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Successful Collaborative Care Model Implementation: The Financial and Clinical Benefits of the Collaborative Approach
The Collaborative Care Model (CoCM) is an evidence-based approach designed to identify and treat behavioral health conditions within primary care settings. In 2017, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) introduced dedicated Current Procedural...
Increasing Investment in Primary Care — Lessons from States
Primary care is the foundation of a high-performing health care system — it saves lives, reduces chronic disease burden, and is associated with more equitable health outcomes. High-quality primary care is comprehensive, coordinated, and integrated with other parts of...
Preserving the Pillars: The Vital Role of Independent Primary Care in American Healthcare
The future of American healthcare hinges on the continued support and elevation of independent primary care—a cornerstone that not only enhances healthcare quality and cost controls but also ensures a healthier and more equitable future for all. Independent primary...
Medicare Spending on Ozempic and Other GLP-1s Is Skyrocketing
This post was updated on March 27, 2024 to include a clarification of the drugs included in the analysis and additional information about rebates. GLP-1 drugs such as Ozempic, Wegovy, and Mounjaro were initially developed to treat type 2 diabetes, but their...
Value-Based Care: What It Is, and Why It’s Needed
What is value-based care? Value-based care ties the amount health care providers earn for their services to the results they deliver for their patients, such as the quality, equity, and cost of care. Through financial incentives and other methods, value-based care...
Does Medicare Advantage Affect the Way Primary Care Practices Deliver Care?
With enrollment growing in Medicare Advantage (MA) plans, the private alternative to traditional fee-for-service Medicare, it is important to understand how they affect the health care delivered to their enrollees. While evidence largely indicates that access to care...
Semaglutide for Weight Loss? A Good First STEP, With Caveats
The phase 3a STEP 1 trial that investigated the use of semaglutide (Novo Nordisk), a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) agonist, for weight loss is aptly named, some say. "In sum, we have a long way to go to control the obesity epidemic...but on the face of it, the STEP...
Lilly’s tirzepatide significantly reduced A1C and body weight in people with type 2 diabetes
More than half of participants taking the highest dose achieved normal A1C levels, a key secondary endpoint in first phase 3 trial of SURPASS program Participants in this monotherapy study had relatively recently diagnosed diabetes, with a mean duration of 4.7 years...
Why Short-Term Cuts to Medicaid Coverage During Pregnancy and Childhood Could Result in Long-Term Harm
ABSTRACT Issue: States are facing large revenue shortfalls and budget deficits from the COVID-19 crisis. To close deficits, they will need to raise taxes, cut spending to critical public programs like Medicaid, or both. Goals: Examine the long-term benefits of...
America’s Looming Primary-Care Crisis
Beverly Jordan is a partner at a family-medicine clinic in Enterprise, Alabama. Enterprise is situated in “wiregrass country”—a largely rural region, encompassing southeastern Alabama and parts of Georgia and Florida, named for the ubiquitous vegetation that takes...
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