News
Discern Health Adds New Project Staff
February 2018
Katy McConnell joined Discern in January 2018 as a project analyst. She supports multiple projects related to quality measurement in oncology care. Prior to joining Discern, Katy conducted qualitative research on the role of public health social workers in the global health sphere at Boston University’s Center for Innovation in Social Work and Health. While…
Discern Vice President Erik Muther Co-Authors Primary Care Transparency Report
February 2018
Discern Health Vice President Erik Muther and Mary C. Stock Keister, MD, of the Lehigh Valley Health Network co-authored a summary report of recommendations to improve primary care transparency within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The high-level report describes the output of a multi-stakeholder workgroup of 22 health care leaders. The Pennsylvania Department of Health convened…
Discern Report Addresses Framework For Sharing Risk Across Medical And Social Support Providers
February 2018
The U.S. is the only developed country to spend more on health care services than on social services. Though there is broad acceptance that social factors play a large role in health outcomes, few models exist that link the two processes. A new report from Discern Health offers a framework to align risk and value-based…
Discern Health Analysts Nathan Coffey And Eric Wahlstrom Promoted To Project Manager
January 2018
Discern Health is pleased to announce the promotions of Nathan Coffey and Eric Wahlstrom to the position of Project Manager. Both Nathan and Eric started with Discern in 2016 as Project Analysts and rapidly demonstrated their ability to provide excellent client support, research, and contributions on multiple value-based projects. Guy D’Andrea, Discern’s Managing Partner, adds,…
Discern Senior Advisor Marissa Schlaifer Co-Authors Health Affairs Blog
January 2018
“The Other Side Of Managed Competition: The Tension Between Protection And Innovation In Medicare Advantage And Part D Benefits,” a Health Affairs blog co-authored by Marissa Schlaifer and Mike Adelberg and published in December 2017, looks at the tension between protecting Medicare beneficiaries and innovating in benefit design as it plays out in the Trump…
Discern Health Releases White Paper On Gaps In Technology-Related Quality Measures
January 2018
A new Discern white paper, titled “Medical Technology in the Value-Based Environment: An Assessment of Quality Measure Gaps” and sponsored by the Advanced Medical Technology Association (AdvaMed), discusses the lack of adequate quality measures to effectively assess the value of medical technologies. The white paper identifies quality measurement opportunities and measure gaps for eight combinations of…
PhRMA and Discern Health Collaborate To Publish PRO-PM Issue Brief
January 2018
The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) and Discern Health have published an issue brief on patient-reported outcome performance measures (PRO-PMs). The brief describes the current state of PRO-PMs and identifies opportunities for their development, endorsement, and implementation. Discern Vice President and lead author of the brief, Sarah Sampsel, notes, “There is intense interest…
Season’s Greetings From Discern Health
December 2017
2017 was a year of continued change for the health care industry. The transition toward value-based care continues to accelerate, and stakeholders throughout the industry are focused on ensuring their organizations are positioned for long-term success. This has also been a busy year at Discern Health. We have continued to grow our staff and expertise…
QPP Final Rule: Real Costs And Virtual Groups
November 2017
On November 2, CMS issued the final rule for the Quality Payment Program. One issue addressed in the rule is the creation of “virtual physician groups” for quality reporting. Many smaller practices had hoped to use a virtual grouping option within the Merit-based Incentive Program (MIPS), but CMS acknowledges in the final rule that there…
CMS Announces “Meaningful Measures” Initiative
November 2017
On October 30 2017, CMS Administrator Seema Verma announced that CMS will focus on outcome-based measures going forward, as opposed to process measures. The goal of “Meaningful Measures” is to reduce administrative burden on providers, promote innovation, and track issues that are most vital to providing high-quality care. Discern Health has worked with numerous clients to assess…
