MOVING INTELLIGENT CHANGE FORWARD |
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There are two things that need urgent and sustained attention. First, we have to focus on access to care and support for anyone experiencing mental health conditions. As evidence of addiction and suicide rise, we have a clear picture of the negative outcomes associated with continued stigma, lack of parity in coverage, and inconsistent access to care. Second, we have to accelerate all efforts to call out and eliminate racial biases and disparities in our health system. The EHR study is appalling, but yet another vivid example of the systematized discrimination that we cannot ignore. If payment models, primary care delivery and equity for all is the theme of 2022, we must make improvements in health outcomes our metric for success. It’s great that CMS and employers — the payers who should drive all expectations — are calling for such action. As I look ahead this year, I’m proud to be serving on the Mental Health America Board, and to be taking the helm as Board President in June. And, I’m equally pleased to be working alongside colleagues at the Innovation and Value Initiative to drive better discussions about value in treatment of major depressive disorder, and to tackle the complicated questions about data and methods that must be improved to ensure that value assessment upholds health equity.
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Building On The CMS Strategic Vision: Working Together For A Stronger Medicare |
Since its inception in 1965, Medicare has been leading the way in providing affordable, quality coverage and care, playing a key role in the health and financial security of more than 63 million Americans. As the largest single purchaser of health care—with one in every five health care dollars paid by the program—Medicare serves as a transformative force in the United States. |
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Hierarchical Payment Models—A Path for Coordinating Population- and Episode-Based Payment Models |
In November 2021, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a strategy to achieve near-universal participation in value-based payment models by 2030. Core to this strategy is the goal that every beneficiary should be in a clinical care relationship that has accountability for quality and total cost of care. |
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Low-value care most common among systems with fewer primary care physicians, investor ownership |
High bed counts, few primary care physicians and investor ownership are common themes among health systems frequently delivering low- or no-value medical services, according to a recent analysis. |
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Negative Patient Descriptors: Documenting Racial Bias In The Electronic Health Record |
Little is known about how racism and bias may be communicated in the medical record. This study used machine learning to analyze electronic health records (EHRs) from an urban academic medical center and to investigate whether providers’ use of negative patient descriptors varied by patient race or ethnicity. |
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Strengthening Patient-Centered Addiction And Mental Health Care In The United States |
The United States is facing an unprecedented need for mental health and substance use disorder (SUD) services that has been worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic. More than 1 million Americans lost their lives to drugs, alcohol, or suicide between 2010 and 2019, and those numbers have been increasing during the current decade. After years of overdose deaths predominantly increasing among Whites, deaths have been increasing more sharply among Black people. |
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The High Cost of Mental Disorders: Facts for Employers |
Misconceptions about mental health persist in our country, and one of them is that mental illnesses —especially depression—are not a concern for leaders of public, private, and non-profit organizations. Yet, the impact of these conditions on organizations of all sizes is significant and affects the health, wealth, and success of employees and employers alike. |
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Making workplaces better for people struggling with mental health will make work better for everyone |
At the end of May, tennis star Naomi Osaka withdrew from the French Open citing anxiety and depression. A few months later Simone Biles missed a significant portion of the Olympics for reasons related to her own mental health. These cases and others have drawn much-needed attention to the toll mental health conditions exact—for employees and employers—in workplaces that go well beyond high-profile athletics to warehouses, offices, and shop floors. |
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Connect with Empathy, But Lead with Compassion |
For close to two years, leaders have been thrust into the role of Counselor in Chief, helping teams recover from the grief and loss of the pandemic, buoying the declining mental health of their employees, being sensitive to people’s anxieties and often publicly sharing their own vulnerabilities along the way. In short, they have been shouldering a big emotional burden. |
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Reimagining A Quality Information System For US Health Care |
It’s time for a wholesale replacement of our system for measuring health care quality and putting quality information to use. The current retrospective, transactional system for measuring and rewarding improvement is ineffective, expensive, burdensome, no longer credible, and does not measure health or the outcomes of health care. |
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Insurers falling seriously short in mental health, substance use disorder benefits, federal departments say |
Health insurers are failing to deliver parity in mental health and substance use disorder benefits for their members, despite laws on the books designated to ensure equal coverage, according to a new report issued by HHS and the Labor and Treasury departments on Tuesday. |
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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.
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Momentum Health Strategies
Jennifer L Bright, MPA
(703) 628 - 0534
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