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Follow the Care Innovation Summit Today

Susan — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 14:05:34 +0000

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will be hosting a Care Innovation Summit from 8:30am – 6:00pm today in Washington D.C. to assemble representatives of health professions to discuss opportunities for collaboration that will drive action towards better care and better health at lower cost through continuous improvement. Among today’s featured speakers are Acting Administrator of CMS and the Director of the CMS Innovation Center.

There are numerous ways to follow the activities and conversations of today’s summit:

Watch it Live Online

The Care Innovations Summit will be broadcast online in its entirety. Tune into hcidc.org throughout the day Thursday to watch.

Tweet with #cisummit

Join the twitter conversation, and help to take the dialogue even further. Connect fellow tweeters, or just follow the #cisummit conversation.

What: Care Innovation Summit

When: Thursday, January 26, 2012

8:30 AM – 6:00 PM

To view a full list of speakers, details of the summit and the agenda for the day, please visit: hcidc.org

New Access Points (NAPs) to be awarded for 2012

Susan — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 23:32:03 +0000

Last week, Congress passed the FY 2012 Omnibus Appropriations Act, a bill that will fund the Health Centers Program to not only maintain current federal grant support for ALL existing Health Centers, it will also provide enough additional funding to extend access to care to nearly 1.5 million additional people in need of care. In the simplest of terms, the Health Centers Program will receive a nearly $200 million increase to grow and expand care to those most in need.

This legislation will allow HHS to fund applications from among the more than 900 applications submitted in Dec 2010. These applications remain active until summer 2012. HRSA has not announced how many will be funded nor when it will announce the new awards. It is unlikely that another NAP opportunity will become available until the last quarter 2012, for funding in FY 2013.

To read the full statement from NACHC President and CEO, Tom Van Coverden, visit the NACHC website.

Open Door Forum for ACO Advance Payment Model

Susan — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 23:31:18 +0000

Last fall, CMS announced a new Advance Payment Model for physician-based and rural ACOs participating in the Shared Savings Program. ACOs selected to participate in the Advance Payment Model will receive upfront payments that will be recouped from the shared savings they earn. CMS will begin 2012 with an Open Door Forum on January 5, 2012 to review the Advance Payment ACO Model and the application template. A slideshow presentation will be posted prior to the forum on the Advance Payment Model ACO Application Information webpage. Applications for an April 1, 2012 start will be accepted beginning January 3 through February 1, 2012.

Details about the forum are below:

Title: Advance Payment ACO Model

Date: Thursday, January 5th, 2012

Time: 2:30 PM – 4:00 PM EST

Call Info: 1-800-837-1935 Conf ID 39623933

Application Available for New ACO Payment Model

Susan — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 18:29:04 +0000

This morning CMS provided a template of the application for the new Advanced Payment ACO Model announced by the CMMI in the fall. Through the Advance Payment Model, selected physician-based and rural ACOs participating in the Shared Savings Program will receive advance payments that will be recouped from the shared savings they earn.

You can access the application template, eligibility criteria and information on the application process through the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation’s Advanced Payment Model Application Information webpage.

Note that online applications for the first round (an April 1, 2012 start date) will be available January 3, 2012. These applications are due February 1, 2012. The second round of applications for a July 1, 2012 start date begins March 1, 2012.

CMS Announces New Independence at Home Demonstration

Susan — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 23:17:08 +0000

Late Tuesday, CMS released a call for participation in the new Independence at Home Demonstration through the Affordable Cara Act. This new Demonstration will provide chronically ill patients with a complete range of primary care services by partnering with medical practices to develop effective models. The goal is to develop in-home care for Medicare patients that is both comprehensive and cost effective. Health care providers will be rewarded for their efforts if their programs prove to provide high-quality care while reducing costs.

To be eligible to participate in the Demonstration, medical practices must include physicians or nurse practitioners who have experience delivering home-based primary care and serve at least 200 Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries with multiple chronic conditions and functional limitations. No more than 50 practices will be selected to participate; applications are due February 6, 2012.

Click here to read more about the new Independence at Home Demonstration and to learn how to apply.

FQHCs FY 2012 APPROPRIATION INCLUDES EXPANSION $$

Susan — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 13:18:59 +0000

This legislation would allow HHS to fund applications from among the more than 1,800 pending at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for new and expanded health centers.

To read the full statement from NACHC President and CEO, Tom Van Coverden, visit the NACHC website.

ACO PIONEER MODEL RECIPIENTS ANNOUNCED

Susan — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 13:16:20 +0000

On December 19th, the Department of Health and Human Services announced that thirty-two leading health care organizations from across the country will participate in the Pioneer Accountable Care Organization (ACOs) Model. The Pioneer ACO Model will encourage primary care doctors, specialists, hospitals and other caregivers to provide better, more coordinated care for people with Medicare and could save up to $1.1 billion over five years.

The Pioneer ACO Model will test the effectiveness of several innovative payment models and how they can help experienced organizations to provide better care for beneficiaries, work in coordination with private payers, and reduce Medicare cost growth. The Pioneer ACO Model also requires ACOs to engage other payers in similar efforts to reward health care providers that deliver high-quality care.

Selected Pioneer ACOs represent 18 States and have the opportunity to improve care for about 860,000 Medicare beneficiaries. For a list of providers, click here.

ACA Awards $14M to School-based Health Centers

Susan — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 23:24:55 +0000

Today HRSA announced new grants for school-based health centers, made possible through the Affordable Care Act. The $14M in awards announced today will allow 45 school-based health centers to improve their facilities and expand their services to provide care to an additional 53,000 children.

Read the full announcement here.

HRSA 2011 Women’s Health Report Released

Susan — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 22:16:23 +0000

HRSA announced today that their Women’s Health USA 2011 data report is now available. This tenth edition includes more detailed demographic breakdowns by ethnicity and sexual orientation and a number of new topics such as preconception health, oral health care utilization and barriers to health care for women.

Access the full report here.

View HRSA’s announcement here.

ACA Funding to Improve Medicare Services

Susan — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 22:20:27 +0000

Announced yesterday by the Department of Health and Human Services, $42M in funding from the Affordable Care Act will go to improve the coordination and quality of care for Medicare patients across the nation. Funds will be distributed over the next three years to 500 FQHC’s in 44 states. This new Advanced Primary Care Practice demonstration program will fund increased coordination, quality of care and services as well as an improved payment system that will reward clinics for their efforts to help patients with a variety of things, including management of chronic illness.

Click here to read the full announcement.