HealthSounds

Among the myths surrounding care transitions management is the belief the intervention can be effectively executed pre-discharge or by phone only, explains Jennifer Drago, executive vice president of population health for Sun Health. In this audio interview, Ms. Drago dispels this myth, outlining requirements for a professionally designed, evidence-based transitions of care program, and why inclusion of dedicated staff and home visits will enhance clinical outcomes and possibly save lives.

Among other data, detail tables in a physician practice’s Quality Use and Resource Reports (QRURs) pinpoint specialist referral networks for Medicare beneficiaries, explains William Holding, consultant, PDA, Inc., which can help physician practices determine their highest value referral pathways. In this audio interview, Holding explains the benefits of tapping CMS-generated QRUR reports to enhance performance under Merit-Based Incentive Payment Systems (MIPS), one of two payment paths for physician reimbursement under MACRA.

Working to bridge the gap between hospital discharge and permanent supportive housing for homeless patients, the California-based Chronic Care Plus program found that 40 percent of client needs are related to social determinants, explains Paul Leon, CEO of the Illumination Foundation, a Chronic Care Plus joint venture partner. In this audio interview, Leon explains the need to not only house patients but also to connect them to a plethora of social services, including mental health appointments.

Identifying social determinants of health (SDH) requires providers to probe beyond the scope of clinical data. But how can health teams ensure that patients and health plan members provide valid data during SDH assessments? In this audio interview, Dr. Randall Williams, chief executive officer, Pharos Innovations, describes three scenarios to build trust and encourage individuals to share sensitive information during SDH interactions.

The engagement of patients, particularly those with multiple chronic conditions, continues to challenge healthcare providers. However, as Steven Valentine, vice president of advisory consulting services for Premier Inc., explains in this podcast, clinicians actually have a host of tools at their fingertips to engage patients—tools they must employ in order to succeed in value-based healthcare.

Prior to enrollment in MACRA’s Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS), physician practices should request their confidential Quality Use and Resource Report (QRUR) from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for crucial performance feedback, advises Barry Allison, chief information officer, the Center for Primary Care. In this podcast, Allison explains how to obtain a QRUR report, the origins of QRUR quality and cost data, and the benefits of leveraging QRUR feedback to improve the quality and efficiency of care delivered to attributed Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries and ultimately prosper under MACRA’s multi-pronged approach.

After UT Southwestern Accountable Care Network (UTSACN) discovered its home health spend was more than twice the national average, it applied data analytics to create a preferred home health network of 20 agencies (down from 1,200) that has saved more than $6 million in home health utilization in the first quarter of 2016 alone. In this podcast, Cathy Bryan, director of care coordination at UTSACN, describes the provider reeducation process supporting the launch of this narrow network that has improved accountability, data sharing and communications related to home health utilization.

Under its partnership with CMS to improve quality of care in long-term care (LTC) facilities by reducing avoidable hospitalizations, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center RAVEN project embeds clinical staff within eighteen nursing facilities. Here, April Kane, co-director of the RAVEN project, explains how the on-site presence of enhanced care and coordination providers (ECCPs) elevates the facility’s clinical capabilities, from goal development to advanced care planning.

Even when employing sophisticated predictive analytics to zero in on population health risk, healthcare organizations shouldn’t discount providers’ intuition, advises Luke Hansen, MD, vice president and chief medical officer, population health for AMITA Health. With a future plan to adopt a risk prediction tool, AMITA currently creates chronic illness registries to track its high-cost patients. Listen as Dr. Hansen discusses the tradeoffs of mathematically intense risk predictors versus physicians’ guts.

By focusing chiefly on moving high-risk patients down to the low-risk band, population health management programs are in danger of missing the “natural inertia” driving low-risk patients right back into that high-risk stratum, cautions Dr. Adrian Zai, clinical director of population informatics at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). Dr. Zai describes why MGH, ranked the number one hospital in the nation by U.S. News & World Report,® advocates a multi-pronged approach addressing both low-risk and rising risk patients—a strategy that has improved MGH care quality and provider performance while reducing high-cost healthcare utilization.