Behavioral Health Integration in Community Health Centers and Emergency Department Use.

Medicaid enrollees with behavioral health disorders often experience fragmented care, leading to high rates of preventable use of emergency departments (EDs). As part of its Medicaid Transformation Program, the Washington Health Care Authority partnered with regional accountable communities of health to collect data on behavioral health integration in community health centers. Clinics who participated in the integrated care demonstration received technical and financial support to increase capacity for integration. This column describes results from an analysis that linked clinic surveys to Medicaid claims to explore characteristics of highly integrated clinics and assess whether clinic capacity for behavioral health integration is associated with ED visit frequency.

Developing an Algorithm for Combining Race and Ethnicity Data Sources in the Veterans Health Administration.

INTRODUCTION: Racial/ethnic disparities exist in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), despite financial barriers to care being largely mitigated and Veterans Administration's (VA) organizational commitment to health equity. Accurately identifying minority veterans is critical to monitoring progress toward equity as the VHA treats an increasingly racially and ethnically diverse veteran population. Although the VHA's completeness of race and ethnicity data is generally better than its public sector and private counterparts, the accuracy of the race and ethnicity in the various databases available to VHA is variable, as is the accuracy in identifying specific minority groups. The purpose of this article was to develop an algorithm for constructing race and ethnicity variables from data sources available to VHA researchers, to present demographic differences cross the data sources, and to apply the algorithm to one study year. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We used existing VHA survey data from the Survey of Healthcare Experiences of Patients (SHEP) and three commonly used administrative databases from 2003 to 2015: the VA Corporate Data Warehouse (CDW), VA Defense Identity Repository (VADIR), and Medicare. Using measures of agreement such as sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, and Cohen kappa, we compared self-reported race and ethnicity from the SHEP and each of the other data sources. Based on these results, we propose an algorithm for combining data on race and ethnicity from these datasets. We included VHA patients who completed a SHEP and had race/ethnicity recorded in CDW, VADIR, and/or Medicare. RESULTS: Agreement between SHEP and other sources was high for Whites and Blacks and substantially lower for other minority groups. The CDW demonstrated better agreement than VADIR or Medicare. CONCLUSIONS: We developed an algorithm of data source precedence in the VHA that improves the accuracy of the identification of historically under-identified minorities: (1) SHEP, (2) CDW, (3) Department of Defense's VADIR, and (4) Medicare.

Longer wait times affect future use of VHA primary care.

BACKGROUND: Improving access to the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is a high priority, particularly given statutory mandates of the Veterans Access, Choice and Accountability Act. This study examined whether patient-reported wait times for VHA appointments were associated with future reliance on VHA primary care services. METHODS: This observational study examined 13,595 VHA patients dually enrolled in fee-for-service Medicare. Data sources included VHA administrative data, Medicare claims and the Survey of Healthcare Experiences of Patients (SHEP). Primary care use was defined as the number of face-to-face visits from VHA and Medicare in the 12 months following SHEP completion. VHA reliance was defined as the number of VHA visits divided by total visits (VHA+Medicare). Wait times were derived from SHEP responses measuring the usual number of days to a VHA appointment with patients' primary care provider for those seeking immediate care. We defined appointment wait times categorically: 0 days, 1day, 2-3 days, 4-7 days and >7 days. We used fractional logistic regression to examine the relationship between wait times and reliance. RESULTS: Mean VHA reliance was 88.1% (95% CI = 86.7% to 89.5%) for patients reporting 0day waits. Compared with these patients, reliance over the subsequent year was 1.4 (p = 0.041), 2.8 (p = 0.001) and 1.6 (p = 0.014) percentage points lower for patients waiting 2-3 days, 4-7 days and >7 days, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Patients reporting longer usual wait times for immediate VHA care exhibited lower future reliance on VHA primary care. IMPLICATIONS: Longer wait times may reduce care continuity and impact cost shifting across two federal health programs.

