Financial Hardships Of Medicare Beneficiaries With Serious Illness.

In a national survey, seriously ill Medicare beneficiaries described financial hardships resulting from their illness-despite high beneficiary satisfaction with Medicare overall and the fact that many have supplemental insurance. About half reported a serious problem paying medical bills, with prescription drugs proving most onerous.

How Accountable Care Organizations Use Population Segmentation to Care for High-Need, High-Cost Patients.

Issue: New payment and care delivery models such as accountable care organizations (ACOs) have prompted health care delivery systems to better meet the requirements of their high-need, high-cost (HNHC) patients. Goal: To explore how a group of mature ACOs are seeking to match patients with appropriate interventions by segmenting HNHC populations with similar needs into smaller subgroups. Methods: Semistructured telephone interviews with 34 leaders from 18 mature ACOs and 10 national experts knowledgeable about risk stratification and segmentation. Key Findings and Conclusions: ACOs use a range of approaches to segment their HNHC patients. Although there was no consistent set of subgroups for HNHC patients across ACOs, there were some common ones. Respondents noted that when primary care clinicians were engaged in refining segmentation approaches, there was an increase in both the clinical relevance of the results as well as the willingness of frontline providers to use them. Population segmentation results informed ACOs' understanding of program needs, for example, by helping them better understand what skill sets and staff were needed to deliver enhanced care management. Findings on how mature ACOs are segmenting their HNHC population can improve the future development of more systematic approaches.

How High-Need Patients Experience Health Care in the United States. Findings from the 2016 Commonwealth Fund Survey of High-Need Patients.

Issue: Health care costs are highly concentrated among people with multiple chronic conditions, behavioral health problems, and those with physical limitations or disabilities. With a better understanding of these patients' challenges, health care systems and providers can address patients' complex social, behavioral, and medical needs more effectively and efficiently. Goal: To investigate how the challenges faced by this population affect their experiences with the health care system and examine potential opportunities for improvement. Methods: Analysis of the 2016 Commonwealth Fund Survey of High-Need Patients, June­September 2016. Key findings and conclusions: The health care system is currently failing to meet the complex needs of these patients. High-need patients have greater unmet behavioral health and social issues than do other adults and require greater support to help manage their complex medical and nonmedical requirements. Results indicate that with better access to care and good patient­provider communication, high-need patients are less likely to delay essential care and less likely to go to the emergency department for nonurgent care, and thus less likely to accrue avoidable costs. For health systems to improve outcomes and lower costs, they must assess patients' comprehensive needs, increase access to care, and improve how they communicate with patients.

High-Need, High-Cost Patients: Who Are They and How Do They Use Health Care? A Population-Based Comparison of Demographics, Health Care Use, and Expenditures.

Issue: Finding ways to improve outcomes and reduce spending for patients with complex and costly care needs requires an understanding of their unique needs and characteristics. Goal: Examine demographics and health care spending and use of services among adults with high needs, defined as people who have three or more chronic diseases and a functional limitation in their ability to care for themselves or perform routine daily tasks. Methods: Analysis of data from the 2009­2011 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey. Key findings: High-need adults differed notably from adults with multiple chronic diseases but no functional limitations. They had average annual health care expenditures that were nearly three times higher­and which were more likely to remain high over two years of observation­and out-of-pocket expenses that were more than a third higher, despite their lower incomes. Rates of hospital use for high-need adults were more than twice those for adults with multiple chronic conditions only; high-need adults also visited the doctor more frequently and used more home health care. Costs and use of services also varied widely within the high-need group. Conclusion: These findings suggest that interventions should be targeted and tailored to high-need individuals most likely to benefit.

How Strong Is the Primary Care Safety Net? Assessing the Ability of Federally Qualified Health Centers to Serve as Patient-Centered Medical Homes.

By expanding access to affordable insurance coverage for millions of Americans, the Affordable Care Act will likely increase demand for the services provided by federally qualified health centers (FQHCs), which provide an important source of care in low-income communities. A pair of Commonwealth Fund surveys asked health center leaders about their ability to function as medical homes. Survey findings show that between 2009 and 2013, the percentage of centers exhibiting medium or high levels of medical home capability almost doubled, from 32 percent to 62 percent. The greatest improvement was reported in patient tracking and care management. Despite this increased capability, health centers reported diminished ability to coordinate care with providers outside of the practice, particularly specialists. Ongoing federal funding and technical support for medical home transformation will be needed to ensure that FQHCs can fulfill their mission of providing high-quality, comprehensive care to low-income and minority populations.

The Affordable Care Act's payment and delivery system reforms: a progress report at five years.

In addition to its expansion and reform of health insurance coverage, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) contains numerous provisions intended to resolve underlying problems in how health care is delivered and paid for in the United States. These provisions focus on three broad areas: testing new delivery models and spreading successful ones, encouraging the shift toward payment based on the value of care provided, and developing resources for systemwide improvement. This brief describes these reforms and, where possible, documents their initial impact at the ACA's five-year mark. While it is still far too early to offer any kind of definitive assessment of the law's transformation-seeking reforms, it is clear that the ACA has spurred activity in both the public and private sectors, and is contributing to momentum in states and localities across the U.S. to improve the value obtained for our health care dollars.

