Department of Health and Human Services Announces Future Changes to Provider Reimbursements

March 2018 ~

Changes are soon to come to the way the federal government reimburses providers, according to a recent announcement from the Department Health and Human Services.

HHS Secretary Alex Azar, during his speech at the Federation of American Hospital’s (FAH) 2018 Public Policy Conference & Business Exposition, stated that the transition to value-based care has been too slow-moving and that changes need to occur more quickly to help improve care delivery, interoperability, price transparency, and limit rising healthcare costs.

In his speech, Azar laid out the Department’s four-point plan to accelerate the shift toward value-based payment systems.

1. Giving consumers greater control over health information through interoperable and accessible health information technology;
2. Encouraging transparency from providers and payers;
3. Using experimental models in Medicare and Medicaid to drive value and quality throughout the entire system; and
4. Removing government burdens that impede this value-based transformation.

“The key theme uniting these four priorities is the recognition that value is not accurately determined by arbitrary authorities or central planners,” Azar noted. It is best determined by a marketplace of many players – in the case of healthcare, patients and, where necessary, their third-party payers. Each piece of our plan for value-based transformation recognizes this, and it’s the main reason I am optimistic that we may have more success, and sooner, than past efforts.”

“Today’s healthcare system is simply not delivering outcomes commensurate with its cost,” he continued. “Change represents opportunity, and I exhort all of you to take advantage of the opportunities represented by what I’ve discussed today. Because I assure you: Change is possible, change is necessary, and change is coming.”

Source(s): HHS.gov; The Hill; Health Leaders Media; RevCycleIntelligence; Home Health Care News; Advisory Board; Modern Healthcare;