Where Are All the Specialists? Current Challenges of Integrating Specialty Care Into Population-Based Total Cost of Care Payment Models.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Innovation Center (CMMI) has set the goal for 100% of traditional Medicare beneficiaries to be part of an accountable care relationship by 2030. Lack of meaningful financial incentives, intolerable or unpredictable risk, infrastructure costs, patient engagement, voluntary participation, and operational complexity have been noted by the provider and health care delivery community as barriers to participation or reasons for exiting programs. In addition, most piloted and implemented population-based total cost of care (PB-TCOC) payment models have focused on the role of the primary care physician being the accountability (that is, attributable) leader of a patient's multifaceted care team as well as acting as the mayor of the "medical neighborhood," leaving the role of specialty care physicians undefined. Successful provider specialist integration into PB-TCOC models includes meaningful participation of specialists in achieving whole-person, high-value care where all providers are financially motivated to participate; there is unambiguous prospective attribution and clearly defined accountability for each participating party throughout the care journey or episode; there is a known care attribution transition accountability plan; there is actionable, transparent, and timely data available with appropriate data development and basic analytic costs covered; and there is advanced payment to the accountable person or entity for management of the care episode that is part of a longitudinal care plan. Payment models should be created to address the 7 challenges raised here if specialists are to be incented to join TCOC models that achieve CMMI's goal.

White Paper AGA: The Impact of Mental and Psychosocial Factors on the Care of Patients With Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

Patients with chronic medically complex disorders like inflammatory bowel diseases (BD) often have mental health and psychosocial comorbid conditions. There is growing recognition that factors other than disease pathophysiology impact patients' health and wellbeing. Provision of care that encompasses medical care plus psychosocial, environmental and behavioral interventions to improve health has been termed "whole person care" and may result in achieving highest health value. There now are multiple methods to survey patients and stratify their psychosocial, mental health and environmental risk. Such survey methods are applicable to all types of IBD programs including those at academic medical centers, independent health systems and those based within independent community practice. Once a practice determines that a patient has psychosocial needs, a variety of resources are available for referral or co-management as outlined in this paper. Included in this white paper are examples of psychosocial care that is integrated into IBD practices plus innovative methods that provide remote patient management.

Making a Medical Home for IBD Patients.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The transformation from fee for service to fee for value requires structural changes to the way gastroenterologists manage patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). A team-based approach using technology to engage patients is necessary for success. The Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) represents a unique model that brings together these essential features. This paper describes how the PCMH model has been successfully applied to the management of patients with IBD. RECENT FINDINGS: A review of the literature and three examples of IBD PCMH initiatives are presented in this document: they demonstrate how outcomes can be improved under the PCMH model. Population health and value-based payments will mold and shape how we can position our GI practices. The specialty medical home is an ideal way to begin this transition.

Electronic medical records and the gastroenterologist.

This is an age of disruptive innovation in health care in which the business model is changing. Fee-for-service, volume-based systems are being replaced by fixed-fee, value-based systems. One of the major facilitating forces behind this change has been the development of the electronic health record, which is providing the medical community with the ability to have real-time quality metrics that will drive the development of web-based clinical decision support tools that will transform the current peer-review-based rules of practice with an eclectic fluid environment of continuous quality measurement and improvement.