Moving Intelligent Change Forward
June, 2017 Vol. 2 - In This Issue:
Leading from the Front Line
In the last issue, I pondered the need for new leadership for true health care transformation. In spite of the current policy maelstrom, there are forces at play in the business, industry and medical sectors that are demonstrating the way ahead. Mission-driven organizations and the pioneering individuals and teams that lead them are the true future of health care.  The focus on patients within these organizations is palpable. Will policy and payment follow their lead?
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Building the 'Tesla' of health systems: Where Marc Harrison plans to take Intermountain next
Lessons from the C-suite: Marc Harrison, president and CEO, Intermountain Healthcare

Marc Harrison, president and CEO of  Intermountain Healthcare, talks to Eric about crafting a cohesive team with employees from 71 countries, taking Intermountain from a "horseless carriage" to a Tesla, and leading as a physician-and as a patient. 

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3 Health Care Trends That Don't Hinge on the ACA

In early May 2017 Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives voted to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (or Obamacare). Subsequently, Republicans in the U.S. Senate began working on their version of a law to do the same. The House bill is flawed, leaving many uncertainties that the Senate has promised to address. While the fate of the bill is in flux, there are three immutable trends in the U.S. health care system that won't change. As a result, regardless of how the law evolves, tremendous opportunities will remain for consumers, medical providers, health care payers, and investors to shape and improve the health care system.

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Apple is quietly working on turning your iPhone into the one-stop shop for all your medical info

Apple wants the iPhone to become the central bank for health information.  It is looking to host clinical information, such as labs and allergy lists, and not just wellness data.  To that end, it is talking with hospitals, researching potential acquisitions and attending health IT industry meetings. 

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Why GE, Boeing, Lowe's, and Walmart Are Directly Buying Health Care for Employees

Bundled payments in health care have gained favor because they can reduce costs and help improve outcomes. In essence, episodic bundles cover the cost of a patient's care from start to finish-all the procedures, devices, tests, drugs and services a patient will need for, say, a knee replacement or back surgery.

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Yale School of Medicine to launch app to help patients collect EHR data, participate in studies

Yale School of Medicine researchers have announced plans to launch a new app, called Hugo, in partnership with Yale New Haven Health System that allows patients to collect health data and participate in studies by sharing that data with researchers.

Hugo is a cloud-based personal health platform that aims to help patients collect their medical data from multiple health care system EHRs as well as from wearables and questionnaires. The app will organize the data that it collects and then syncs this data with a research database.

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NIH's All of Us precision medicine program gets rolling

When former director of health innovation and policy at Intel and cancer survivor Eric Dishman took over the NIH's ambitious program to collect a deep research dataset on a diverse population of a million Americans, it was called the NIH Precision Medicine Initiative Cohort Program. These days the program is no less ambitious, but it has a much friendlier name: the All of Us Research Program.

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Can pharma deliver both patient value and shareholder value?

Patient-centricity has reshaped pharma. It is front and center in every company's mission statement, indeed, pretty much every statement, period. In spite of all the rhetoric, however, it would be stretching credulity to say that pharma has universally accepted the concept and is embedding 'patient value' in every part of its business. 

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Factors Affecting States' Ability to Respond to Federal Medicaid Cuts and Caps: Which States Are Most At Risk?

In 2017, Congress has been debating legislation, the American Health Care Act (AHCA), which would end the enhanced federal matching funds for the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Medicaid expansion and fundamentally alter the structure and financing of the Medicaid program. Specifically, it would cap and significantly reduce the amount of federal funding provided to states for Medicaid through a per capita cap or block grant. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the AHCA as passed by the House would reduce federal Medicaid spending by $834 billion from 2017-2026 and reduce enrollment by 14 million by 2026 compared to projections in current law. The proposed Trump Administration budget for FY 2018 would have deeper Medicaid reductions.     

Passion + Quality = Change That Matters
  
I embrace the powerful opportunities in our evolving health care landscape. I founded Momentum Health Strategies to be a catalyst for change through continuous learning, diverse engagement and thoughtful policy and practice initiatives. I deliver innovative, strategic thinking and a passion for improving the patient experience. My personal drive and dedication to high-quality results will help you navigate the competitive terrain you face and convert your vision to action.

Momentum Health Strategies

Jennifer L Bright, MPA
(703) 628 - 0534