With Medicare Part A facing insolvency as early as 2026, CMS is looking to make dramatic moves. The CMS Innovation Center is aiming to have 100 percent of Medicare beneficiaries in some sort of accountable care relationship by 2030 – a shift that would have major revenue implications for hospitals and health systems. A closer… Read More

It’s rare that an emerging delivery model can show immediate progress on three of the measures that matter most in healthcare transformation: better outcomes at lower cost with higher patient satisfaction. If this is the “healthcare trifecta,” Hospital at Home may be one of the most promising trends in many years – yet it rarely… Read More

Mobile Integrated Healthcare is a broad and somewhat confusing term as it often operates differently from place to place in order to meet a community’s unique needs.  In 2016, the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians (“NAEMT”) and other partnering organizations updated their vision statement that defines and clarifies MIH: “Mobile Integrated Healthcare – Community… Read More

Maryland is the only state in the country that has a waiver from the Medicare Prospective Payment System (“PPS”) and related regulations. The waiver allows the State to manage its healthcare costs through the evolution and implementation of progressive healthcare payment models.  In January 2019, the Total Cost of Care model (“TCOC”) replaced the All-Payer… Read More

Maryland is the only state in the country that has a waiver from the Medicare Prospective Payment System (PPS) and related regulations. The waiver allows the State to manage its healthcare costs through the evolution and implementation of the State’s unique payment model.  In the second of the three-part series, we examine how Maryland’s unique… Read More

This is the first in a three-part series that explores the unique all-payer model for hospital payments in Maryland.  This “Medicare waiver” from the typical Medicare rules and regulations has made the entire State of Maryland a demonstration project in healthcare transformation.  What is it, how is it working and what can we learn from… Read More

A healthcare revolution is on the horizon. We know that change in healthcare is driven by change in payment. Though payment today still is largely based on volume—especially volume of high-tech procedures, we’re seeing a shift to payment that incentivizes the least costly, most effective care. As a result of payment shifts, healthcare delivery is… Read More

For those who have been following our work and research during much of the past decade, you have heard us continue to express our concern for the transition to site-neutral payment and the associated impact on many of our community hospital clients.  In our Devastation of Site-Neutral Payment video blog, we quantified that impact on… Read More

Announcements by CMS and recent changes in the healthcare industry demonstrate that Ascendient’s forward-looking approach, aided by the HealthytownTM model we developed, has accurately predicted the road signs now visible on the path to healthcare transformation. We have known for some time that the U.S. healthcare system as it exists is not sustainable. Costs continue… Read More