The future of health care can be rocky with the push to mandate population health and bundle payments as the standard measure for future reimbursement. The ACA, increasing cost of health care and mortality rates are the driving force. Although population health and bundle payments are voluntary programs at this time, it will become the standard of care model in the future. Although population health has been associated with ACOs and the MSSP programs, the future reimbursement model for health care goes beyond these programs as more and more insurance companies are pushing for quality care and reduction in cost. In addition, CMS is leading the charge to increase bundled payment models. In regards to bundled payments there is a growing momentum and as of August 5, 2014 approximately 2,368 new potential participants joined Phase one and new episodes will be added until October 2015 and more episodes will be added to additional models and phases along with the patient survey to evaluate the patient’s experience therefore CMS is expecting the program to continue to expand throughout the market (CMS: Bundled Payment for Care Improvement Initiative (BPCI) Fact Sheet, 2015). Therefore these two models that are voluntary today are moving toward being the stand of tomorrow.
The concept of population health is patient centric and is making inroad throughout the country and is broadly defined as a systematic effort to do three things that the U.S. health care system and its “utilize”
The patient centered medical homes (“PCMH”) approach “focuses on keeping people well, managing chronic conditions like diabetes or asthma, and proactively meeting the needs of patients.” According to the Arkansas Department of Health, chronic diseases like cancer heart disease or diabetes affect approximately over fifty percent of adult Arkansans. Yet chronic diseases are often preventable. The high rate of chronic diseases can partly be attributed health insurance coverage—“when people don’t have health insurance they tend to avoid seeing doctors. People
Healthcare is often driven by consumers and insurance companies; there is strong pushes for insurance companies to start paying better through Patient Care Medical Homes (PCMH) or Accountable Care Organizations (ACO) rather than paying at a per-visit basis (Hamlin, 2015). With PCMH or ACOs payment is made on a continuum of care, encouraging the provider to be involved in all aspects affecting health of the patient (Derksen, & Whelan,
Health care spending grew 3.7 percent in 2012 and the traditional way medicine was practiced had to change (Edlin, Goldman & Leive, 2014). The Affordable Care Act and Population Health was designed based on the concept of “The Triple Aim” to foster change in patient care by providing better care for individuals, better health for populations and decrease the cost of health through improved care (Perez, 2014). As a result, population management has moved to the front by linking services, reducing hospital admission, risk stratification, pursing preventive medicine, ensuring medication review and lowering health care cost. Several organizations have follow in the pursuit of population management by forming Accountable Care Organizations
There are many challenges that are defining the future strategic direction of health care such as information technology advancements, access to health care, maintaining a skilled workforce, proposed health care reform and legislation, and rising costs. I will look at these challenges and how an organization may adapt its direction and strategies in accordance with these challenges.
Identify and describe at least three of the most difficult issues facing health care in the United States today.
As stated above, 11.4% of the population is still uninsured or under-insured. Of these patients, 40% have outstanding medical bills that will most likely go unpaid to the providers (3). This equated to $74.9 billion in 2013 of total uncompensated care across hospital systems and community providers (4). Not surprisingly, hospitals took the brunt of this cost at 60%, equaling $45 billion in uncompensated care. This raises the question of whether providers or other organizations can supplement the already subsidized monthly premiums. In theory, this model would be a win-win for the patient and provider, such that the patient stays covered and the provider is reimbursed for their
In comparison to the fee-for-service reimbursement model, bundled payments support, and pay care coordination, while reducing cost among a patient’s provider. A bundled payment compensates all of a patient’s health care suppliers with a sole, fixed, all-inclusive payment that shields suggested clinical services associated to the patient’s treatment, episode, or illness over a well-defined period of time (Association, 2013). These disbursements can be modified and constructed based on the patient’s health status.
