Within the past two weeks, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the final rules for the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 or MACRA (see MACRA Finalized, Changes To Medicare Payment System Start January 2017). Like all new federal initiatives, there are lots of new acronyms — like MIPS and APMs — and new definitions. I think the implications of MACRA are not in the specific details, but in what it represents in the overall context of the U.S. health care system.

First, MACRA matters because of its magnitude. The legislation affects about 600,000 clinical . . .

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Medicare

The Medicare program is a health insurance program funded by the federal government for older adults, aged 65 and above, as well as younger individuals who have disabilities or end-stage renal disease. There are both strategic opportunities and challenges for health and human service provider organizations serving Medicare beneficiaries, who often have complex health and social support needs. As a result, Medicare plans are looking for innovative services and initiatives that demonstrate a return-on-investment in spending and consumer outcomes.


Among Medicare beneficiaries with mental health diagnoses, those who switched from Medicare Advantage to traditional Medicare in 2018 made more mental health visits after the switch, according to a recent study. Researchers conducted a longitudinal analysis of Medicare Advantage encounter data and traditional Medicare claims data from 2017 and 2018 for beneficiaries diagnosed with mental health disorders. The comparison focused on mental health utilization for the 12 months before and after beneficiaries switched from Medicare… Read