October 13, 2014

From Our Experts

New Ways to Evaluate the Value of Care Coming Soon

By: Bob Kershner, CIVHC Director of Health System Payment Strategies

In the near future, CIVHC will be able to measure the cost and the quality of care by facility based on everything associated with a particular service or procedure, also known as an "episode." Based on claims data from the Colorado All Payer Claims Database (APCD), reports on these episodes will give payers, providers and facilities new ways to evaluate the value of the care they are providing. This type of analysis is critical to moving away from our current pay for volume model to a more patient-centric and value- based payment model where outcomes and lower costs reign supreme.

In The News

A Dangerous Malfunction in the Measure of Readmission Reduction

By: Joanne Lynn and Steve Jencks

From Medicaring.org, August 2014

The broadest and arguably most effective health care quality reform in place is the multifaceted targeting of readmissions. That goal is at risk of turning into a black eye for improvement endeavors due to faulty statistical recognition of how total systems change in response to improvement efforts.

Full Article

ER Visits on the Rise Due to Medicaid Expansion

By: Ilene MacDonald

From FierceHealthcare, September 2014

Emergency room visits are on the rise in states that expanded Medicaid, according to a nationwide study conducted by the Colorado Hospital Association (CHA).

Full Article

A Comparison of How Four Countries Use Health IT to Support Care for People with Chronic Conditions

By: Julia Adler-Milstein, Ashish Jha, Nandini Sarma, Liana R. Woskie

From The Commonwealth Fund, September 2014

The Commonwealth Fund analyzed how four high-income nations-Australia, Canada, Denmark, and the United States-are using health information and communications technologies (ICTs) to manage care for chronically ill patients. Four key themes were: 1) national strategies start at a regional level; 2) each country struggles with clinical information transmission between care settings; 3) telehealth approaches are not widely used or well-integrated; and 4) clinical data are being made available to patients, but are not being used to engage patients in their own care.

Full Article

City of Longmont Aims to Reduce Unnecessary ER Visits Through Primary Care Intervention and HIE

From CORHIO E-newsletter, August 2014

The Longmont Community Health Network is a community-based health collaborative that recently received a grant from the Colorado Health Foundation to improve care for patients in the community who are having a difficult time managing their health conditions. Often these patients rely on the emergency department for care, when their primary care physician would be a better option. The Health Network is working to connect these patients with a more appropriate source of care.

Full Article

Healthy Transitions Webinars Available

Recordings and slides of our monthly webinars are located on the Webinar Archive page of the Healthy Transitions Colorado Website.

Healthy Transitions Colorado Webinar Archive Page

In This Issue

New Ways to Evaluate the Value of Care Coming Soon

A Dangerous Malfunction in the Measure of Readmission Reduction

ER Visits on the Rise Due to Medicaid Expansion

A Comparison of How Four Countries Use Health IT to Support Care for People with Chronic Conditions

City of Longmont Aims to Reduce Unnecessary ER Visits Through Primary Care Intervention and HIE

Upcoming Events

Call for Assistance

Research and Innovations

Medicare to Start Paying Doctors Who Coordinate Needs of Chronically Ill Patients

Upcoming Events

10.23.14 - IHI Webinar Better Care and Better Value for New Hips and Knees

11.6.14 - IHI Webinar: Optimizing Safety with the EHR: The Latest on Glitches and Fixes from the Frontlines

Call for Assistance

Attention HTC Community Partners! Are you a nurse or social worker involved in a clinic or hospital based care transitions program?

A team in Louisiana recently reached out to Healthy Transitions Colorado looking for some advice. They would love to be able to talk to nurses and social workers that are working on care transitions for complex patients about lessons learned and some best practices. If you would be willing to chat with them as they develop their program, please send an email to hello@healthy-transitions-colorado.org A few minutes of advice could go a long way for them. Thanks!

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Healthy Transitions Colorado is a collaborative effort, focused on aligning and accelerating existing efforts to improve transitions of care for Coloradans. Our guiding principles are simple - by working together to break down the silos of health care, we can foster true community care coordination across facilities, specialties, and practices.

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