Dive Brief:
- Coordinated care organizations in Oregon Health Plan’s pay-for-performance program netted $168 million in incentive payments and the third year of continued improvement, the Portland Business Journal reported.
- A new Oregon Health Authority report show continued progress in a number of areas, including hospital readmissions and access to primary care.
- In Oregon, coordinated care organizations receive incentive payments based on the level of care they provide to low-income residents.
Dive Insight:
“OHA members are enrolling in patient-centered primary care homes, using emergency rooms less frequently and getting more effective care for chronic diseases,” OHA Director Lynne Saxton said in a release. “Oregon’s incentives are producing better results for members and for taxpayers.”
According to the fourth annual Coordinated Care Organization Metrics Report, improvements were seen in the following areas:
- 33% decrease in adults who had a hospital stay and were readmitted for any reason within 30 days since 2011;
- 29% decline in hospital admissions for short-term complications of diabetes since 2011;
- 38% increase in teen well care visits since 2011, and overall increase in pediatric primary care visits;
- 65% increase in dental sealants in children age six to 14 since 2014;
- 9% increase in use of female contraceptives, since 2014;
- 6% rise in adult blood sugar tests for diabetes since 2011;
- 69% increase in members enrolled in patient-centered primary care homes; and
- 10% rise in patient satisfaction since 2011.
Separately, a study by Harvard researchers casts doubt on the impact of pay-for-performance programs to improve quality of care.
The study, which focused specifically on mortality outcomes, found no impact within 30 days of patients’ hospitalization for heart attack, heart failure or pneumonia, three of the conditions incentivized by the program. The result held true when the researchers looked at just hospitals that were the lowest performers when the program began.