Insights

The Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy and Leavitt Partners Releases “Medicare ACO Results for 2018: More Downside Risk Adoption, More Savings, and All ACO Types Now Averaging Savings” Report

Salt Lake City, November 11, 2019—Medicare’s flagship Accountable Care Organization (ACO) program, the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP), achieved net savings of $73 per person in 2018, more than double the net savings of $35 per person achieved in 2017. Researchers from the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy and Leavitt Partners shared their analysis of … Read more

Leavitt Partners Releases “Moving Forward Together” White Paper

Salt Lake City, July 24, 2019—Today, Leavitt Partners released a new white paper, “Moving Forward Together: Opportunities to Improve Program Integrity in Medicaid Non-Emergency Medical Transportation.” This paper examines Medicaid’s non-emergency medical transportation (NEMT) benefit and makes specific recommendations on key actions federal and state policymakers can take to improve program integrity. The recommendations were … Read more

Why Do Accountable Care Organization Leave the Medicare Shared Savings Program?

Salt Lake City, May 6, 2019—In new research published today in Health Affairs, authors from the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy and Leavitt Partners studied factors that determine whether accountable care organizations (ACOs) thrive or exit Medicare flagship’s alternative to fee-for-service, the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP). The study looked at 624 ACOs that have … Read more

Leavitt Partners Releases “Multi-Year Medicare Advantage Plans: A Framework for Action” White Paper

Salt Lake City, March 20, 2019—Today, Leavitt Partners released “Multi-Year Medicare Advantage Plans: A Framework for Action.” This white paper proposes a Multi-Year Medicare Advantage Plan (MyMap) demonstration project to remove barriers to a value-based health insurance products, improve health outcomes for Medicare beneficiaries, and reduce the cost of care. The white paper is authored … Read more

New Data Demonstrates Large Accountable Care Organizations’ Commitment to Assume Financial Risk 2019 Participation in Medicare’s Major Payment and Delivery Reform Program

Salt Lake City, March 15, 2019— New research from the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy and Leavitt Partners shows that while most Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) have committed to continue participating in the recently overhauled flagship Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP), physician-led ACOS are leaving at a higher rate than in 2017. Highlights of this … Read more

Leavitt Partners Releases “Track Switching in Medicare ACO Programs: A Look at the Move to Downside Risk” White Paper

Salt Lake City, February 25, 2019—Today, Leavitt Partners released “Track Switching in Medicare ACO Programs: A Look at the Move to Downside Risk,” a white paper providing data-driven insight into the important characteristics distinguishing ACOs that progress to downside risk tracks from those that do not. The analysis in this paper draws on Leavitt Partners … Read more

Voluntary code of conduct developed by more than 60 industry stakeholders can help facilitate health data exchange with entities not covered by HIPAA

The CARIN Alliance, a multi-sector group of health care and other stakeholders, has developed a voluntary code of conduct for entities not covered by HIPAA, such as third-party applications, when handling health care data accessed via application programming interfaces (APIs) Washington, D.C., NOVEMBER 27 — The CARIN Alliance, a multi-sector group of more than sixty … Read more

Medicaid Closed Drug Formularies: A Closed Door or a Path Forward?

As we noted in July, CMS declined Massachusetts’ Medicaid 1115 demonstration request to establish a closed formulary.  The proposed program would have given Massachusetts the ability to exclude certain FDA-approved drugs from coverage and thereby given the state additional leverage in negotiating rebates.  The state and drug manufacturers would have otherwise continued to be subject to the rest of … Read more

Health Affairs Releases “Half A Decade In, Medicare Accountable Care Organizations Are Generating Net Savings” A Two-Part Health Affairs Blog

Washington, DC, September 21, 2018 – A Medicare program begun in 2012 to coordinate health care and be accountable for patients’ health saved Medicare $313 million in 2017, the first time the program generated net savings for the federal government, a two-part blog post released Thursday and Friday by Health Affairs reports. The post, by … Read more

Leavitt Partners Releases White Paper on “Value-Based Payment in Medicaid: Signals for States”

Salt Lake City, February 20, 2018 –Today, Leavitt Partners released “Value-Based Payment in Medicaid: Signals for States,” a white paper that outlines the Trump administration’s key signals to date and how they might impact state value-based payment (VBP) efforts in 2018 and beyond. States have grappled with many unanswered questions regarding the Trump administration’s views … Read more