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ACC CV Quality SmartBrief

The ACC CV Quality SmartBrief eNewsletter is a free, twice-weekly briefing for health care stakeholders interested in quality care. Learn more about the ACC CV Quality SmartBrief and subscribe.

  • Some value-based models do better than others

    Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation head Brad Smith said newer value-based care payment models based on a global budget have shown success, while others, such as those with bundled payments, have led to a lot of transformation but failed to show expected quality or savings improvements. Smith said some of the successful models had a "clear thesis" about quality and cost improvements. FierceHealthcare (9/22) Learn More

  • Collaborative releases 4 new sets of quality measures

    The Core Quality Measure Collaborative -- which includes the CMS, the National Quality Forum and America's Health Insurance Plans -- has developed four new quality measure sets designed to promote value-based care, and health insurance providers can use them to guide data collection on health care quality. The measures cover pediatrics; gastroenterology; gynecology and obstetrics; and hepatitis C and HIV. Health Payer Intelligence (9/22) Learn More

  • Joint replacement bundle narrows racial health gap

    A study in JAMA Network Open showed a bundled payment model for knee and joint replacements led to improved care for Black patients. The study included 700,000 patients who had joint replacement surgeries covered by Medicare between 2013 and 2017, and they found Black patients experienced a 3% reduction in readmission risk and lower use of institutional post-acute care after the implementation of Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement model in April 2016. Healthcare Finance (9/23) Learn More

  • House lawmakers call for lower APM bonus thresholds

    A bipartisan group of 29 lawmakers sent a letter to House leaders urging them to include a provision in the next pandemic relief package that would lower the qualifying thresholds for getting bonus payments under the advanced alternative payment models. According to the lawmakers, the pandemic will make it difficult for accountable care organizations and other APM participants to meet the current 50% threshold, which will increase to 75% under the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015. FierceHealthcare (9/21) Learn More

  • N.J. insurer says outcomes-based program cuts costs

    Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey said its shared accountability program with Atlantic Health System reduced costs by 5% and unnecessary hospitalizations by 9% in the program's first year, partly due to improved data sharing and patient support. Under the program, Horizon BCBS links reimbursement to clinical outcome and cost targets instead of patient volumes. Becker's Hospital Review (9/18) Learn More

  • Study: EHR-based CDS reduces wasteful spending

    Twenty-two of 27 studies reviewed showed that health care spending declined after deployment of EHR-based clinical decision support tools, researchers reported in BMC Health Services Research. Unnecessary laboratory testing and duplicate order entry rates declined, but maintenance costs and malfunctions could negate the savings, and order entry systems with default lists and orders could increase spending, researchers noted. EHR Intelligence (9/21) Learn More

  • Study suggests drone delivery of AEDs feasible, effective

    A pilot study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found drone delivery of an automated external defibrillator to a person with an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest was feasible and often faster than having a bystander go searching for an AED. "The drone landed safely, every time, within 10 feet of the person, and it usually beat a person trying to find an AED," said researcher Wayne Rosamond of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Medscape (free registration) (9/23) Learn More

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