Methods for Measuring Racial Differences in Hospitals Outcomes Attributable to Disparities in Use of High-Quality Hospital Care.

OBJECTIVE: To compare two approaches to measuring racial/ethnic disparities in the use of high-quality hospitals. DATA SOURCES: Simulated data. STUDY DESIGN: Through simulations, we compared the "minority-serving" approach of assessing differences in risk-adjusted outcomes at minority-serving and non-minority-serving hospitals with a "fixed-effect" approach that estimated the reduction in adverse outcomes if the distribution of minority and white patients across hospitals was the same. We evaluated each method's ability to detect and measure a disparity in outcomes caused by minority patients receiving care at poor-quality hospitals, which we label a "between-hospital" disparity, and to reject it when the disparity in outcomes was caused by factors other than hospital quality. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: The minority-serving and fixed-effect approaches correctly identified between-hospital disparities in quality when they existed and rejected them when racial differences in outcomes were caused by other disparities; however, the fixed-effect approach has many advantages. It does not require an ad hoc definition of a minority-serving hospital, and it estimated the magnitude of the disparity accurately, while the minority-serving approach underestimated the disparity by 35-46 percent. CONCLUSIONS: Researchers should consider using the fixed-effect approach for measuring disparities in use of high-quality hospital care by vulnerable populations.

A First Look at PCMH Implementation for Minority Veterans: Room for Improvement.

BACKGROUND: Implementation of Patient Aligned Care Teams (PACT), a patient-centered medical home model, has been inconsistent among the >900 primary care facilities in the Veterans Health Administration. OBJECTIVE: Estimate if the degree of PACT implementation at a facility varied with the percentage of minority veteran patients at the facility. RESEARCH DESIGN: Cross-sectional, facility-level analysis of PACT implementation measures in 2012. SUBJECTS: Veterans Health Administration hospital-based and community-based primary care facilities. MEASURES: We used a previously validated PACT Implementation Progress Index (Pi) and its 8 domains: access, continuity of care, care coordination, comprehensiveness, self-management support, and patient-centered care and communication, shared decision-making domains, and team functioning. Facilities were categorized as low (<5.2%, n=208), medium (5.2%-25.8%, n=413), and high (>25.8%, n=206) percent minority based on the percent of their own veteran population. RESULTS: Most minority veterans received care in high minority (69%) and medium minority facilities (29%). In adjusted analyses, medium and high minority facilities scored 0.773 (P=0.009) and 0.930 (P=0.008) points lower on the Pi score relative to low minority facilities. Relative to low minority facilities, both medium and high minority facilities were less likely of having high Pi scores (≥2) and more likely of having low Pi scores (≤-2). Both medium and high minority facilities had the same 3 domain scores lower than low minority facilities (care coordination, comprehensiveness, and self-management). CONCLUSION: Overall PACT implementation varied with respect to the racial/ethnic composition of a facility, with medium and high minority facilities having a lower implementation scores.

Local Area Unemployment and the Demand for Inpatient Care Among Veterans Affairs Enrollees.

Prior research examining the relationship between economic conditions and health service demand has focused primarily on outpatient use. This study examines whether local area unemployment, as an indicator of economic conditions, was associated with use of inpatient care, which is theoretically less subject to discretionary use. Using a random sample of 131,603 patients dually enrolled in the Veterans Affairs (VA) Health System and fee-for-service Medicare, we measured VA, Medicare, and total (VA and Medicare) hospitalizations. Overall, local unemployment was not associated with VA, Medicare, or total hospitalization probability. Among low-income veterans exempt from VA copayments, higher local unemployment was moderately associated with a lower probability of hospitalization through Medicare. For veterans subject to VA copayments, higher local unemployment was moderately associated with a higher likelihood of VA hospitalization. These results suggest inpatient use is less sensitive to the economy, although worse economic conditions slightly affected inpatient demand for select veterans.

Patient-centered medical home implementation and primary care provider turnover.

