Becker's Hospital Review

31 CFO / FINANCE Study Finds ACOs Still Focused on Early Stages of Care Redesign By Emily Rappleye A COs are gearing up to take on more financial risk, but most still lag in their ability to manage population health, according to a survey of ACOs published in Health Affairs. e survey, conducted by Leavitt Partners and the National Association of ACOs from January to April, polled about one-quarter of the nation's ACOs, including Medicare, Medicaid and commercial contracts. e survey authors found most ACOs (90 percent) had at least one up- side-only shared savings contract, and only about half had a contract with downside risk. However, most ACOs had plans to take on down- side risk soon — 47 percent indicated plans for shared savings contracts and 38 percent had plans for capitation. Despite increased interest in taking on financial risk, most ACOs were still in the early stages of care redesign, according to the survey authors. Almost all (95 percent) had care coordinators, and many were involved in activities associated with the early stages of population health man- agement, such as readmission reduction, emergency department reduc- tion and chronic care management. However, few ACOs were engaged in what the authors called "more aggressive care delivery changes," such as the integration of behavioral health services and medication man- agement. "While ACOs are continuing to grow and there are strong pressures to push provider-born risk, this risk cannot be pushed faster than ACOs' ability to manage it," the survey authors wrote in Health Affairs. "Our results indicate that ACOs have both the appetite and the plans to take on more risk; however, ACOs need time and the support of their payer partners to make that transition." n Few Consumers Seek Healthcare Pricing Information By Emily Rappleye A lthough healthcare experts predict consumers are starting to take more control of how they spend their healthcare dollars, a recent survey conducted by Bucknell Institute for Public Policy in Lewisburg, Pa., sug- gests few consumers even ask for pricing information. The survey, conducted in September, indicates just over a quarter of Americans (27.6 percent) seek information about the cost of various healthcare services and procedures. Among those who did seek pricing information, just one in five asked about hospitalization costs, which account for the largest share of healthcare spending, according to BIPP. In- stead, consumers were more likely to ask about the costs of physician visits (38 percent), outpatient care (35.8 percent), screenings or tests (35.2 percent), medications (35.1 per- cent) and dental services (32.4 percent). "Proponents of high deductible plans argue that they will help slow the growth in healthcare costs by having consum- ers have more 'skin in the game' with respect to their health- care," Amy Wolaver, PhD, an economics professor and direc- tor of BIPP, said in a press release. "This theory only works if consumers do seek prices and are able to find and use that price information." The survey found consumers were more likely to seek pricing information if they had health insurance, had at least some college education and earned annual household income of $40,000 or more. African-American consumers were the least likely to ask for price information (22.8 percent asked), while Asian-Americans were the most likely to ask (33.6 percent), fol- lowed closely by Latino-Americans (32.8 percent). n It's the confidently held misinformation (CHM) in the minds of all three clinicians. Confidence is critical because every decision you make originates with your sense of confidence. It tells you to act, hesitate, or do nothing. Amplifire is a new knowledge platform that illuminates and eliminates CHM. At some hospitals we have discovered that 40% of what clinicians think they know is really misinformation. Amplifire finds CHM and fixes it by aligning clinician confidence with the latest evidence-based medical knowledge. It's twice as fast as CE and pays for itself almost instantly. Long term, you can enjoy returns of 700% or more along with better patient outcomes. To find out how, please contact us at… • info@amphealthcarealliance.com • 720 - 799 - 1319 HEALTHCARE ALLIANCE What's the Greatest Risk Here? RiskAd-3docs-1/4page-V1.1.indd 1 10/30/17 3:09 PM

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