Health Catalyst: Only 3 percent of hospitals meet CMS target for value-based care

The analytics startup’s research also found that less than one quarter will reach the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services goal by 2019, a year after CMS anticipates half of payments to be value-based.
By Bernie Monegain
09:45 AM

Less than a quarter of U.S. hospitals are expected to meet the government’s goal of providing half or more of their patients with value-based care – the initiative designed to replace fee-for-service Medicare reimbursement with healthcare provider payments based on care quality, according to a survey conducted by Health Catalyst.

The survey revealed that just 3 percent of health systems today meet the target set by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Moreover, only 23 percent expect to reach the goal by 2019, a year later than CMS expected half of all Medicare reimbursements to be value-based.

Fifty-two percent of respondents indicated analytics would be critical to success in a value-based system – more than double the second most-selected answer: a culture of quality improvement. Twenty-four percent of respondents cited cultural alignment on quality as having the most impact on value-based care success.

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“Transitioning from fee-for-service reimbursement to value-based payments is a goal that many healthcare organizations embrace but are having difficulty implementing as they juggle a number of other high priorities,” Health Catalyst vice president Bobbi Brown said in a statement. “This survey reveals that they’re making progress but they could use a little help – some of it financial and some of it technical in the way of better analytics to help identify at-risk populations and better manage their risk.”

The survey shows 62 percent of health systems have zero or less than 10 percent of their care tied to value-based care and payments, and those numbers include accountable care organizations.

Small hospitals with fewer than 200 beds make up the majority of those lagging on this initiative.

Healthcare executives across the board, however, indicated they plan to steadily increase value-based care and at-risk contracts. In the next three years, all but 1 percent of respondents expect their organizations to be engaged in at-risk contracts.

Only 23 percent expect value-based care to account for more than half of their care in the next three years, while 68 percent indicated that they expect risk-based contracts to encompass less than half of their total care over the same time frame. Eight percent indicated they did not know.

Health Catalyst garnered opinions from 78 healthcare professionals who responded to the online survey in May 2016. More than half  were CEOs or CFOs; other respondents included CMIOs, CMOs and CNOs.

Twitter: @Bernie_HITN
Email the writer: bernie.monegain@himssmedia.com


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