MOVING INTELLIGENT CHANGE FORWARD |
|
The ongoing theme of this digest is change - where are there opportunities and action that improve health for all in the U.S.? Examples in this edition emphasize high priorities, including data privacy and use, investment in mental health and well being, and the consequences of policy that doesn’t consider the impact on people. Like one of the authors, I think that first, we have to define the success we want to see — what does a “well” population mean? How can we measure that? How can such measures be embedded in every aspect of our health system, from creation of new treatments and interventions to delivery and payment? And what accountability do those with the data and the business power have to the people they serve? |
|
Why Aren’t Value-Based Payment Models More Successful? A Failure To Confront Market Dynamics |
More than a decade of experimentation with value-based payment (VBP) has produced mixed spending and quality results with little impact on health disparities. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) leadership has outlined bold strategic plans to improve its programs, but these changes alone may not achieve optimal results. |
|
|
How a decades-old database became a hugely profitable dossier on the health of 270 million Americans |
To most Americans, the name MarketScan means nothing. But most Americans mean everything to MarketScan. As a repository of sensitive patient information, the company’s databases churn silently behind the scenes of their medical care, scooping up their most guarded secrets: the diseases they have, the drugs they’re taking, the places their bodies are broken that they haven’t told anyone about but their doctor. |
|
|
California Inks Sweetheart Deal With Kaiser Permanente, Jeopardizing Medicaid Reforms |
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration has negotiated a secret deal to give Kaiser Permanente a special Medicaid contract that would allow the health care behemoth to expand its reach in California and largely continue selecting the enrollees it wants, which other health plans say leaves them with a disproportionate share of the program’s sickest and costliest patients. |
|
|
As data sharing ramps up, health insurers wade into patient privacy debate |
For years, the country’s most powerful insurance lobbying group has stayed largely on the sidelines in the fierce debate over how to protect consumers from unscrupulous selling or sharing of their data. Now, as consumer companies spin out more health apps and digital health services, they’re finally wading in. |
|
|
Health Sites Let Ads Track Visitors Without Telling Them |
ALL TOO OFTEN, digital ads wind up improperly targeting the most vulnerable people online, including abuse victims and kids. Add to that list the customers of several digital-medicine and genetic-testing companies, whose sites used ad-tracking tools that could have exposed information about people's health status. |
|
|
Mental Health Therapists Seek Exemption From Part of Law to Ban Surprise Billing |
Groups representing a range of mental health therapists say a new law that protects people from surprise medical bills puts providers in an ethical bind and could discourage some patients from care. |
|
|
Pandemic's impact on youth mental health 'devastating': Surgeon General |
U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy told lawmakers on Tuesday that the pandemic has had a "devastating" impact on the mental health of America's young people.
"I'm deeply concerned as a parent and as a doctor that the obstacles this generation of young people face are unprecedented and uniquely hard to navigate and the impact that's having on their mental health is devastating," Murthy told the Senate Finance Committee.
|
|
|
The U.S. needs to measure health in all of its dimensions: physical, social, and mental |
When decisions are driven by data, it matters what the data are and, more importantly, what they measure. The metric can become an organization’s mission, influence a policy’s objectives and goals, and steer a government’s programs or projects. |
|
|
‘Somebody Is Gonna Die’: Medi-Cal Patients Struggle to Fill Prescriptions |
A month into its debut, California’s new Medicaid prescription drug program is riddled with problems, leaving thousands of patients without medications — often after languishing on hold for up to eight hours on call center phone lines. |
|
|
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
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
