As healthcare costs continue to rise, health reform initiatives across the country are working diligently to achieve the Triple Aim – (1) improve the patient’s experience of care, (2) improve the health of populations, and (3) reduce the per-capita cost of healthcare. One promising approach: prov...
The APCD Council, with support from the Gary and Mary West Health Policy Center, has created model legislation guidance for states interested in developing all-payer claims database (APCD) programs. The document, which is based on a review of existing APCD legislation in 15 states, offers templat...
Interested in getting a cross-state look at how government leaders are tackling the challenge of rising healthcare costs and outdated modes of delivery? A new report from theMilbank Memorial Fund — “State Models for Health Care Cost Measurement: A Policy and Operational Framework” — offers a view...
Lisa Dulsky Watkins, MD, Onpoint’s clinical advisor and director of the Multi-State Collaborative at the Milbank Memorial Fund, Jenney Samuelson, MS, assistant director of the Vermont Blueprint for Health, and members of Onpoint’s analytics team recently joined forces to host a breakout session o...
A recently released report has taken notice of an emerging strength in Onpoint’s home state of Maine: an expanding market niche in health informatics — “the use of data to inform and improve healthcare quality, cost, and risk decisions.” The report, titled “The Health Informatics Assessment Proje...
Onpoint team members will join Lisa Dulsky Watkins, MD, of the Milbank Memorial Fund and Jenney Samuelson, MS, of the Vermont Blueprint for Health to host a breakout session on "Primary Care Transformation: Lessons from Across the Nation" at this year's Maine Quality Counts Conferenceon April 1. ...
The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently announced first-year findings from two of its Innovation Center’s programs: the Comprehensive Primary Care (CPC) initiative and the Multi-payer Primary Care Practice (MAPCP) demonstration. These projects are part of CMS’s broade...
The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH), directed by the state’s All-Payer Claims Database (APCD) Workgroup, recently published a report to the Minnesota Legislature containing a summary of recommendations to develop a framework for the expanded uses of the Minnesota all-payer claims database (M...
The APCD Council, with support from the Gary and Mary West Health Policy Center, has developed a manual for states interested in developing all-payer claims databases (APCDs). The manual, which provides an overview of APCD implementations across the country, offers a valuable resource for other s...
Last November, the Supreme Court agreed to take up a case with potentially far-reaching ramifications for the future of the nation’s widely watched health insurance exchanges (HIXs). While the issue at hand — whether the promised tax credits for policies purchased by individuals through the HIXs ...
Earlier this month, Onpoint collaborated with the Vermont Blueprint for Health to host a presentation for the APCD Council’s webinar series on “Innovative Uses of APCDs.” The webinar also featured a presentation of the newly released Colorado Price Compare Data Showcase by Colorado’s Center for I...
Access Health CT, Onpoint, and our partnering team for the CT APCD recently gathered in Hartford, Connecticut, to conduct focus group sessions. With implementation of the state’s APCD program under way, Access Health CT is amplifying efforts to develop an innovative public consumer portal that wi...
The Vermont Blueprint for Health recently released its new Hospital Service Area (HSA) Profiles, commissioned by its parent agency, the Department of Vermont Health Access (DVHA), and prepared by Onpoint. The HSA Profiles contain a broad set of population-based measures based on eligibility and c...
Dr. Dulsky Watkins practiced general pediatrics for 12 years in Vermont, where she completed her internship and residency at the University of Vermont College of Medicine. She is one of the founding members of the Multi-State Collaborative at the Milbank Memorial Fund, and is now its Director. As...
Onpoint's Karl Finison, Director of Analytic Development, and Katie McGraves-Lloyd, Health Data Analyst, recently collaborated with Blueprint for Health leaders Craig Jones, MD, and Nick Lovejoy and with researchers from the University of Richmond and the College of William and Mary to publish a ...