One of the greatest changes in healthcare in the past ten years has been the rise of managed care, much to the displeasure of many patients and physicians alike. Managed care arose out of concern about spiraling healthcare costs and was designed to encourage physicians to give patients treatments that were cost-effective out of their own financial interests. "The consumer strategy was directed at imposing some barriers to use by levying various forms of co-insurance. The most common approaches used either deductibles (where the consumer paid the first portion of the bill a technique familiar in other types of insurance) or co-payments (where the consumer paid a portion of the bill and the insurance company the rest) or a combination of both' (Kane et al 1994). Managed care has given health insurance companies an increasingly significant voice in how treatment is administered and allocated. Managed care has proliferated in the past decade despite considerable criticism of the practice of 'nickel and diming' patients as well as the considerable bureaucratic red tape it is has generated. Also, research indicates that healthy, well-insured patients tend to over-consume care without meaningful co-pays but poorer, sicker patients can be deterred even by moderate co-payments and suffer negative health consequences (Kane et al 1994). However, managed care has not gone away and is a reality that all healthcare
For this paper I have chosen to write about the future trends in the United States healthcare system regarding Financial and Insurance issues, and access to health care including the uninsured and those in the poverty levels. Health care financing is affected by many things and affects the society in many ways. The costs of health care can be kept affordable for both individuals and society. It is not really the costs of health insurance that
Managed care is and has been consider an effective approach to the quality of health care in America. There is a debate among health care professionals, government regulatory agencies, and the public on how best to reduce the ever escalating health care cost while delivering the best evidence based treatment methodology to our clients. However, with the recent implementation of the Affordable Health Care Act, many health care providers are presented with a daunting task of providing leading edge innovations to their patients within the regulatory restraints placed on them by this act. Also, the future trend of health care is more about accountability to the consumers through the utilization of the consumer driven health plans with emphasis on account Based Health Saving Plans and transparency. The major impact on the delivery of quality care will be that the Affordable Health Care Act and how it will affect how insurance payers implement cost containing restraints, adhere to governmental regulations, and while delivering the best evidence medicine to the clients they serve.
Bundled payments reimburse multiple health care providers with a lump sum that reflects the expected costs for a predefined episode of care and post-acute care services . For instance, if a patient goes into surgery typically the payers would reimburse the surgeon, anesthesiologist, and hospital separately for the services provided . With a bundled payment model all providers would receive a set amount for the episode of care based off of previous cost . “If the costs of an episode of care are less than the bundled payment amount, the providers (hospital and physicians) can keep the difference; if the costs of care exceed the bundled payment, the providers bear the financial liability” . The bundle payment model is viewed as a mechanism to
The center set ought to concentrate on patient experience and engagement, results identified with consideration coordination like readmissions, measures of vital well-being confusions, and actions of the populace and preventive wellbeing Situated to a limited extent on the change model confirmed by Massachusetts in 2006, this government arrangement. Endeavor extends access to scope utilizing four mechanisms: an individual. Medicaid qualification; reconfiguring of business. Wellbeing protection market controls; and setting up, state- based medical coverage trades (Exchange) that are scheduled to open for business by 2014. We condensed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (PPACA) and inspected four cost regulation and quality-change instruments mechanisms with Medicare installment strategy that will be actualized by this as of late passed law. The PPACA will grow human services scope and advance packaged payment frameworks, responsible consideration associations, and the patient-focused therapeutic home as the vehicles for containing cost and enhancing social insurance quality. The enactment will likewise build up a free commission to order cost-regulation approach, which may have critical ramifications as far as doctor repayment. In spite of the fact that the late
The future and direction of health care has been the topic of discussion amongst politician and U.S citizens today. There are several challenges surrounding the future and strategic direction in which health care should be heading. Accreditation, quality of health care and organization’s compliance; access to health care, maintaining a skilled workforce, information technology and pay for performance are some of the challenges that currently presenting itself in healthcare today. If health care is not dealt with appropriately it will have a significant effect an impact on the strategic direction in the future and direction of care.
Growing up in England, we never worried about seeking medical attention, as the National Health Service (NHS) covered everyone. Health care providers were always available, at any time of the day. Coming to the U.S. for the first time was very disheartening, based on the reports about the lack of medical care to those without insurance. The hospitals appeared to focus more on if a person had adequate health insurance, versus their immediate medical condition.
The future trends in health care are limitless. From using applications that perform EKG’s to robot-assisted surgery, the rapid expansion of technology applications in health care is astounding. Advancing technology also pushes the boundaries of health care in its ability to integrate health care information. The integration of health care information is critical to the effective, efficient delivery of quality care in a now fragmented health care system. This paper will assess how the internet or any new forms of electronic communication can be used as an external delivery source of communicating patient-specific information, address the impact of distance delivery on health care, how these communication issues impact health care today and