Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Trump Administration Value-Based Rule Expected To Force ACOs To Adapt Or Bolt
Politico Pro: How Trump's Value-Based Gambit Could Make ACOs Flee
HHS Secretary Alex Azar has called the shift to value-based care a top priority, signaling for months that the Trump administration will take steps like cracking down on free riders in Medicare's Shared Savings Program. The question is whether a new rule aimed at redesigning that program will spur a health system resistant to quick and sweeping change or undermine that priority. (Roubein, 8/15)
Kaiser Health News: Hospitals Battle For Control Over Fast-Growing Heart-Valve Procedure
When Medicare in 2011 agreed to pay for a revolutionary procedure to replace leaky heart valves by snaking a synthetic replacement up through blood vessels, the goal was to offer relief to the tens of thousands of patients too frail to endure open-heart surgery, the gold standard. To help ensure good results, federal officials limited Medicare payment only to hospitals that serve large numbers of cardiac patients. The strategy worked. In the past seven years, more than 135,000 mostly elderly patients have undergone transcatheter aortic valve replacement, known as TAVR. And TAVR’s in-hospital mortality rate has dropped by two-thirds, to 1.5 percent. (Galewitz, 8/17)
Modern Healthcare: Healthcare Saw Q2 Reprieve From Record Bankruptcies
The healthcare industry experienced fewer commercial bankruptcies in the second quarter of 2018 relative to the first quarter, after the sector suffered record or near-record highs in each of the past eight quarters, according to a new report. The law firm Polsinelli tracks Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings among companies with assets of at least $1 million and releases a quarterly stress index. In the second quarter, the overall index was 49.26, down 5 points since the first quarter, despite having increased in three of the past four quarters. (Bannow, 8/16)
Denver Post: Catalyst HTI Brings Health Care Innovators Together In RiNo
In recent years, “disruption” and “innovation” have become buzzwords as the health-care industry aims to remake America’s complex health system by using technology to curb high costs and boost outcomes. But as industry members gathered at Catalyst HTI in Denver’s River North district Thursday, the discussion centered around the collaboration the new health-tech campus will foster by placing so many different players — from providers to startups — in one building. (Seaman, 8/16)