BACKGROUND: The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) began implementing a patient-centered medical home (PCMH) model of care delivery in April 2010 through its Patient Aligned Care Team (PACT) initiative. PACT represents a substantial system reengineering of VHA primary care and its potential effect on primary care provider (PCP) turnover is an important but unexplored relationship. This study examined the association between a system-wide PCMH implementation and PCP turnover. METHODS: This was a retrospective, longitudinal study of VHA-employed PCPs spanning 29 calendar quarters before PACT and eight quarters of PACT implementation. PCP employment periods were identified from administrative data and turnover was defined by an indicator on the last quarter of each uncensored period. An interrupted time series model was used to estimate the association between PACT and turnover, adjusting for secular trend and seasonality, provider and job characteristics, and local unemployment. We calculated average marginal effects (AME), which reflected the change in turnover probability associated with PACT implementation. RESULTS: The quarterly rate of PCP turnover was 3.06% before PACT and 3.38% after initiation of PACT. In adjusted analysis, PACT was associated with a modest increase in turnover (AME=4.0 additional PCPs per 1000 PCPs per quarter, P=0.004). Models with interaction terms suggested that the PACT-related change in turnover was increasing in provider age and experience. CONCLUSIONS: PACT was associated with a modest increase in PCP turnover, concentrated among older and more experienced providers, during initial implementation. Our findings suggest that policymakers should evaluate potential workforce effects when implementing PCMH.

Emerging lessons from regional and state innovation in value-based payment reform: balancing collaboration and disruptive innovation.

CONTEXT: In recent decades, practitioners and policymakers have turned to value-based payment initiatives to help contain spending on health care and to improve the quality of care. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation funded 7 grantees across the country to design and implement value-based, multistakeholder payment reform projects in 6 states and 3 regions of the United States. METHODS: As the external evaluator of these projects, we reviewed documents, conducted Internet searches, interviewed key stakeholders, cross-validated factual and narrative interpretation, and performed qualitative analyses to derive cross-site themes and implications for policy and practice. FINDINGS: The nature of payment reform and its momentum closely reflects the environmental context of each project. Federal legislation such as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and federal and state support for the development of the patient-centered medical home and accountable care organizations encourage value-based payment innovation, as do local market conditions for payers and providers that combine a history of collaboration with independent innovation and experimentation by individual organizations. Multistakeholder coalitions offer a useful facilitating structure for galvanizing payment reform. But to achieve the objectives of reduced cost and improved quality, multistakeholder payment innovation must overcome such barriers as incompatible information systems, the technical difficulties and transaction costs of altering existing billing and payment systems, competing stakeholder priorities, insufficient scale to bear population health risk, providers' limited experience with risk-bearing payment models, and the failure to align care delivery models with the form of payment. CONCLUSIONS: From the evidence adduced in this article, multistakeholder, value-based payment reform requires a trusted, widely respected "honest broker" that can convene and maintain the ongoing commitment of health plans, providers, and purchasers. Change management is complex and challenging, and coalition governance requires flexibility and stable leadership, as market conditions and stakeholder engagement and priorities shift over time. Another significant facilitator of value-based payment reform is outside investment that enables increased investment in human resources, information infrastructure, and care management by provider organizations and their collaborators. Supportive community and social service networks that enhance population health management also are important enablers of value-based payment reform. External pressure from public and private payers is fueling a "burning bridge" between the past of fee-for-service payment models and the future of payments based on value. Robust competition in local health plan and provider markets, coupled with an appropriate mix of multistakeholder governance, pressure from organized purchasers, and regulatory oversight, has the potential to spur value-based payment innovation that combines elements of "reformed" fee-for-service with bundled payments and global payments.

Implementation of the patient-centered medical home in the Veterans Health Administration: associations with patient satisfaction, quality of care, staff burnout, and hospital and emergency department use.