The safety net medical home initiative: transforming care for vulnerable populations.

BACKGROUND: Despite findings that medical homes may reduce or eliminate health care disparities among underserved and minority populations, most previous medical home pilot and demonstration projects have focused on health care delivery systems serving commercially insured patients and Medicare beneficiaries. OBJECTIVES: To develop a replicable approach to support medical home transformation among diverse practices serving vulnerable and underserved populations. DESIGN: Facilitated by a national program team, convening organizations in 5 states provided coaching and learning community support to safety net practices over a 4-year period. To guide transformation, we developed a framework of change concepts aligned with supporting tools including implementation guides, activity checklists, and measurement instruments. SUBJECTS: Sixty-five health centers, homeless clinics, private practices, residency training centers, and other safety net practices in Colorado, Idaho, Massachusetts, Oregon, and Pennsylvania. MEASURES: We evaluated implementation of the change concepts using the Patient-Centered Medical Home-Assessment, and conducted a survey of participating practices to assess perceptions of the impact of the technical assistance. RESULTS: All practices implemented key features of the medical home model, and nearly half (47.6%) implemented the 33 identified key changes to a substantial degree as evidenced by level A Patient-Centered Medical Home-Assessment scores. Two thirds of practices that achieved substantial implementation did so only after participating in the initiative for >2 years. By the end of the initiative, 83.1% of sites achieved external recognition as medical homes. CONCLUSIONS: Despite resource constraints and high-need populations, safety net clinics made considerable progress toward medical home implementation when provided robust, multimodal support over a 4-year period.

Structuring payment to medical homes after the affordable care act.

The Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) is a leading model of primary care reform, a critical element of which is payment reform for primary care services. With the passage of the Affordable Care Act, the Accountable Care Organization (ACO) has emerged as a model of delivery system reform, and while there is theoretical alignment between the PCMH and ACOs, the discussion of physician payment within each model has remained distinct. Here we compare payment for medical homes with that for accountable care organizations, consider opportunities for integration, and discuss implications for policy makers and payers considering ACO models. The PCMH and ACO are complementary approaches to reformed care delivery: the PCMH ultimately requires strong integration with specialists and hospitals as seen under ACOs, and ACOs likely will require a high functioning primary care system as embodied by the PCMH. Aligning payment incentives within the ACO will be critical to achieving this integration and enhancing the care coordination role of primary care in these settings.

Assessing progress toward becoming a patient-centered medical home: an assessment tool for practice transformation.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the properties of the Patient-Centered Medical Home Assessment (PCMH-A) as a tool to stimulate and monitor progress among primary care practices interested in transforming to patient-centered medical homes (PCMHs). STUDY SETTING: Sixty-five safety net practices from five states participating in a national demonstration program for PCMH transformation. STUDY DESIGN: Longitudinal analyses of PCMH-A scores were performed. Scores were reviewed for agreement and sites were categorized over time into one of five categories by external facilitators. Comparisons to key activity completion rates and NCQA PCMH recognition status were completed. DATA COLLECTION/EXTRACTION METHODS: Multidisciplinary teams at each practice completed the 33-item self-assessment tool every 6 months between March 2010 and September 2012. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Mean overall PCMH-A scores increased (7.2, March 2010, to 9.1, September 2012; [p < .01]). Increases were statistically significant for each of the change concepts (p < .05). Facilitators agreed with scores 82% of the time. NCQA-recognized sites had higher PCMH-A scores than sites that were not yet recognized. Sites that completed more transformation activities and progressed over defined tiers reported higher PCMH-A scores. Scores improved most in areas where technical assistance was provided. CONCLUSIONS: The PCMH-A was sensitive to change over time and provided an accurate reflection of practice transformation.

Achieving better quality of care for low-income populations: the roles of health insurance and the medical home in reducing health inequities.

In the United States, uninsured and low-income adults experience substantial health and health care inequities when compared with insured and higher-income individuals. A new analysis of the Commonwealth Fund 2010 Biennial Health Insurance Survey demonstrates that when low-income adults have both health insurance and a medical home, they are less likely to report cost-related access problems, more likely to be up-to-date with preventive screenings, and report greater satisfaction with the quality of their care. Moreover, the gaps in health care between them and higher-income populations are significantly reduced. The Affordable Care Act includes numerous provisions that will significantly expand health insurance coverage, especially to low-income patients, as well as provisions to promote medical homes. Along with supporting the full implementation of coverage expansions, it will be important for public and private stakeholders to create opportunities that enhance access to medical homes for vulnerable populations.

The changes involved in patient-centered medical home transformation.

In 2007, the major primary care professional societies collaboratively introduced a new model of primary care: the patient-centered medical home (PCMH). The published document outlines the basic attributes and expectations of a PCMH but not with the specificity needed to help interested clinicians and administrators make the necessary changes to their practice. To identify the specific changes required to become a medical home, the authors reviewed literature and sought the opinions of two multi-stakeholder groups. This article describes the eight consensus change concepts and 32 key changes that emerged from this process, and the evidence supporting their inclusion.