In This Week’s Issue:
1. LAN Updates: Oct. 26 Summit; Webinar on Payment Models Focused on Low-Income and Vulnerable Populations; Guiding Committee Update, click here to register for the webinar.
2. FDA Announces the Patient Engagement Advisory Committee, see details below.
3. HBR: Patient-Reported Data Can Help People Make Better Health Care Choices, click here to view.
4. PCORI Names Evelyn P. Whitlock, MD, MPH, as Chief Science Officer, click here to view the press release.
5. ACRO Videos: Patient Centered Drug Development, click here and here to view the videos.
6. What Does Success Look Like In Patient Centricity?, click here to view the article.
7. Will New Value Assessments Lead to Care Rationing?, click here to view the article.
8. Health Affairs Blog: MSSP Year Two: Medicare ACOs Show Muted Success, click here to view the article.
1. LAN Updates: Oct. 26 Summit; Webinar on Payment Models Focused on Low-Income and Vulnerable Populations; Guiding Committee Update, click here to register for the webinar.
2. FDA Announces the Patient Engagement Advisory Committee, see details below.
3. HBR: Patient-Reported Data Can Help People Make Better Health Care Choices, click here to view.
4. PCORI Names Evelyn P. Whitlock, MD, MPH, as Chief Science Officer, click here to view the press release.
5. ACRO Videos: Patient Centered Drug Development, click here and here to view the videos.
6. What Does Success Look Like In Patient Centricity?, click here to view the article.
7. Will New Value Assessments Lead to Care Rationing?, click here to view the article.
8. Health Affairs Blog: MSSP Year Two: Medicare ACOs Show Muted Success, click here to view the article.
1. LAN Updates: Oct. 26 Summit; Webinar on Payment Models Focused on Low-Income and Vulnerable Populations; Guiding Committee Update
Regarding the October 26 Summit, MITRE states, "Join fellow innovators from health systems, health plans, consumer groups, large employers, federal, state, and local governments, experts and others who are designing or have implemented alternative payment models. At this first national stakeholder conference of the Health Care Payment Learning and Action Network, you will meet LAN Guiding Committee members, hear updates from the APM Framework and Progress Tracking Work Group, and engage with fellow APM innovators. This event is designed to support all stakeholders to successfully transition their organization or constituency to alternative payment models.” Click here to register.
The Health Care Payment Learning and Action Network (LAN) will hold a webinar on October 15 from 12:30-1:45 PM ET to provide “updates on LAN activities and hear about an innovative payment reform approach focused on low income and vulnerable populations in New Jersey. Since the last webinar, the LAN Guiding Committee is working to launch new work groups, stand up affinity groups, partner with the Core Quality Measures Collaborative on performance measures, and prepare for the first LAN Summit in Arlington, Virginia. The Guiding Committee will also hold its second in-person meeting on September 30/October 1, to continue advancing LAN goals. LAN Guiding Committee Co-Chair Mark McClellan will share updates on these activities during this webinar. In the second part of the webinar you will hear from panelists discussing the Medicaid payment reform initiative occurring in New Jersey. This model promotes accessible, coordinated, patient-centered care that focuses on health and disease prevention and reduces health care costs. Invited speakers represent Rutgers University, Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers, UnitedHealthcare, and the New Jersey Division of Medical Assistance and Health Services to share how New Jersey has implemented this model, how the it is working, what lessons have been learned so far, and plans for evaluation and performance feedback to Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs).” Click here to register for the webinar.
Additionally, the LAN Guiding Committee held a virtual meeting on September 11. “Sam Nussbaum, chair of the APM Framework and Progress Tracking Work Group, shared the group's efforts to develop guiding principles and an APM category framework to inform the Population Based Payment (PBP) and Clinical Episodes Payment (CEP) work groups. Members supported a proposal to share this interim work with the affiliated community through the LAN collaboration portal in order to incorporate feedback from the broader LAN community early in the development process. The Guiding Committee co-chairs shared plans to partner with the Core Quality Measures Collaborative. They also updated members on selection of chairs and members for the next two work groups. CMS staff provided an update on plans to launch a purchaser and a consumer/patient affinity group in the next few weeks. Members reviewed goals and activities for expanding broad awareness about payment reform and for engaging and equipping key stakeholders. A communications and engagement plan will be provided for review at the next Guiding Committee meeting.” A detailed summary of this meeting will be posted on the Guiding Committee page.
