On Location ASH 2015 Inside Look
Session Sneak Peek
Special Symposium on Quality:
Exploring the Promise and the
Pitfalls of Quality Measures and
Pay-for-Performance
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2015, 2:00 – 3:30 P.M.
While the trend of value-based reimbursements has been evolving over the
past decade, the pace of change in the United States has accelerated since
the introduction of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. There is
widespread agreement on the importance of measuring and optimizing the
quality of medical care; however controversy exists around the best way
to achieve this aim. Lisa K. Hicks, MD, MSc, a co-chair of the program,
discussed the goals of this session with ASH Clinical News:
“ Our aim is to provide an introduction and overview of quality metrics and
pay-for-performance in health care, outlining the evidence on pay-forperformance – which remains mixed. There are several areas of quality
that clinicians need to be knowledgeable of, including how the Center
for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) merit-based incentive payment
system could affect their financial bottom line.
U.S. health care is undergoing a sea of change with regard to how
hospitals and physicians are reimbursed. CMS is very committed to tying
payment to the provision of higher quality care; this is a laudable goal
that aims to reward institutions delivering high quality, while incentivizing
others to improve.
Whether high-quality care can be accurately measured or whether
tying reimbursement to quality metrics actually leads to improved
outcomes is not entirely clear at this time. Notwithstanding some of the
uncertainties, it is clear that over the next six years pay-for-performance
will increasingly impact the practice and remuneration of physicians
who provide care to Medicare and/or Medicaid patients. Indeed, by
2022 physicians could receive a negative or positive 9-percent payment
adjustment, depending on how they perform on CMS’ merit-based
incentive payment system.”
ASH/ASCP Summit on
Myelodysplastic Syndromes:
Diagnosis, Classification, and
Clinical Care of MDS
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2015, 4:00 – 5:30 P.M.
This session will review prognostic scoring systems used in myelodysplastic
syndromes (MDS), includi