IMPORTANCE: In 2010, the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) began implementing the patient-centered medical home (PCMH) model. The Patient Aligned Care Team (PACT) initiative aims to improve health outcomes through team-based care, improved access, and care management. To track progress and evaluate outcomes at all VHA primary care clinics, we developed and validated a method to assess PCMH implementation. OBJECTIVES: To create an index that measures the extent of PCMH implementation, describe variation in implementation, and examine the association between the implementation index and key outcomes. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: We conducted an observational study using data on more than 5.6 million veterans who received care at 913 VHA hospital-based and community-based primary care clinics and 5404 primary care staff from (1) VHA clinical and administrative databases, (2) a national patient survey administered to a weighted random sample of veterans who received outpatient care from June 1 to December 31, 2012, and (3) a survey of all VHA primary care staff in June 2012. Composite scores were constructed for 8 core domains of PACT: access, continuity, care coordination, comprehensiveness, self-management support, patient-centered care and communication, shared decision making, and team-based care. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Patient satisfaction, rates of hospitalization and emergency department use, quality of care, and staff burnout. RESULTS: Fifty-three items were included in the PACT Implementation Progress Index (Pi2). Compared with the 87 clinics in the lowest decile of the Pi2, the 77 sites in the top decile exhibited significantly higher patient satisfaction (9.33 vs 7.53; P < .001), higher performance on 41 of 48 measures of clinical quality, lower staff burnout (Maslach Burnout Inventory emotional exhaustion subscale, 2.29 vs 2.80; P = .02), lower hospitalization rates for ambulatory care-sensitive conditions (4.42 vs 3.68 quarterly admissions for veterans 65 years or older per 1000 patients; P < .001), and lower emergency department use (188 vs 245 visits per 1000 patients; P < .001). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: The extent of PCMH implementation, as measured by the Pi2, was highly associated with important outcomes for both patients and providers. This measure will be used to track the effectiveness of implementing PACT over time and to elucidate the correlates of desired health outcomes.

Patient-centered medical home initiative produced modest economic results for Veterans Health Administration, 2010-12.

In 2010 the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) began a nationwide initiative called Patient Aligned Care Teams (PACT) that reorganized care at all VHA primary care clinics in accordance with the patient-centered medical home model. We analyzed data for fiscal years 2003-12 to assess how trends in health care use and costs changed after the implementation of PACT. We found that PACT was associated with modest increases in primary care visits and with modest decreases in both hospitalizations for ambulatory care-sensitive conditions and outpatient visits with mental health specialists. We estimated that these changes avoided $596 million in costs, compared to the investment in PACT of $774 million, for a potential net loss of $178 million in the study period. Although PACT has not generated a positive return, it is still maturing, and trends in costs and use are favorable. Adopting patient-centered care does not appear to have been a major financial risk for the VHA.

Association between local area unemployment rates and use of Veterans Affairs outpatient health services.

BACKGROUND: Prior research indicates that federal spending on Medicare, Medicaid, and other government health programs accelerated during the Great Recession. OBJECTIVES: To examine whether local unemployment was associated with utilization of Veterans Affairs Health Care System (VA) primary care, specialty care, and mental health services during 2004-2012. RESEARCH DESIGN: We analyzed utilization of VA health services at the clinic level using fixed-effects negative binomial models. We stratified analyses by veterans' copayment status (exempt and nonexempt) and age (under 65 and 65+) to account for differences in VA utilization because of Medicare eligibility. SUBJECTS: A total of 11,041,855 veterans assigned to 892 clinics identified in the VA Primary Care Management Module, representing nearly all veterans receiving primary care from VA, were included. MEASURES: Clinic-level utilization was calculated quarterly as the total number of visits for patients assigned to a clinic. Local area unemployment rates were defined as quarterly unemployment rates within VA geographical planning sectors. RESULTS: Higher local unemployment was associated with greater use of VA care in all categories among veterans exempt from copayments. The association between local unemployment and utilization differed by age group among veterans subject to copayments. Higher local unemployment was associated with lower use of primary and specialty care among Medicare-eligible veterans aged 65+, but greater use of primary care among veterans under age 65. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings highlight the importance of the state of the economy in interpreting and forecasting demand for government health programs including VA, particularly during periods focused on deficit reduction.

