P4P Quality

Value-Based Payments and Incentives to Improve Care

Please check out my latest publication in Value in Health titled “Value-Based Payments and Incentives to Improve Care: A Case Study of Patients with Type 2 Diabetes in Medicare Advantage“. This work is based on research conducted with my co-authors Jesse Sussell, Kata Bognar, Taylor T. Schwartz, John J. Sheehan, Wade Aubry, and Dennis Scanlon, PhD.

Objectives

To estimate the impact of increased glycated hemoglobin (A1C) monitoring and treatment intensification for patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) on quality measures and reimbursement within the Medicare Advantage Star (MA Star) program.

Methods

The primary endpoint was the share of patients with T2D with adequate A1C control (A1C ≤ 9%). We conducted a simulation of how increased A1C monitoring and treatment intensification affected this end point using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and clinical trials. Using the estimated changes in measured A1C levels, we calculated corresponding changes in the plan-level A1C quality measure, overall star rating, and reimbursement.

Results

At baseline, 24.4% of patients with T2D in the average plan had poor A1C control. The share of plans receiving the highest A1C rating increased from 27% at baseline to 49.5% (increased monitoring), 36.2% (intensification), and 57.1% (joint implementation of both interventions). However, overall star ratings increased for only 3.6%, 1.3%, and 4.8% of plans, respectively, by intervention. Projected per-member per-year rebate increases under the MA Star program were $7.71 (monitoring), $2.66 (intensification), and $10.55 (joint implementation).

Conclusions

The simulation showed that increased monitoring and treatment intensification would improve A1C levels; however, the resulting average increases in reimbursement would be small.

Source:

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *