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Health Affairs | March 21, 2022
After George Floyd’s murder in May 2020, state governments and our health care system have increased attention to racism and its impact on health equity. There has also been heightened awareness that health equity is a problem for communities other than racial and ethnic minorities, including persons with disabilities, people residing in rural communities, non-binary and/or non-cisgender people, and others. With this elevation of health equity as a priority concern came a need to better understand it through measurement and to be able to assess the effectiveness of efforts to improve equity. Almost immediately, two problems became apparent. First, there is no national standard method for capturing data on key variables needed to assess health equity.
The HIMSS Conference is history, but it generated conversations and ideas that should for some time. The HIMSS Global Health Conference & Exhibition took place in Orlando last week, bringing together thousands of people and hundreds of sessions on healthcare technology and the transformation of medicine and healthcare.
Here are nine key takeaways from a memorable week. (1) Health equity: It’s not just a catchphrase or flavor of the month. Top healthcare leaders and federal officials repeatedly stressed that health equity is an extraordinarily high priority now, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nine out of 10 healthcare executives said health equity is a core priority, according to a survey released by HIMSS and Accenture.
Our recent analysis of Medicare Fee-For-Service claims data continues to confirm what we have believed for years—post-acute care plays an essential role in reducing unnecessary healthcare spend in the U.S. Shifts towards value-based care and an influx of baby boomer beneficiaries promises a multitude of opportunities for home health, hospice, and skilled nursing organizations to grow. However, staffing challenges threaten to strain the PAC industry to its breaking point, creating a cascade of effects for health systems, ACOs, and others. Our full analysis and commentary will be published in the Post-Acute Care Industry Trend Report in late March. In the meantime, we’re sharing a few of the initial trends that emerged in our analysis.
Doctors have long known that factors such as food insecurity, housing instability, transportation problems and financial problems can impact a patient’s health. Patients who re now returning to physicians’ offices and hospitals for routine checkups, deferred elective procedures, prescription refills and more are presenting with conditions made worse by lost jobs and the struggle to afford food, transportation or rent brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. But most doctors say they lack the time and ability to address social determinants of health (SDOH) for their patients, according to a new survey by the Physicians Foundation.
Sponsored Webinars
UPCOMING WEBINARS:

SDoH, Equity, Experience and the New CMS requirements - What ACOs need to know
  • Topic: The latest CMS requirements, SDoH information capture, and impact of equity
Sponsored by: mPulse Mobile/HealthCrowd
March 31, 2022 | 1 PM EST

Optimizing 2023 model and participant selection for MSSP and REACH ACOs 
  • Topic: Making model, track and participant selection decisions
Sponsored by: Validate Health
April 6, 2022 | 1 PM EST

RECORDED WEBINARS:

Check our our Webinar Archive to view past webinars on a variety of value-based care related topics!

Upcoming Conferences
NAACOS 2022 Spring Conference
April 27 - 29, 2022 | Baltimore, MD

ACLC Advancing Health Virtual Summit
May 5, 2022 | Virtual

America's Physician Groups Annual Conference 2022
June 1 - 3, 2022 | San Diego, CA

Virtual Value-Based Payment Summit
September 20 - 23, 2022
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FLASH INTERVIEW:
This week's focus: Incentivizing Value-Based Care Actions
Each week we showcase one of our solution providers in a 4-5 minute interview and ask them what they bring to the VBC Community and what sets them apart.
Today's guest:
Platinum Level Exhibitors
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