Countdown: As of 07/06/2020, there are 132 Days until the Medicare Annual Enrollment Period (AEP) begins: Medicare Countdown Calendar! See us with your questions…
COVID-19 Has Accelerated Remote Visits Being Paid Through Medicare BY 17 YEARS! As remote visits quickly ramped up, Medicare, which previously had limited telehealth coverage, temporarily relaxed payment rules, allowing what has been an organic experiment to proceed. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime thing,” said Dr. Preeti Raghavan, associate professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation and neurology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “It usually takes a long time — 17 years — for an idea to become accepted and deployed and reimbursed in medical practice.” https://khn.org/news/pandemic-forced-insurers-to-pay-for-in-home-treatments-will-they-disappear/
Value Based Medicare (VBM) is Becoming a Thing…Nationally and locally (in the Central Ohio area), a curious concept and business model is gaining traction: Value Based Medicare practices and partnerships focusing on patient health outcomes are gaining traction. From limiting the number of patients any one doctor is allowed to take on, the amount of time doctors are spending with their Medicare patients is skyrocketing from 7 minutes to 42 minutes, and patients are showing remarkable health improvements. One VBM in the Columbus area has seen a rise in Annual Wellness Visits from a national average of 12% to 98%! THIS IS ASTOUNDING. There are two VBM’s in Central Ohio, and through Ohio Health, they are partnering with certain Medicare Advantage Plans tracking data and following up with patients on their health. These groups are coordinating doctor practices and patient information, so say a patient has five prescriptions prescribed by three different doctors, the third party group is consolidating that information so the treating doctor can head off negative drug interactions. Stay tuned for more information as data becomes available. https://www.dedicated.care/about-us, https://www.agilonhealth.com/, https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/press-releases/trump-administration-issues-call-action-based-new-data-detailing-covid-19-impacts-medicare
