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In 2014, Maryland incorporated global budgets into its long-running all-payer rate-setting model for hospitals in order to improve health, increase health care quality, and reduce spending. We used difference-in-differences models to estimate changes in Medicare and commercial insurance utilization and spending in Maryland relative to a hospital-based comparison group. We found slower growth in Medicare hospital spending in Maryland than in the comparison group 4.5 years after model implementation and for commercial plan members after 4 years. We identified reductions in Maryland Medicare admissions but no changes for commercial plan members, although their inpatient spending declined. Relative declines in emergency department and other hospital outpatient spending in Maryland drove slower Medicare hospital spending growth, saving $796 million. Our findings suggest global budgets reduce hospital spending and utilization but aligning incentives between hospital and nonhospital providers may be necessary to further reduce utilization and total spending.

A significant gap remains between existing evidence-based care coordination techniques for the general population and those that have been successfully translated for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Two models funded through the Health Care Innovation Awards have dedicated resources to the translation of evidence-based practices in community or clinical settings. This study analyzes quasi-experimental mixed-methods evaluation data, including Medicaid/Medicare claims on more than 600 beneficiaries who participated in the two models and survey data, site visits, and focus groups with participants and caregivers. Qualitative data suggest that both models address key contextual factors, considering residential setting, health disparities, and heterogeneity of the population. We identify key improvements in health care quality related to timeliness, patient safety, and medication reconciliation. In addition, both models show some evidence of reduced claims utilization. This study represents the first step to understand the potential of care coordination to improve the lives of adults aging with IDD. As health systems continue to struggle to manage the cost of their most expensive users and deliver high quality care, these models hold promise as vehicles to reduce utilization and cost among adults who have lived long-term with disability by addressing their unique health care and social needs.

OBJECTIVE: To review the evidence of the association between performance in eight indicators of diabetes care and a patient's race/ethnicity and socioeconomic characteristics. DATA SOURCE: Studies of adult patients with type 2 diabetes in MEDLINE published between January 1, 2000, and December 31, 2018. STUDY DESIGN: Systematic review and meta‐analysis of regression‐based studies including race/ethnicity and income or education as explanatory variables. Meta‐analysis was used to quantify differences in performance associated with patient race/ethnicity or socioeconomic characteristics. The systematic review was used to identify potential mechanisms of disparities. DATA COLLECTION: Two coauthors separately conducted abstract screening, study exclusions, data extraction, and scoring of retained studies. Estimates in retained studies were extracted and, where applicable, were standardized and converted to odds ratios and standard errors. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Performance in intermediate outcomes and process measures frequently exhibited differences by race/ethnicity even after adjustment for socioeconomic, lifestyle, and health factors. Meta‐analyses showed black patients had lower odds of HbA1c and blood pressure (BP) control (OR range: 0.67‐0.68, P

Background Previous studies have disagreed on whether patients who receive primary care from federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) have different utilization patterns than patients who receive care elsewhere. Our objective was to compare patterns of healthcare utilization between Medicare beneficiaries who received primary care from FQHCs and Medicare beneficiaries who received primary care from another source. Methods We compared characteristics and ambulatory, emergency department (ED), and inpatient utilization during 2013 between 130,637 Medicare beneficiaries who visited an FQHC for the majority of their primary care in 2013 (FQHC users) and a random sample of 1,000,000 Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) beneficiaries who did not visit an FQHC (FQHC non-users). We then created a propensity-matched sample of 130,569 FQHC users and 130,569 FQHC non-users to account for differences in observable patient characteristics between the two groups and repeated all comparisons. Results Before matching, the two samples differed in terms of age (42% below age 65 for FQHC users vs. 16% among FQHC non-users, p

Background and Objectives Care coordination and palliative care supports are associated with reduced anxiety, fewer hospital admissions, and improved quality of life for patients and their families. Early palliative care can result in savings in the end-of-life period, but there is limited evidence that larger-scale models can improve both utilization and the cost of care. Three models that received Health Care Innovation Awards from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services aimed to improve quality of care and reduce cost through the use of innovative care coordination models. This study explores the total cost of care and selected utilization outcomes at the end-of-life for these innovative models, each of which enrolled adults with multiple chronic conditions and featured care coordination with advance care planning as a component of palliative care. These included a comprehensive at-home supportive care model for persons predicted to die within a year and two models offering advance care planning in nursing facilities and during care transitions. Research Design and Methods We used regression models to assess model impacts on costs and utilization for high-risk Medicare beneficiaries participating in the comprehensive supportive care model (N = 3,339) and the two care transition models (N = 587 and N = 277) who died during the study period (2013–2016), relative to a set of matched comparison patients. Results Comparing participants in each model who died during the study period to matched comparators, two of the three models were associated with significantly lower costs in the last 90 days of life ($2,122 and $4,606 per person), and the third model showed nonsignificant differences. Two of the three models encouraged early hospice entry in the last 30 days of life. For the comprehensive at-home supportive care model, we observed aggregate savings of nearly $19 million over the study period. One care transition model showed aggregate savings of over $500,000 during the same period. Potential drivers of these cost savings include improved patient safety, timeliness of care, and caregiver support. Discussion and Implications Two of the three models achieved significant lower Medicare costs than a comparison group and the same two models also sustained their models beyond the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services award period. These findings show promise for achieving palliative care goals as part of care coordination innovation.