A report on eight early-stage state and regional projects testing value-based payment.

To help contain health care spending and improve the quality of care, practitioners and policy makers are trying to move away from fee-for-service toward value-based payment, which links providers' reimbursement to the value, rather than the volume, of services delivered. With funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, eight grantees across the country are designing and implementing value-based payment reform projects. For example, in Salem, Oregon, the Physicians Choice Foundation is testing "Program Oriented Payments," which include incentives for providers who follow a condition-specific program of care designed to meet goals set jointly by patient and provider. In this article we describe the funding rationale and the specific objectives, strategies, progress, and early stages of implementation of the eight projects. We also share some early lessons and identify prerequisites for success, such as ensuring that providers have broad and timely access to data so they can meet patients' needs in cost-effective ways.

Patient-centered innovation in health care organizations: a conceptual framework and case study application.

BACKGROUND: Patient-centered innovation is spreading at the federal and state levels. A conceptual framework can help frame real-world examples and extract systematic learning from an array of innovative applications currently underway. The statutory, economic, and political environment in Washington State offers a special contextual laboratory for observing the interplay of these factors. PURPOSE: We propose a framework for understanding the process of initiating patient-centered innovations-particularly innovations addressing patient-centered goals of improved access, continuity, communication and coordination, cultural competency, and family- and person-focused care over time. The framework to a case study of a provider organization in Washington State actively engaged in such innovations was applied in this article. METHODS: We conducted a selective review of peer-reviewed evidence and theory regarding determinants of organizational change. On the basis of the literature review and the particular examples of patient-centric innovation, we developed a conceptual framework. Semistructured key informant interviews were conducted to illustrate the framework with concrete examples of patient-centered innovation. FINDINGS: The primary determinants of initiating patient-centered innovation are (a) effective leadership, with the necessary technical and professional expertise and creative skills; (b) strong internal and external motivation to change; (c) clear and internally consistent organizational mission; (d) aligned organizational strategy; (e) robust organizational capability; and (f) continuous feedback and organizational learning. The internal hierarchy of actors is important in shaping patient-centered innovation. External financial incentives and government regulations also significantly shape innovation. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Patient-centered care innovation is a complex process. A general framework that could help managers and executives organize their thoughts around innovation within their organization is presented.

Innovation in patient-centered care: lessons from a qualitative study of innovative health care organizations in Washington State.

BACKGROUND: Growing interest in the promise of patient-centered care has led to numerous health care innovations, including the patient-centered medical home, shared decision-making, and payment reforms. How best to vet and adopt innovations is an open question. Washington State has been a leader in health care reform and is a rich laboratory for patient-centered innovations. We sought to understand the process of patient-centered care innovation undertaken by innovative health care organizations - from strategic planning to goal selection to implementation to maintenance. METHODS: We conducted key-informant interviews with executives at five health plans, five provider organizations, and ten primary care clinics in Washington State. At least two readers of each interview transcript identified themes inductively; final themes were determined by consensus. RESULTS: Innovation in patient-centered care was a strategic objective chosen by nearly every organization in this study. However, other goals were paramount: cost containment, quality improvement, and organization survival. Organizations commonly perceived effective chronic disease management and integrated health information technology as key elements for successful patient-centered care innovation. Inertia, resource deficits, fee-for-service payment, and regulatory limits on scope of practice were cited as barriers to innovation, while organization leadership, human capital, and adaptive culture facilitated innovation. CONCLUSIONS: Patient-centered care innovations reflected organizational perspectives: health plans emphasized cost-effectiveness while providers emphasized health care delivery processes. Health plans and providers shared many objectives, yet the two rarely collaborated to achieve them. The process of innovation is heavily dependent on organizational culture and leadership. Policymakers can improve the pace and quality of patient-centered innovation by setting targets and addressing conditions for innovation.