To join the LAN and receive updates about activities, including opportunities for input and participation, click here.
2. FDA Announces the Patient Engagement Advisory Committee
As detailed in a press release last week, “the FDA announced the Patient Engagement Advisory Committee (PEAC) to help assure that the needs and experiences of patients are included as part of the FDA’s deliberations on complex issues relating to the regulation of medical devices and their use by patients. While patient representatives participate in many FDA advisory committee meetings, the FDA has never had a committee that was wholly focused on patients. Rather than focusing on a product or specific disease, the new committee will be asked to weigh in on a variety of important patient-related issues.”
Four notices relating to the PEAC went on display this morning in the Federal Register:
FDA establishing a public docket to get feedback on the patient-related issues the committee should focus on.FDA encouraging the public to nominate individuals to participate on the committee as voting patient representatives.FDA requesting nominations for nonvoting industry representative.FDA requesting nominations for a voting consumer representative.
3. HBR: Patient-Reported Data Can Help People Make Better Health Care Choices
A Harvard Business Review article documents the value of patient-reported data to improve health decision-making. The authors state, "Documenting the alternatives that today’s patients face and the choices they ultimately make is the core aim of using patient-reported outcomes data. Only by collecting relevant options, choices, and health care outcomes for today’s patients can we help future patients make fully informed decisions. This effort is critical for developing a sustainable, transparent health care system that holds providers accountable for costs and outcomes, that provides incentives for improving the health of the population instead of promoting use of more services and expansion of market share, and that encourages patients to seek only the care they want and need.” Click here to view the full article.
4. PCORI Names Evelyn P. Whitlock, MD, MPH, as Chief Science Officer
According to a recent press release, “the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) today named Evelyn Whitlock, MD, MPH, a nationally recognized expert in evidence-based medicine and health policy at Kaiser Permanente Northwest in Portland, Ore., as its new Chief Science Officer (CSO). Dr. Whitlock, who is Senior Investigator and Senior Director, Evidence-Based Medicine Research, at the Center for Health Research at Kaiser Permanente Northwest, succeeds Bryan Luce, PhD, MBA, as PCORI’s CSO. Luce announced last September that he planned to step down this year. As CSO, Whitlock will be responsible for leading the ongoing development and management of PCORI’s patient-centered comparative clinical effectiveness research (CER) portfolio. She is expected to take up her new duties in January 2016… Whitlock, a board-certified preventive medicine physician, is the founding Director of the Kaiser Permanente Research Affiliates Evidence-based Practice Center, or EPC, one of 13 officially designated EPCs in the nation.” Click here to view the press release.
5. ACRO Videos: Patient-Centered Drug Development
A pair of new videos from the Association of Clinical Research Organizations (ACRO) takes a look at patient-centered drug development. “Educating patients is an essential part of drug development and clinical trial process. Watch as leaders in the industry explain why communicating and educating patients is such an important part of their job… Clinical Research Organization leaders discuss the importance of implementing patient-centered research in clinical trials.” Click here and here to view the videos.
6. What Does Success Look Like In Patient Centricity?
Ed Miseta reports in Clinical Leader that Dr. Anne Beal “has been making the push for greater patient engagement since joining Sanofi a year-and-a-half ago, after spending almost three years with PCORI...A team led by Beal, with inputs from key stakeholders including patients, doctors, FDA representatives and payers, as well as over 100 senior leaders from across Sanofi, developed a transformation framework for patient-centricity. The three-pillar strategic framework defines core values for patient-centeredness, sets a vision for Sanofi as a patient-centric leader, and defines strategic directions for taking patient-centric actions.” Click here to view the article.
