Value-Based Payment Incentives Heighten Hospitals' Focus on Quality, Efficiency, and Readmissions

WASHINGTON, Feb. 4, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Senior policymakers attended an event hosted by The Advisory Board Company on Friday on Capitol Hill that focused on real-life efforts of health systems around the country to improve patient care under three new Medicare value payment programs: the Readmissions Reduction Program, Hospital-Acquired Conditions penalties, and Value-Based Purchasing Program. 

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A panel of senior executives from three leading health systems discussed their experiences with these payment changes, explaining how their organizations are responding to these initiatives and how these efforts are impacting patient care on the front lines.  Even within the current fee-for-service reimbursement model, numerous health systems are developing strategies to address gaps in quality and efficiency of care, with care coordination and powerful analytic tools playing important roles.

Policy advisors from Congress, the Administration, HHS, and leading think tanks around D.C. attended the event in order to better understand the implications of the three key payment reforms that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has introduced.  Jonathan Blum, CMS Deputy Administrator and Director for the Center of Medicare, underscored the significance of these initiatives in a keynote address.

The panel discussion included:

• Thomas Heleotis, MD, Chief Medical Officer of Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch, N.J.;
• Ann Hendrich, RN, Ph.D, Chief Nursing Officer at Ascension Health in St. Louis;
• Christopher Lloyd, Chief Executive Officer at Memorial Hermann Physician Network in Houston;
• Christopher Dawe, Director of Delivery System Reform at the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, D.C.; and
• Eric Fontana, Practice Manager, Research and Insights at The Advisory Board Company in Washington, D.C.

Friday's session was the latest in a series of Reports from the Front Lines briefings on the practical impact of health care transformation sponsored by The Advisory Board Company.   As reforms continue to be introduced by CMS and are potentially replicated by private payers, providers are rethinking how to better organize care to reduce readmissions and deliver greater value over the entire episode of care.  Beyond Medicare's incentives, the most powerful motivation to address these issues seem to be public- and private-sector bundled payment, shared savings, and capitation payment arrangements. 

"These Reports from the Front Lines events are designed to help health policy leaders understand the current state of the U.S. health care system," said Frederick Isasi, Senior Health Policy Advisor and Managing Director, Government Strategies at The Advisory Board Company.  "In particular, we aim to bring new information from a wide range of providers across the nation to the policy community.  We believe that providing this information in a nonpartisan and unbiased manner is critical to ensuring that national efforts to transform healthcare are effective and scalable."

"The panelists telling their real-life stories to senior policy leadership is tremendously helpful in informing the design of value-based care and patient satisfaction programs that will achieve the key aims of reducing readmissions, adhering to evidence-based processes, and elevating overall patient experience," said Tom Cassels, Executive Director, Research and Insights at The Advisory Board Company.

The Advisory Board Company employs more than 2,000 professionals worldwide and gathers authoritative insights from the on-the-ground experience of its network of 150,000 leaders at 3,100 health care institutions in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.  All told, The Advisory Board Company sponsors more than 180 national meetings annually for its members in 46 content areas; these draw more than 11,000 attendees. 

The Advisory Board Company's members include the senior leadership of 99 of the 100 largest health care systems in the United States and all 17 of the U.S. News and World Report "honor roll" hospitals.  In addition, the firm's membership includes more than 1,000 small-to-medium-sized community hospitals and provider organizations.  

For more information on The Advisory Board Company's health policy work, please visit our health policy home page, http://www.advisory.com/Health-Policy/About-Health-Policy.

About The Advisory Board Company
The Advisory Board Company is a global technology, research, and consulting firm partnering with organizations across health care and higher education. Through its innovative membership model, the firm collaborates with executives and their teams to elevate performance and solve their most pressing challenges.  The company provides strategic guidance, actionable insights, web-based software solutions, and comprehensive implementation and management services.  For more information about The Advisory Board Company, visit http://www.advisory.com. 

SOURCE The Advisory Board Company