Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Accountable Care Organizations
Bridging The Home-Based Primary Care Gap In Rural Areas
Discusses challenges with offering home-based primary care (HBPC) in rural communities for older adults and people with disabilities, notably workforce shortages, insufficient infrastructure, and funding. Offers HBPC redesign suggestions with these challenges in mind, discussing community health workers, technology and telehealth, leveraging community resources and partnerships, training, scope of practice laws, payment models, and infrastructure investments.
Author(s): Ginny Rogers, Montgomery Smith, Jonathan Gonzalez-Smith, Robert S. Saunders
Citation: Health Affairs Forefront
Date: 02/2024
view details
Discusses challenges with offering home-based primary care (HBPC) in rural communities for older adults and people with disabilities, notably workforce shortages, insufficient infrastructure, and funding. Offers HBPC redesign suggestions with these challenges in mind, discussing community health workers, technology and telehealth, leveraging community resources and partnerships, training, scope of practice laws, payment models, and infrastructure investments.
Author(s): Ginny Rogers, Montgomery Smith, Jonathan Gonzalez-Smith, Robert S. Saunders
Citation: Health Affairs Forefront
Date: 02/2024
view details
AHIP Value-Based Care Workgroup
Presentation slides from a January 23, 2024, presentation to the AHIP Value-Based Care Workgroup. Provides an overview of rural healthcare. Discusses rural-relevant engagement and rural value-based care and payment model design considerations. Highlights examples of rural providers successfully participating in value-based payment programs, including Medicare Shared Savings Programs and Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs).
Date: 01/2024
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Value
view details
Presentation slides from a January 23, 2024, presentation to the AHIP Value-Based Care Workgroup. Provides an overview of rural healthcare. Discusses rural-relevant engagement and rural value-based care and payment model design considerations. Highlights examples of rural providers successfully participating in value-based payment programs, including Medicare Shared Savings Programs and Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs).
Date: 01/2024
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Value
view details
Evaluation of the Next Generation Accountable Care Organization (NGACO) Model: Final Report
Sixth and final evaluation report on the Next Generation Accountable Care Organization (NGACO) Model. Summarizes findings from across all six performance years (2016-2021) and explores how participating entities responded to the model and how they did or did not achieve model goals. Presents information on cumulative model-wide impacts on Medicare spending, utilization, and quality of care; variations in model outcomes by organization characteristics; spending patterns of beneficiaries served by NGACOs; population health strategies and pathways to reduced spending; lessons learned; and more. The appendices include data on community and beneficiary characteristics, including rurality.
Additional links: Findings at a Glance, Technical Appendices
Date: 01/2024
Sponsoring organizations: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, NORC at the University of Chicago
view details
Sixth and final evaluation report on the Next Generation Accountable Care Organization (NGACO) Model. Summarizes findings from across all six performance years (2016-2021) and explores how participating entities responded to the model and how they did or did not achieve model goals. Presents information on cumulative model-wide impacts on Medicare spending, utilization, and quality of care; variations in model outcomes by organization characteristics; spending patterns of beneficiaries served by NGACOs; population health strategies and pathways to reduced spending; lessons learned; and more. The appendices include data on community and beneficiary characteristics, including rurality.
Additional links: Findings at a Glance, Technical Appendices
Date: 01/2024
Sponsoring organizations: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, NORC at the University of Chicago
view details
Frontline Presence, Building Trust, Emergency Preparedness, and Lessons Learned: Q&A with Dr. Tim Putnam
An interview with Tim Putnam sharing rural health leadership insights from his experiences as a rural hospital CEO, a member of a White House task force, and in an academic healthcare policy position.
Author(s): Kay Miller Temple
Citation: Rural Monitor
Date: 01/2024
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
view details
An interview with Tim Putnam sharing rural health leadership insights from his experiences as a rural hospital CEO, a member of a White House task force, and in an academic healthcare policy position.
Author(s): Kay Miller Temple
Citation: Rural Monitor
Date: 01/2024
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
view details
Behavioral Health Treatment Delivery by Social Workers in Accountable Care Organizations
Explores the extent to which social workers deliver mental health or substance use treatment in Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs). Analyzes data from the 2022 National Survey of Accountable Care Organizations (NSACO) and the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) to examine whether there are associations between ACOs including a rural facility, having a Medicaid contract, and proportion of dual-eligible beneficiaries and social workers providing substance use treatment.
Author(s): Chris Miller-Rosales, Ellen Meara, James Murphey, Abhirupa Dasgupta, Terri Lewinson
Citation: Social Work in Health Care, 63(8-10), 600-622
Date: 2024
view details
Explores the extent to which social workers deliver mental health or substance use treatment in Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs). Analyzes data from the 2022 National Survey of Accountable Care Organizations (NSACO) and the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) to examine whether there are associations between ACOs including a rural facility, having a Medicaid contract, and proportion of dual-eligible beneficiaries and social workers providing substance use treatment.
