While CMS has started making changes to address health equity through policy and payment models, commercial plans are waiting to see the outcomes before they follow suit, said Jayson Slotnik, partner, Health Policy Strategies, Inc.
While CMS has started making changes to address health equity through policy and payment models, commercial plans are waiting to see the outcomes before they follow suit, said Jayson Slotnik, partner, Health Policy Strategies, Inc.
Transcript
CMS is tweaking value-based payment models to address equity better. Are commercial plans already doing this or will they start following in the footsteps of CMS and begin to address equity in payment models?
So, in the last couple of years, CMS has had a significant emphasis on health equity. A significant approach introduced many policies related to trying to equitize access to health care across race, gender, age, socioeconomic status. And the ramifications of such are not really well known yet, because the policies haven't really gone into effect, number one, and certainly, we have not seen any data or results or research about health outcomes related to those efforts.
So, will commercial [plans] follow? It's hard to really say whether the commercial will follow. My guess is that they will wait and see what happens with Medicare. They will wait and see what's the outcomes of some of these innovative or different programs or investments, if you will, that CMS is making into these new policies—access, dedication to ignored areas of health care. And if they see a [return on investment] or even a better outcome that will cost them a little bit more, I want to believe that the commercial will follow.
Study Highlights Significant Increases in Utilization, Spending on DMD Drugs in Medicaid
May 17th 2024The findings add to recent research on the growing utilization, expenditure, and prices of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) therapies in the current landscape, an area health care policy could potentially address.
Read More
Frameworks for Advancing Health Equity: Urban Health Outreach
May 9th 2024In the series debut episode of "Frameworks for Advancing Health Equity," Mary Sligh, CRNP, and Chelsea Chappars, of Allegheny Health Network, explain how the Urban Health Outreach program aims to improve health equity for individuals experiencing homelessness.
Listen
Perioperative Nivolumab Boosts NSCLC Survival: CheckMate 77T Trial
May 16th 2024This interim analysis of the CheckMate 77T trial, outcomes were compared between adult patients receiving neoadjuvant nivolumab plus chemotherapy or neoadjuvant chemotherapy plus placebo for resectable non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
Read More