Avalere’s analysis found that hospice patients diagnosed with cardiovascular and dementia conditions represent the largest proportion of “live discharges” compared to patients with other conditions.
As the early presidential primaries unfold, healthcare remains a top issue among voters. As recently as the November Democratic primary debate, polls showed that 24% of Democrats or Democratic-leaning independents said healthcare was the number one issue they wanted to hear discussed, ahead of the environment (12%), immigration (6%), jobs and the economy (5%), education (4%), and gun control (4%).
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced the Healthy Adult Opportunity, a new Section 1115 demonstration initiative allowing states to shift toward capped Medicaid financing models with an opportunity for shared savings. If the option is chosen by states, it could be the largest change to Medicaid since the ACA.
Avalere’s findings were featured in the Journal of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition.
CMS’s Healthy Adult Opportunity program, a new Section 1115 demonstration initiative, will allow state Medicaid programs to move toward capped financing models for some non-disabled adult beneficiaries with an opportunity for shared savings and additional flexibilities.
Increasing pressure on providers to assume accountability for meeting the goals of the Triple Aim has inspired a new focus on the social determinants of health.
On January 24, Avalere’s Christina Badaracco and Senior Advisor Wendy Everett published a piece in the Health Affairs blog highlighting the need to improve malnutrition care and provide possible pathways to a solution.
CMMI’s impact on Medicare spending has not reached earlier projections by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), demonstrating the difficulty in projecting savings from untested and future unknown alternative payment models
Our annual Avalere Healthcare Industry Outlook was on January 9. For 20 years, we have helped you see the turns ahead in our constantly changing industry. This year, our experts were live via streaming video discussing the critical issues facing healthcare leaders in 2020.
Avalere worked with a healthcare organization to assess the impact of their quality improvement program over a 4-year period. The organization prepared primary and specialty care providers/practices to transition from fee-for-service (FFS) to value-based payment arrangements. Avalere’s analysis found participation in the program led to a reduction in both emergency department (ED) visits as well as inpatient (IP) admissions over the period reviewed.
CMS is considering changes to its commercial market Risk Adjustment Data Validation (RADV) program to improve the accuracy of risk adjustment transfers and to increase stability and predictability for issuers. This follows issuer experiences with the 2017 RADV process in which some issuers saw substantial, unforeseen changes to their risk adjustment transfers. These RADV changes have the potential to impact issuer participation and premiums in future years depending on the direction (positive or negative) and magnitude of those transfers.
On December 16, Avalere policy experts, including Senior Adviser Dr. Angela Shen, published a piece in Health Affairs blog entitled “Shaping the 2020 National Vaccine Plan.” It explores the progress to date against the 2010 National Vaccine Plan (NVP), recurring challenges, and the 2020 NVP.
The replacement to North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, was originally proposed to increase biologics exclusivity in Mexico and Canada to 10 years. As part of the Administration’s compromise with the House of Representatives, these provisions have been removed from the amended version that was recently agreed to by the US, Mexico, and Canada. While exclusivity in the US remains unchanged at 12 years, that it is not increased for Canada and Mexico may impact market entry for biologics ex-US.
On Saturday, December 7, Karl Kilgore discussed “Medicare Patients Receiving Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-Cell Therapy for Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma: A First Real-World Look at Patient Characteristics, Healthcare Utilization and Costs” during a press briefing at the American Society of Hematology’s Annual Meeting.
With increasing legislative and regulatory activity promoting adoption of digital health, interest has continued to expand in 2019.
New analysis from Avalere finds that Democratic proposals to expand public programs, such as a public option or single payer, will impact substantially different populations depending on how they are designed.
Two decisions finalized in the CY 2020 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) rule have important implications for vaccine policy and access.
Medicare Advantage (MA) plans continue expanding coverage of supplemental benefits following administration’s policy changes from a year ago.
Patient access to high-quality, low-cost generic drugs continues to increase, due to a record number of generic approvals by the FDA in fiscal year 2019.
A shifting policy landscape and emerging market forces could introduce significant disruption in the kidney care space in the coming years. Understanding the risks and opportunities that these changes may present will be critical for patients, providers, payers, and manufacturers alike.