Author(s): Chris Miller-Rosales, Ellen Meara, James Murphey, Abhirupa Dasgupta, Terri Lewinson
Citation: Social Work in Health Care, 63(8-10), 600-622
Date: 2024
view details
Examining Alignment of Community Health Teams' Preferences for Health, Equity, and Spending with State All-payer Waiver Priorities: A Discrete Choice Experiment
Provides an overview of the Vermont All-Payer Model (VAPM) and regional community health teams (CHTs). Analyzes the results of a survey of all 13 Vermont CHTs to describe how VAPM and CHTs interact and how VAPM impacts the priorities and design of community-based CHTs. Examines how community-based CHTs make trade-offs made between health, health equity, and healthcare spending.
Author(s): Eline M. van den Broek-Altenburg, Jamie S. Benson, Adam J. Atherly
Citation: Health Services Research, 59(Suppl.1), e14257
Date: 11/2023
view details
Provides an overview of the Vermont All-Payer Model (VAPM) and regional community health teams (CHTs). Analyzes the results of a survey of all 13 Vermont CHTs to describe how VAPM and CHTs interact and how VAPM impacts the priorities and design of community-based CHTs. Examines how community-based CHTs make trade-offs made between health, health equity, and healthcare spending.
Author(s): Eline M. van den Broek-Altenburg, Jamie S. Benson, Adam J. Atherly
Citation: Health Services Research, 59(Suppl.1), e14257
Date: 11/2023
view details
Health Panel Comment Letter - 2024 Physician Fee Schedule and Medicare Part B Proposed Rule
Comments offered in response to a July 13, 2023, Federal Register proposed rule revising the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule. Includes discussions on telehealth services, services addressing health-related social needs, advancing access to behavioral health services, Rural Health Clinics (RHCs) and Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), and the Medicare Shared Savings Program.
Date: 09/2023
Sponsoring organization: Rural Policy Research Institute Rural Health Panel
view details
Comments offered in response to a July 13, 2023, Federal Register proposed rule revising the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule. Includes discussions on telehealth services, services addressing health-related social needs, advancing access to behavioral health services, Rural Health Clinics (RHCs) and Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), and the Medicare Shared Savings Program.
Date: 09/2023
Sponsoring organization: Rural Policy Research Institute Rural Health Panel
view details
MedPAC Comment on CMS's Proposed Rule on the Physician Prospective Payment System for FY 2024
Comment on the August 7, 2023, Federal Register proposed rule revising the physician fee schedule to improve payment systems for physicians and other Medicare Part B revisions. Includes discussions on payment rates for Medicare telehealth services; the Medicare Shared Savings Program, including regional adjustments; incorporating Medicare Advantage data into public reporting; and more.
Date: 09/2023
Sponsoring organization: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
view details
Comment on the August 7, 2023, Federal Register proposed rule revising the physician fee schedule to improve payment systems for physicians and other Medicare Part B revisions. Includes discussions on payment rates for Medicare telehealth services; the Medicare Shared Savings Program, including regional adjustments; incorporating Medicare Advantage data into public reporting; and more.
Date: 09/2023
Sponsoring organization: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
view details
Who's Accountable? Low-Value Care Received By Medicare Beneficiaries Outside Of Their Attributed Health Systems
Examines how much low-volume care and health system spending can be attributed to fee-for-service Medicare beneficiaries aged 65-years-old and older receiving care outside of the health system between 2017-2018. Explores beneficiary and health system factors associated with receiving the thirty most common low-value services, including beneficiaries' rurality and whether the low-value services originated from primary care physicians or specialists.
Author(s): Ishani Ganguli, Maia L. Crawford, Benjamin Usadi, et al.
Citation: Health Affairs, 42(8), 1128-1139
Date: 08/2023
view details
Examines how much low-volume care and health system spending can be attributed to fee-for-service Medicare beneficiaries aged 65-years-old and older receiving care outside of the health system between 2017-2018. Explores beneficiary and health system factors associated with receiving the thirty most common low-value services, including beneficiaries' rurality and whether the low-value services originated from primary care physicians or specialists.
Author(s): Ishani Ganguli, Maia L. Crawford, Benjamin Usadi, et al.
Citation: Health Affairs, 42(8), 1128-1139
Date: 08/2023
view details
Building On CMS's Accountable Care Vision To Improve Care For Medicare Beneficiaries
Describes progress the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has made to date in its accountable care strategy. Outlines areas that CMS is exploring to accelerate the growth of and access to accountable care organizations (ACOs) that can support improved care and quality for beneficiaries, especially those in rural and underserved areas. Covers aligning the testing of ACO models and features with the Shared Savings Program (SSP), growth in the SSP, and using ACOs to reach underserved areas.
Author(s): Purva Rawal, Douglas Jacobs, Elizabeth Fowler, Meena Seshamani
Citation: Health Affairs Forefront
Date: 07/2023
view details
Describes progress the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has made to date in its accountable care strategy. Outlines areas that CMS is exploring to accelerate the growth of and access to accountable care organizations (ACOs) that can support improved care and quality for beneficiaries, especially those in rural and underserved areas. Covers aligning the testing of ACO models and features with the Shared Savings Program (SSP), growth in the SSP, and using ACOs to reach underserved areas.
Author(s): Purva Rawal, Douglas Jacobs, Elizabeth Fowler, Meena Seshamani
Citation: Health Affairs Forefront
Date: 07/2023
view details