Do patients in Medicare Advantage plans get better value of care? Yes and no…
Which Medicare Advantage plans do a good job at avoiding overuse for their beneficiaries... and which don't? More
Does Medicare Advantage have the advantage when it comes to low-value care?
Do alternative payment plans like Medicare Advantage actually lead to less low-value care? A recent study in JAMA Health Forum has some encouraging results. More
Do value-based models feed into medicine’s gender pay gap?
A new study from the Annals of Internal Medicine found that different compensation models can open and close the gender pay gap. How does this happen and what does it say about our healthcare system? More
Rural hospitals are in dire need of help. Will a new government plan help?
Rural hospitals have been struggling financially for years, with many forced to close down. Will a new CMS plan help them keep their doors open? More
More than 1 in 10 veterans receive low-value care in the VA health system
Overuse is prevalent in hospitals across the country -- but what about VA hospitals, where providers are paid a salary rather than fee-for-service? More
Why physician performance metrics don’t match up with hospital quality
Physicians spend at least 15 hours a week on administrative work for the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS). But more evidence is showing that MIPS performance doesn't line up with meaningful clinical outcomes. More
We need health care models that pay for equity, not just “pay for performance”
Value-based payment models may exacerbate racial health disparities. To change this, we need to make equity a part of value -- and reward hospitals for advancing equity. More
A tale of three countries: How access to surgeries differs by income across health systems
A recent study looks at how high- and low-income patients access common cancer surgeries in the US, Canada, and Australia. More
Value-based care has an equity problem
Two recent studies in JAMA find that hospitals and clinicians caring for high proportions of people of color get punished in our current value-based payment programs. More
Assessing Medicare’s value-based payment experiment
What's going well and what isn't when it comes to value-based payment experiments in Medicare. More
Prioritizing equity in value-based care
As we move toward value-based care models, how do we prioritize patients that have historically been neglected in our health care system? More
Why a new payment model for rural hospitals could hurt them
Rural hospitals are struggling in the pandemic. But will a new payment model help or hurt? More
Private practice or private equity practice?
A new research letter in JAMA finds that private equity ownership of specialty practices more than doubled from 2013-2016. More
Is single-payer a “job killer”? And does it matter?
Some policymakers argue that moving to single payer health care will "kill jobs." But is that a reason to stick with the status quo?
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Can value-based payments help reduce waste in health care?
Even though proven interventions exist to reduce waste on the clinical side, implementing them on a large scale is easier said than done... More
Timing: The third element of value-based care
When we think of initiatives to improve health care value, we generally think of policies to reduce volume or price. But what if there was another way to improve the bang for each health care buck? More
Can telehealth improve value in primary care?
A new primary care model to encourage telehealth visits could be a step in the right direction, but also raises questions about provider burden. More
Are bundled payments working? Yes and no.
New research on the CMS bundled payments program show mixed results - Let's break it down. More
Can we pay doctors for quality instead of quantity?
Value-based payments are meant to shift physician incentives from quantity to quality. But many challenges remain in the path to successful implementation. More
Value-based care initiatives floundering in a broken system
Does value-based care stand a chance against the fee-for-service Goliath? More