New York State Awards $87 Million in Capital for Community Health Centers
In early March, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced $87 million in funding for 37 community health center capital projects as part of a $1.5 billion in funding for health care facilities across New York State. See full list here.
Evidence Grows for PCMH
The patient-centered medical home (PCMH) is having an impact, according to The Patient-Centered Medical Home’s Impact on Cost and Quality: Annual Review of Evidence 2014-2015. The Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative reviewed 30 peer-reviewed studies, government evaluations and industry reports from across the United States and found that 21 of 23 studies on cost showed reductions in one or more measure, and 23 of 25 studies on unnecessary utilization showed reductions in one or more measure.
Report Finds Links Between Health Center Quality and Financial Performance
Clinical quality and financial performance go hand in hand, according to a recent Capital Link study of community health centers. Hallmarks of High Performance: Exploring the Relationship between Clinical, Financial and Operational Excellence at America’s Health Centers, compared the financial performance of health centers that were “HRSA Quality Leaders” with those that were not. The study found that Quality Leaders performed better on key financial ratios, were generally larger and were more likely to be in lower cost-of-living states. Quality Leaders also had better revenue collections, higher utilization and higher productivity.
Quality Reporting Costs Medical Practices $15.4 Billion Per Year – Primary Care Bears Highest Burden
Already under pressure to deliver more with less, primary care providers are spending $13.5 billion per year to report on quality measures, according to a recent study in Health Affairs (Casalino et al). Based on a survey of cardiology, orthopedics, primary care and multispecialty practices, the study found that primary care practices spend $50,000 per year and 19.1 hours per week per provider to report quality measures – far more than the other specialties. Data entry made up 80% of the time spent.
Payment/Delivery System Reform Grants and Scholarships Available for Safety Net Providers
The new Robert Wood Johnson Foundation-funded National Safety Net Advancement Center (SNAC) at Arizona State University will issue scholarships for six virtual learning collaboratives and award up to seven $80,000 grants to safety net providers working on payment and delivery system reform challenges. Applications are due April 1 for both the learning collaboratives and the grants. For more information, click here.