From 2011 through 2014, the Federally Qualified Health Center Advanced Primary Care Practice Demonstration provided care management fees and technical assistance to a nationwide sample of 503 federally qualified health centers to help them achieve the highest (level 3) medical-home recognition by the National Committee for Quality Assurance, a designation that requires the implementation of processes to improve access, continuity, and coordination.We examined the achievement of medical-home recognition and used Medicare claims and beneficiary surveys to measure utilization of services, quality of care, patients' experiences, and Medicare expenditures in demonstration sites versus comparison sites. Using difference-in-differences analyses, we compared changes in outcomes in the two groups of sites during a 3-year period.Level 3 medical-home recognition was awarded to 70% of demonstration sites and to 11% of comparison sites. Although the number of visits to federally qualified health centers decreased in the two groups, smaller reductions among demonstration sites than among comparison sites led to a relative increase of 83 visits per 1000 beneficiaries per year at demonstration sites (P0.001). Similar trends explained the higher performance of demonstration sites with respect to annual eye examinations and nephropathy tests (P0.001 for both comparisons); there were no significant differences with respect to three other process measures. Demonstration sites had larger increases than comparison sites in emergency department visits (30.3 more per 1000 beneficiaries per year, P0.001), inpatient admissions (5.7 more per 1000 beneficiaries per year, P=0.02), and Medicare Part B expenditures ($37 more per beneficiary per year, P=0.02). Demonstration-site participation was not associated with relative improvements in most measures of patients' experiences.Demonstration sites had higher rates of medical-home recognition and smaller decreases in the number of patients' visits to federally qualified health centers than did comparison sites, findings that may reflect better access to primary care relative to comparison sites. Demonstration sites had larger increases in emergency department visits, inpatient admissions, and Medicare Part B expenditures. (Funded by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.).

Patient-centered medical home (PCMH) models of primary care have the potential to expand access, improve population health, and lower costs. Federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) were early adopters of PCMH models.We measured PCMH capabilities in a diverse nationwide sample of FQHCs and assessed the relationship between PCMH capabilities and Medicare beneficiary outcomes.Cross-sectional, propensity score-weighted, multivariable regression analysis.A convenience sample of 804 FQHC sites that applied to a nationwide FQHC PCMH initiative and 231,163 Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries who received a plurality of their primary care services from these sites.PCMH capabilities were self-reported using the National Committee for Quality Assurance's (NCQA's) 2011 application for PCMH recognition. Measures of utilization, continuity of care, quality, and Medicare expenditures were derived from Medicare claims covering a 1-year period ending October 2011.Nearly 88% of sites were classified as having PCMH capabilities equivalent to NCQA Level 1, 2, or 3 PCMH recognition. These more advanced sites were associated with 228 additional FQHC visits per 1000 Medicare beneficiaries (95% CI: 176, 278), compared with less advanced sites; 0.02 points higher practice-level continuity of care (95% CI: 0.01, 0.03); and a greater likelihood of administering two of four recommended diabetes tests. However, more advanced sites were also associated with 181 additional visits to specialists per 1000 beneficiaries (95% CI: 124, 232) and 64 additional visits to emergency departments (95% CI: 35, 89)-but with no differences in inpatient utilization. More advanced sites had higher Part B expenditures ($111 per beneficiary [95% CI: $61, $158]) and total Medicare expenditures of $353 [95% CI: $65, $614]).Implementation of PCMH models in FQHCs may be associated with improved primary care for Medicare beneficiaries. Expanded access to care, in combination with slower development of key PCMH capabilities, may explain higher Medicare expenditures and other types of utilization.

While studies of home-based care delivered by teams led by primary care providers have shown cost savings, little is known about outcomes when practice-extender teams-that is, teams led by registered nurses or lay health workers-provide home visits with similar components (for example, care coordination and education). We evaluated findings from five models funded by Health Care Innovation Awards of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Each model used a mix of different components to strengthen connections to primary care among fee-for-service Medicare beneficiaries with multiple chronic conditions; these connections included practice-extender home visits. Two models achieved significant reductions in Medicare expenditures, and three models reduced utilization in the form of emergency department visits, hospitalizations, or both for beneficiaries relative to comparators. These findings present a strong case for the potential value of home visits by practice-extender teams to reduce Medicare expenditures and service use in a particularly vulnerable and costly segment of the Medicare population.

Objective To identify roles physicians assumed as part of new health care delivery models and related strategies that facilitated physician engagement across 21 Health Care Innovation Award (HCIA) programs. Data Sources Site-level in-depth interviews, conducted from 2014 to 2015 (N = 672) with program staff, leadership, and partners (including 95 physicians) and direct observations. Study Design NORC conducted a mixed-method evaluation, including two rounds of qualitative data collected via site visits and telephone interviews. Data Collection/Extraction Methods We used qualitative thematic coding for data from 21 programs actively engaging physicians as part of HCIA interventions. Principal Findings Establishing physician champions and ensuring an innovation-values fit between physicians and programs, including the strategies programs employed, facilitated engagement. Among engagement practices identified in this study, tailoring team working styles to meet physician preferences and conducting physician outreach and education were the most common successful approaches. Conclusions We describe engagement strategies derived from a diverse range of programs. Successful programs considered physicians' values and engagement as components of process and policy, rather than viewing them as exogenous factors affecting innovation adoption. These types of approaches enabled programs to accelerate acceptance of innovations within organizations.