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The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently released more detailed ACO-level data for participants in first two years of the Pioneer ACO Model. The program, which is designed for health systems with more experience...
The National Health Service Corps has been a key program in offering access to primary care in rural and underserved areas since its establishment in 1972.  President Barack Obama's 2009 stimulus package and the Patient Protection and...
Sixty years ago, an American who made it to 65 could expect to live an additional 14 years. Today, Consumer Reports notes, it's 19 years. So how do we grow older healthfully so that we can enjoy those extra years? No matter whether you've...
The financial burden of health information exchange (HIE) and the difficulty of wrangling multiple vendors into some sense of interoperability are among the top challenges facing the national health IT infrastructure and the shift towards...
Rural and economically disadvantaged areas of the country pose a daunting challenge to boosting primary care services, a recent UnitedHealth Group study has found. But there is no single pathway toward expanding access and capacity, it...
Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell announced today that because of to the Affordable Care Act, $283 million has been invested in the National Health Service Corps (NHSC) in fiscal year 2014 to increase access to primary...
The trail blazed by Pioneer accountable care organizations (ACOs) is bumpier for some ACOs than for others, according to financial data released Thursday by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Of the 32 original...
The recent 90-day review of the Military Healthcare System found it  “comparable in access, quality and safety to average private-sector health care,” Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told a press conference last week. That was disappointing...
Per medical school curriculum, an MD candidate is exposed to various types of medicine and specialties in order to gauge their interests and acquire hands-on experience. With this norm, it may be hard to gain insight into real, long-term...
The CMS published for the first time the quality and financial performance for individual Pioneer accountable care organizations, a small, select group enlisted for Medicare's most ambitious test of the payment model. First year financial...
As we approach the one-year anniversary of Obamacare’s launch, the pundits continue to argue over whether or not it’s working. Meanwhile, something much bigger is happening. Whatever you think of its merits, the Affordable Care Act is re-...
A recent study described 60 persons who returned to an emergency department (ED) within 9 days after being discharged from it. (The study, "Return Visits to the Emergency Department: the Patient Perspective," was published online on...
Primary-care clinics recovered their financial investments in electronic health record (EHR) systems in 10 months on average, a recent study found, in part because EHRs allowed them to see more patients. Clinic revenue increased with EHR...
Jeffrey Brenner doesn’t believe in blaming a person for showing up at an emergency room for a cold or an ear infection, even if the illness could have been treated in a doctor’s office at much lower cost. Instead, he faults the health care...
Patient-centered medical home practices spend about a third more per patient than non–medical home practices but earn nearly twice as much per patient after operating costs, the Medical Group Management Association reported. Total...
Despite a projected surge in primary care visits as a result of coverage expansion, only one in six recent medical school graduates say they will pursue primary care as their field of residency, survey data from UnitedHealth shows. Better...
Medicaid has offered an attractive venue for states and the federal government to pursue patient-centered medical home (PCMH) innovation experiments, but one state initiative that launched before PCMH certification even began offered...
Today, Catalyst for Payment Reform (CPR) unveiled some potentially exciting news: Our 2014 National Scorecard on Payment Reform tells us 40 percent of commercial sector payments to doctors and hospitals now flow through value-oriented...
As a practicing ear, nose and throat specialist in Ahoskie, N.C., Dr. Raghuvir B. Gelot says that little has frustrated him more than the digital record system he installed a few years ago. The problem: His system, made by one company,...
Commercial health plans have “dramatically shifted” in how they pay hospitals and physicians, with 40 percent of all payments reflecting value over volume, but 60 percent of payments remain tied to the traditional fee-for-service model,...

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