underutilize PCPs. Medicare beneficiaries with chronic conditions who are participating in ACOs may underutilize primary care providers (PCPs), according to a new study. For the study, researchers assessed data on 3.7 million visits to 219 ACOs made by 1.1 million Medicare beneficiaries in 2013. All the beneficiaries had at least one of eight chronic conditions, such as asthma or diabetes, that could be treated by PCPs. The researchers found that while on average 61% of beneficiaries' visits for chronic care management were to PCPs, the figure varied substantially among ACOs—ranging from 34% to 81%—and by the type of chronic condition. For instance, beneficiaries used PCPs for most diabetes management visits, but for only 17.5% of depression management visits.
- US News will add patient experience ratings to your physicians' profiles. U.S. News & World Report last week announced that it has partnered with Binary Fountain—a company that provides patient feedback management solutions—to publish patient experience ratings on U.S. News' physician profile pages. According to a release, individuals using U.S. News' Doctor Finder website "will now have the ability to access an overall patient satisfaction rating, alongside as many as 10 individual patient experience metrics related to common topics that prospective patients care about when choosing a new provider." The ratings incorporate patients' input on metrics "such as good communication, clarity of instructions, provider's attitude, and follow-up," the release stated. U.S. News said it will add the data to its physician profiles over the next several months.
From Advisory Board:
- State of the Union: The next wave of health care reform. Join us on Tuesday, April 24 at 1:00 p.m. ET, to get the most up-to-date analysis on the future of health care reform and get our latest guidance on how hospital and health system leaders should proceed amid uncertainty.
- How to develop a comprehensive opioid response strategy. Join us on Monday, April 30 at 3:00 p.m. ET, to learn how to establish a comprehensive, proactive approach to combating the opioid crisis and the data-driven framework and key performance indicators that will help you track your progress in this ongoing effort.
- Transform your business model for Medicaid risk. Join us on Tuesday, May 15 at 1:00 p.m. ET, to learn how, with the increased financial flexibility of Medicaid risk, health systems can adapt their existing care management infrastructure to better manage the Medicaid population.