7. Will New Value Assessments Lead to Care Rationing?
An article in Institute for Patient Access suggests that “[ICER’s] efforts have also given rise to its new Value Assessment Framework. Stakeholders have expressed concerns, however, about the effect that such value assessments have on patient access. Data points intended to minimize health care costs can instead be used to deny coverage for patients, limiting access to necessary therapies. As ICER's founder explained, if the cost of new LDL cholesterol-lowering medications proves to be higher than the benchmark created by ICER, ‘doctors, insurers, and other parties may need to work together to determine ways to limit the use of these drugs.’” Click here to view the article.
8. Health Affairs Blog: MSSP Year Two: Medicare ACOs Show Muted Success
As reported last week on Health Affairs Blog, “among the 333 participating [performance year two] ACOs, 86, or 26 percent, earned shared savings payments, meaning their claims costs for 2014 were below their financial benchmarks by an amount exceeding their minimum savings rates (MSR), and they reported complete quality information... Shared savings was less than 50 percent to 60 percent of total savings ACOs were eligible to receive.” Click here to view the article.
Regarding the October 26 Summit, MITRE states, "Join fellow innovators from health systems, health plans, consumer groups, large employers, federal, state, and local governments, experts and others who are designing or have implemented alternative payment models. At this first national stakeholder conference of the Health Care Payment Learning and Action Network, you will meet LAN Guiding Committee members, hear updates from the APM Framework and Progress Tracking Work Group, and engage with fellow APM innovators. This event is designed to support all stakeholders to successfully transition their organization or constituency to alternative payment models.” Click here to register.
The Health Care Payment Learning and Action Network (LAN) will hold a webinar on October 15 from 12:30-1:45 PM ET to provide “updates on LAN activities and hear about an innovative payment reform approach focused on low income and vulnerable populations in New Jersey. Since the last webinar, the LAN Guiding Committee is working to launch new work groups, stand up affinity groups, partner with the Core Quality Measures Collaborative on performance measures, and prepare for the first LAN Summit in Arlington, Virginia. The Guiding Committee will also hold its second in-person meeting on September 30/October 1, to continue advancing LAN goals. LAN Guiding Committee Co-Chair Mark McClellan will share updates on these activities during this webinar. In the second part of the webinar you will hear from panelists discussing the Medicaid payment reform initiative occurring in New Jersey. This model promotes accessible, coordinated, patient-centered care that focuses on health and disease prevention and reduces health care costs. Invited speakers represent Rutgers University, Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers, UnitedHealthcare, and the New Jersey Division of Medical Assistance and Health Services to share how New Jersey has implemented this model, how the it is working, what lessons have been learned so far, and plans for evaluation and performance feedback to Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs).” Click here to register for the webinar.
Additionally, the LAN Guiding Committee held a virtual meeting on September 11. “Sam Nussbaum, chair of the APM Framework and Progress Tracking Work Group, shared the group's efforts to develop guiding principles and an APM category framework to inform the Population Based Payment (PBP) and Clinical Episodes Payment (CEP) work groups. Members supported a proposal to share this interim work with the affiliated community through the LAN collaboration portal in order to incorporate feedback from the broader LAN community early in the development process. The Guiding Committee co-chairs shared plans to partner with the Core Quality Measures Collaborative. They also updated members on selection of chairs and members for the next two work groups. CMS staff provided an update on plans to launch a purchaser and a consumer/patient affinity group in the next few weeks. Members reviewed goals and activities for expanding broad awareness about payment reform and for engaging and equipping key stakeholders. A communications and engagement plan will be provided for review at the next Guiding Committee meeting.” A detailed summary of this meeting will be posted on the Guiding Committee page.
To join the LAN and receive updates about activities, including opportunities for input and participation, click here.
2. FDA Announces the Patient Engagement Advisory Committee
As detailed in a press release last week, “the FDA announced the Patient Engagement Advisory Committee (PEAC) to help assure that the needs and experiences of patients are included as part of the FDA’s deliberations on complex issues relating to the regulation of medical devices and their use by patients. While patient representatives participate in many FDA advisory committee meetings, the FDA has never had a committee that was wholly focused on patients. Rather than focusing on a product or specific disease, the new committee will be asked to weigh in on a variety of important patient-related issues.”
