Despite the uncertainty and new demands that two-plus years of the pandemic have created, now is the time for hospitals to create a purposeful strategy to address social determinants of health (SDOH). COVID-19 repositioned the importance of telehealth and outcome disparities. At their intersection is “digital,” the competency that determines whether people can actually use the tech tools that healthcare stakeholders have built for them. While digital needs are secondary to having somewhere to live and enough to eat, digital tools are how people often access needed resources and are a primary point of intersection between providers and the populations they serve — patients and the broader community. This blog details why digital competency is a distinct and important metric that can help hospitals calculate social risk to make better business decisions and create better outcomes. Digital competency: Definition, dimensions and risk Digital competency is one of six social determinants of...

Innovation that benefits only the privileged is not progress. While accountable care organizations helped show that a focus on value was missing from healthcare, new ACO priorities reflect that equity has been missing, too — for providers as well as patients. In its recent Strategy Refresh , the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation noted that its “Medicare-focused models have limited reach to Medicaid beneficiaries and safety net providers.” CMMI’s new ACO model and planned improvements to existing ones are designed to help more providers reap the benefits of value-based care. If it’s broke, fix it The objectives of accountable care are clear: higher quality at lower costs, involving less waste and a better experience for all. Those outcomes have not fully arrived. CMMI reports that “only six out of more than 50 models launched have generated statistically significant savings to Medicare and to taxpayers” since 2011. The reasons are many but include the need for a new standa...

Earlier this month CMS unveiled that the Kidney Care Choices Model will welcome Cohort 2 in January 2023. CMS also provided guidance around payment mechanisms, policies and quality measures. New participants submitted applications earlier this month. KCC is built upon the successes of the Comprehensive End-Stage Renal Disease Model. CMS offers several structures for participation in KCC: Comprehensive Kidney Care Contracting Options : This includes the CKCC Graduated Option, the CKCC Professional Option and the CKCC Global Option for kidney contracting entities. Participation in CKCC is open to Kidney Contracting Entities consisting of nephrologists, nephrology practices and transplant providers. KCEs can also include dialysis facilities and other providers and suppliers. Kidney Care First: A payment structure for individual nephrology practices and nephrology professionals only. To ensure that new and current participants succeed, DataGen has compiled some of the top questions re...