Roji Intel Blog

Robert McNutt, M.D. 0
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Future of Health CareMedical Decision-MakingPatient EmpowermentResearch
June 7, 2017

Physician Comparisons Based on Performance Don’t Tell the Right Story

Medical decision-making requires a comparison. There is, most often, more than a single option for your care. New tests and treatments are constantly being added to the medical portfolio by scientific inquiry. The only way to advance care, in fact, is by comparing options. Comparing incites a difficult task, however: the compared option that is best for your disease-related outcome may be worse for your test- or treatment-related outcomes. For example, for men with early stage prostate cancer, surgery may reduce the chance of dying of prostate cancer from 8 to 6 percent over 10 years, but surgery increases, simultaneously,…
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Dave Halpert 0
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MACRAPerformance ImprovementQualified Clinical Data Registry Reporting
May 31, 2017

How to Improve Patient Outcomes with a Multi-Specialty QCDR

Care coordination and HIT interoperability are touted throughout the healthcare world as “must haves” for any provider, practice or health system. The reason is simple: information from multiple sources helps providers and patients to make informed clinical decisions and provide better care. A key pillar in any program that quantifies whether providers are “meaningfully using” their EHRs is the ability to send and receive information on a specific patient. If that’s true at the point of care, doesn’t it make sense that performance measurement and improvement would benefit from the same treatment? Qualified Clinical Data Registries (QCDRs) were created specifically…
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Theresa Hush 0
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Future of Health CareMedical Decision-MakingPatient Empowerment
May 24, 2017

Can Consumers Help Reduce Rising Costs of Medical Technology?

In years to come, the current health care financial scene may seem like the “good old days” of health care for middle class Americans. Despite escalating consumer costs, proposed cuts in coverage, and an ever-rising cost of care, most Americans can still access health care services. They believe health care will be there for them, even if not everyone can get it. But the affordability of health care, regardless of coverage source, will soon be everyone’s problem. Medicare is projected to run out of money in only 10 years (some say less), and each year the cost of health care…
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Dave Halpert 2
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Alternative Payment Models (APM)Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS)Qualified Clinical Data Registry ReportingValue-Based Health Care
May 17, 2017

Increase MIPS Versatility and Results with an ONC-Health IT Certified QCDR

Providers focusing on MACRA in 2017 have a menu of choices for implementation—perhaps even too many. But don’t overlook this option for meeting requirements for MIPS (or preparing for an Alternative Payment Model or APM): a Qualified Clinical Data Registry (QCDR). And make sure that your review of the QCDR option focuses on the top tier. That means your QCDR should be both ONC-Health IT Certified and have capabilities that go beyond quality reporting. There is a growing recognition of the unique role that clinical registries may play in improving outcomes over time, and related benefits. CMS has reinforced that…
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Theresa Hush 0
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Clinical Data RegistryFuture of Health CarePatient EmpowermentValue-Based Health Care
May 3, 2017

Health Care Providers Need Performance Data Audits to Market Trust

Health care systems once thought it was crude and undignified to use marketing to attract patients. No more. Now they use qualitative anecdotes to promote status at a time when data is king and consumers view comparative quality data on the Internet. Why not use quantitative evidence? Because their data doesn’t promote their cause—and even they don’t believe it. That avoidance behavior is a huge mistake. Health care organizations need to take steps now to turn performance data into valid indicators of both quality and cost. Otherwise they will risk losing control over their stories as providers of excellence. Consumers…
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Thomas Dent, M.D. 0
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Future of Health CareMedical Decision-MakingMedical EducationPatient EmpowermentPerformance ImprovementQualified Clinical Data Registry Reporting
April 26, 2017

Primary Care Physicians’ Ethical Dilemma: Meet Goals for Patients or Practice Owners?

Primary care physicians are on a collision course with health care consumers—their patients. While trying to deliver best clinical care, they must navigate a competitive business environment that encourages higher spending. The business of health care has undergone rapid consolidation in physician practice ownership. Spurred by the need to compete for patients, use EMR technology and manage within the heavily regulated health care industry, physicians have moved from smaller to larger group practices. Primary care physicians have made this transition faster than specialists by selling their practices, and are now more likely to be employed by a hospital. But this…
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Theresa Hush 0
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Future of Health CareMACRAMerit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS)Patient EmpowermentPerformance ImprovementValue-Based Health Care
April 20, 2017

Can Value-Based Health Care Help Consumers Choose Doctors? 
12 Questions to Ask

Do consumers and other health care purchasers have the ability to choose providers based on quality and cost? That’s the assumption beneath attempts by Medicare and health plans to reimburse providers based on their ability to deliver better quality while constraining costs. Value-Based Health Care also includes programs by commercial insurance to offer “narrow” provider networks that select physicians and hospitals by performance. Choosing value presumes that consumers and employers have the right knowledge and information to select providers who deliver the best clinical results at lower cost. The need to provide that information has fueled efforts over the past…
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Theresa Hush 0
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MACRAMerit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS)Qualified Clinical Data Registry Reporting
April 5, 2017

Do Centers of Excellence Lose Under New MACRA MIPS Episodic Cost Measures?

Health systems’ Centers of Excellence that attract patients through clinical prowess may be heading for an upset. Under the MACRA MIPS program now entering its first year, physicians will be scored for cost performance in some of the same clinical areas that they have promoted to distinguish their care—and compared against their peers. Since Centers of Excellence are likely to be higher cost in comparison with other providers, associated episodic cost measures may possibly be used to penalize their providers. The impact won’t be felt immediately, however; in 2017 the MIPS Cost component is scored but not calculated in the…
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Theresa Hush 0
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Future of Health CareMACRAPatient EmpowermentPerformance ImprovementValue-Based Health Care
March 29, 2017

Why Bundled Payments Are a Win-Win for Specialists and Health Care Consumers

Bundled payments, a health care payment innovation that has been widely praised for controlling costs, recently got a bad rap. Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price  has delayed implementation of the final Medicare rule for several bundled payment programs that were set to start this year. He has criticized the bundled payments initiative for moving too fast and “experimenting with patients’ health.” Other industry experts disagree. They strongly favor the concept for both improving care and cutting costs. Bundled payments reimburse physicians and hospitals according to a set fee that includes all care associated with a procedure or…
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Theresa Hush 0
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Future of Health CareMedical Decision-MakingPatient EmpowermentPerformance Improvement
February 14, 2017

Turning Patients into Health Care Consumers—For Economic Survival

If we want to help people take better charge of their health—both physically and financially—we should start by treating them as real consumers, instead of patients. While that may seem like a simple change in terminology, it is anything but. A Patient Is a Recipient of Services, Not the Actor Health care organizations often work hard to welcome patients and provide as many services as needed. They design facilities to be comfortable, and there are often superb training programs for staff to be courteous, communicative, and to make patients comfortable. But let’s be honest. Health care is a business concern,…
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