Four notices relating to the PEAC went on display this morning in the Federal Register:
FDA establishing a public docket to get feedback on the patient-related issues the committee should focus on.FDA encouraging the public to nominate individuals to participate on the committee as voting patient representatives.FDA requesting nominations for nonvoting industry representative.FDA requesting nominations for a voting consumer representative.
3. HBR: Patient-Reported Data Can Help People Make Better Health Care Choices
A Harvard Business Review article documents the value of patient-reported data to improve health decision-making. The authors state, "Documenting the alternatives that today’s patients face and the choices they ultimately make is the core aim of using patient-reported outcomes data. Only by collecting relevant options, choices, and health care outcomes for today’s patients can we help future patients make fully informed decisions. This effort is critical for developing a sustainable, transparent health care system that holds providers accountable for costs and outcomes, that provides incentives for improving the health of the population instead of promoting use of more services and expansion of market share, and that encourages patients to seek only the care they want and need.” Click here to view the full article.
4. PCORI Names Evelyn P. Whitlock, MD, MPH, as Chief Science Officer
According to a recent press release, “the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) today named Evelyn Whitlock, MD, MPH, a nationally recognized expert in evidence-based medicine and health policy at Kaiser Permanente Northwest in Portland, Ore., as its new Chief Science Officer (CSO). Dr. Whitlock, who is Senior Investigator and Senior Director, Evidence-Based Medicine Research, at the Center for Health Research at Kaiser Permanente Northwest, succeeds Bryan Luce, PhD, MBA, as PCORI’s CSO. Luce announced last September that he planned to step down this year. As CSO, Whitlock will be responsible for leading the ongoing development and management of PCORI’s patient-centered comparative clinical effectiveness research (CER) portfolio. She is expected to take up her new duties in January 2016… Whitlock, a board-certified preventive medicine physician, is the founding Director of the Kaiser Permanente Research Affiliates Evidence-based Practice Center, or EPC, one of 13 officially designated EPCs in the nation.” Click here to view the press release.
5. ACRO Videos: Patient-Centered Drug Development
A pair of new videos from the Association of Clinical Research Organizations (ACRO) takes a look at patient-centered drug development. “Educating patients is an essential part of drug development and clinical trial process. Watch as leaders in the industry explain why communicating and educating patients is such an important part of their job… Clinical Research Organization leaders discuss the importance of implementing patient-centered research in clinical trials.” Click here and here to view the videos.
6. What Does Success Look Like In Patient Centricity?
Ed Miseta reports in Clinical Leader that Dr. Anne Beal “has been making the push for greater patient engagement since joining Sanofi a year-and-a-half ago, after spending almost three years with PCORI...A team led by Beal, with inputs from key stakeholders including patients, doctors, FDA representatives and payers, as well as over 100 senior leaders from across Sanofi, developed a transformation framework for patient-centricity. The three-pillar strategic framework defines core values for patient-centeredness, sets a vision for Sanofi as a patient-centric leader, and defines strategic directions for taking patient-centric actions.” Click here to view the article.
7. Will New Value Assessments Lead to Care Rationing?
An article in Institute for Patient Access suggests that “[ICER’s] efforts have also given rise to its new Value Assessment Framework. Stakeholders have expressed concerns, however, about the effect that such value assessments have on patient access. Data points intended to minimize health care costs can instead be used to deny coverage for patients, limiting access to necessary therapies. As ICER's founder explained, if the cost of new LDL cholesterol-lowering medications proves to be higher than the benchmark created by ICER, ‘doctors, insurers, and other parties may need to work together to determine ways to limit the use of these drugs.’” Click here to view the article.
8. Health Affairs Blog: MSSP Year Two: Medicare ACOs Show Muted Success
As reported last week on Health Affairs Blog, “among the 333 participating [performance year two] ACOs, 86, or 26 percent, earned shared savings payments, meaning their claims costs for 2014 were below their financial benchmarks by an amount exceeding their minimum savings rates (MSR), and they reported complete quality information... Shared savings was less than 50 percent to 60 percent of total savings ACOs were eligible to receive.” Click here to view the article.