White Papers

White Papers

Digital Mental Health Technologies: Gaps and Opportunities in Current U.S. Regulatory Authorities

The use of digital mental health technology (DMHT) has rapidly increased in recent years. While DMHT has the potential to improve access to mental health and substance use disorder care, as well as address workforce challenges, payers, providers, and consumers lack information on effectiveness, quality, and privacy protections of specific DMHT.   With support from … Continue reading

Coding, Coverage, and Payment to Improve Inclusive Health

Individuals with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities (I/DD) face unique challenges in equitable access to high-quality health care and experience poorer health outcomes. These challenges are compounded by difficulties that clinicians face in providing care to this population, with barriers impacting clinician-to-patient time, time to prepare for visits, coverage and payment for services, infrastructure and accommodation … Continue reading

Playbook for Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) Referral Management and Data Exchange

Increasingly, attention and resources are being focused on addressing social determinants of health (SDOH) as awareness grows that SDOH, or the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age, are a primary driver of health outcomes. However, collection and exchange of SDOH data is lagging, hampering efforts to address SDOH. Leavitt Partners … Continue reading

The Present and Future of Alternative Funding Programs for Specialty Drugs

Employers generally want to provide comprehensive medical and pharmacy benefits to their employees, but many organizations and their employees are struggling to cover healthcare costs. In 2018–2023, the average annual premium for family coverage in the commercial market increased by 22 percent. In 2024, employer healthcare costs are expected to continue increasing. In recent years, … Continue reading

New Report Identifies Potential Reforms to the Medicare Advantage Quality Bonus Program That Could Save Up to $108 billion

Future Visions of Reform: Policy Options for The Medicare Advantage Quality Bonus Program and Star Ratings In this report, Leavitt Partners has identified a set of eight policy options to reform the Medicare Advantage (MA) Quality Bonus Program (QBP) and the Star Ratings System. These policy options are intended to improve the MA program for … Continue reading

Elevating the Beneficiary Perspective: Recommendations on How the CMS Innovation Center Can Enhance Beneficiary Engagement

Several organizations convened by Leavitt Partners met to discuss ways to support the CMS Innovation Center’s goals that further elevate the beneficiary perspective. The organizations provided their feedback on opportunities to help ensure that the Innovation Center’s objectives were met and that the agency efforts were accountable to stakeholders and transparent in their execution. These … Continue reading

Delivering on the Promise of a Patient First Health Care System: A Compromise Approach to Site-Neutral Payments

Today, Leavitt Partners released a new policy framework that proposes a compromise path forward on implementing site-neutral payments. Medicare is an incredibly important program, providing more than 65 million Americans with access to robust health care benefits. As the program has grown, mounting concerns have been raised about its affordability for Medicare beneficiaries and the … Continue reading

New Report: Analyzing the Expanded Landscape of Value-Based Entities – Implications and Opportunities of Enablers for the CMS Innovation Center and the Broader Value Movement

New Report Analyzes the Expanding Landscape of Value-Based Entities     Research from HMA and LP VBP experts segments and sizes the growing enabler market, considering benefits and risks, and proposing guiding principles and policy recommendations for the CMS Innovation Center A new in-depth HMA report analyzes the landscape of emerging value-based entities and the implications … Continue reading

New White Paper: A Vision for the Future of Medicare Advantage Supplemental Benefits: Advancing Value, But Validating Results

Medicare Advantage plans in the United States continue to explode in popularity, now reaching over 30 million Americans, due to the broad appeal of supplemental benefits that can be offered by plans to enrollees. What started off as a core set of benefit offerings, including dental, vision, and over-the-counter medications, has recently been expanded by … Continue reading

New White Paper: “Aggregated Precision Investment: Strengths, Weaknesses, and Potential Paths Forward”

In “Aggregated Precision Investment: Strengths, Weaknesses, and Potential Paths Forward,” Rebecca Nielsen, Brooke Zollinger, and Sarah Johnson from Leavitt Partners explore the feasibility of operationalizing an aggregated precision investment (API) model for social determinants of health (SDOH) interventions. The authors derive their findings from subject matter expert interviews, conversations with potential aggregators, and relevant secondary research. This article enumerates … Continue reading