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Developing New Care Models Based on the Oncology Care Model

In this podcast, Charles Saunders, MD, CEO of Integra Connect, discusses how the four reporting periods of the Oncology Care Model can help develop new models of care, and provides best practices to help the health care industry progress faster and more effectively.

Payments on the Fast Track

For years, the healthcare provider revenue cycle exhibited a degree of financial predictability amid constant industry change. While there have been major challenges, including the rise of Meaningful Use, the shift to the International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-10, and increasing scrutiny by payers regarding medical necessity, an organization’s fundamental revenue cycle marching orders have remained consistent: improve the amount and speed of collections while identifying and minimizing payer denials.

Integra Connect: RWE can bolster clinical trials

Outsourcing-Pharma (OSP) spoke with Hinco Gierman (HG), vice president of product development and scientific insights with Integra Connect, about the use of RWD and RWE throughout the pharmaceutical industry. The discussion talked about intelligent analysis of RWD, and how RWE can effectively supplement clinical trials.

How Can Value-Based Care Embrace the Possibilities of Biosimilars?

As the healthcare delivery model transitions from a fee-for-service (FFS) model to a value-based model, biosimilars may begin to play a much larger role. The American healthcare system has largely operated under the FFS model, but a value-based model places more emphasis on cost-saving practices when clinically appropriate and using less-expensive alternatives to branded medications.

Data Analytics Improving Care Coordination Programs

West Palm Beach, Florida-based Integra Connect, which develops information technology solutions for healthcare providers, has tracked the performance of its customers involved in the OCM program, which totals about 16 practices and 1,000 oncologists. “What we see is a steady improvement,” says Charles Saunders, MD, CEO, Integra Connect. With each successive performance period, more of the practices have kept their actual costs of care under the target cost set by CMS, he says.

Partnership Seeks to Offer Combined Somatic, Germline Testing to Guide Cancer Treatment

A new partnership between leading precision medicine companies seeks to give patients with cancer—and their physicians—the most complete look possible at their disease by evaluating both the molecular and genetic elements. Caris Life Sciences, a leader in somatic testing on cancer tumor cells, has joined forces with Ambry Genetics to offer its 67-gene test that evaluates a patient’s hereditary risk for cancer.

The Oncology Care Model: Performance Period 4 Results and the Next Phase With Two-Sided Risk

The Oncology Care Model has reached yet another major milestone, releasing its year-three results in August 2019. Though participants have shared concerns over potential weaknesses in the program, like attribution logic and novel therapy adjustment, the almost 1000 provider participants working with Integra Connect continue to find value-based cancer care an inevitable necessity as more commercial payers adopt value-based models.

OCM Participants Consider Costs of 2-Sided Risk

After 3 years of struggling to meet targets for improved care quality and cost efficiency, many of the 175 practices that have remained in the Oncology Care Model (OCM) of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) have a decision to make: Assume a share of the downside risk for failure to meet financial targets or exit the OCM by December 3.

“Not So Different”: Is There a Role for Biosimilars in Value-Based Models?

As fee-for-service models give way to value-based healthcare delivery models, US providers and patients alike can hopefully look forward to lower healthcare costs, increased quality of care, and improved outcomes. But what role will biosimilars have to play in value-based care? This week on the podcast, we’re speaking with Jeffrey Scott, MD, chief medical officer of Integra Connect, about this issue.

Predictive Analytics Can Help Hospices Reach Patients Sooner

Predictive analytics systems are gaining ground in the hospice and palliative care fields as a means to identify patients in need of service earlier in the course of their illness. Providers and payers are increasingly using these systems to build their census and ensure that patients and families receive the right care at the right time.