DETROIT — Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan plans soon to designate about 1,000 doctors in primary-care practices as part of its medical homes program, according to the Detroit Free Press.
The insurer is calling it the largest medical homes effort nationwide. A number of insurers have piloted the concept, and Medicare is expected to follow suit soon, according to BNET Healthcare.
Blue Cross Blue Shield proposes to improve care for nearly one in five Michiganders by paying higher reimbursements to doctors who participate in model patient care programs, the Free Press said. Doctors’ practices that adopt the medical home model would see 10 percent more in reimbursements from the insurer.
Behavioral Health, Interoperability and eConsent: Meeting the Demands of CMS Final Rule Compliance
In a webinar on April 16 at 1pm ET, Aneesh Chopra will moderate a discussion with executives from DocuSign, Velatura, and behavioral health providers on eConsent, health information exchange and compliance with the CMS Final Rule on interoperability.
The “patient-centered medical home” model has emerged in the last several years to answer the needs for the falling quality the rising cost of health care.
A team of medical professionals coordinated by one doctor provide each patient preventive and disease management care. This proactive care is designed to head off expensive trips to the emergency room and to manage chronic conditions like high blood pressure so patients don’t get sick.
Cleveland’s MetroHealth System rolled out its medical homes program— called MetroHealth Partners in Care — in March.
The Michigan Blues already have spent $100 million over five years to develop its program, BNET said. What would the insurer get back? According to a 2004 study by the Annals of Family Medicine, the medical homes model could cut health care costs by 5.6 percent.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
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