President Barack Obama and U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Sylvia Burwell today introduced the Health Care Payment Learning and Action Network, which aims to bring public and private sector actors together to build on the Affordable Care Act’s efforts to improve the quality of care that patients receive.
The network will serve as a forum where payers, providers, employers, purchasers, states, consumer groups, individual consumers and others can discuss, track and share best practices on how to transition toward alternative payment models that emphasize value. The goals are to move 30 percent of Medicare payments into alternative payment models by the end of 2016 and 50 percent into alternative payment models by the end of 2018.
Alternative payment models include Accountable Care Organizations, bundled payments and advanced primary care medical homes.
The network will be supported by an independent contractor who will act as a convener and facilitator.
All payers, providers, employers, purchasers, states, consumer groups, individual consumers and others can participate in the Health Care Payment Learning and Action Network. For more information or to register, click here.
Monday marked the fifth anniversary of the signing of the Affordable Care Act, and, according to the Department of Health and Human Services, about 16.4 million uninsured people have gained health coverage since the law’s passage.
The HHS also reported that hospital uncompensated care costs were reduced by an estimated $7.4 billion in 2014 as a result of Marketplace coverage and Medicaid expansion, compared to what they would have been in the absence of the coverage expansion. Based on this analysis, Medicaid expansion states account for an estimated $5 billion of that reduction.
Uncompensated care is the unreimbursed cost of the care provided by hospitals to people who are uninsured or underinsured.
For more on the fifth anniversary and the ACA’s impact, read health care reporter Hilary Dickinson’s recent Biz Blog.
