Tag: Risk Adjustment

Medical group improves risk accuracy and closes care gaps

By Vatica Health | July 12, 2024 | Provider

Healthcare providers are under greater pressure than ever before and are forced to manage various competing demands for their time and attention. As the transition to value-based care accelerates, so does the need to collaborate with health plans to ensure complete, accurate coding and documentation to inform better risk adjustment and for Primary Care Physicians (PCPs) to actively identify and close care gaps. Patients also want (and deserve) quality healthcare interactions that recognize their unique needs, conditions and circumstances.

Against this backdrop, a lot is riding on the annual patient visit. Amid packed schedules, PCPs need to assess risk, address HEDIS gaps and ensure their patient is properly heard and cared for, with all questions answered and concerns addressed. 

At the same time, PCPs are chronically short on time and resources needed to complete required coding and documentation—often putting in two extra hours a day just to get through EMR backlogs. The continued rollout of CMS-HCC Model V28 will require even greater coding expertise and scrutiny, a troubling proposition for already-strapped providers who are facing burnout at alarming rates. 

Fortunately, by prioritizing and embracing accurate diagnosis coding—and drawing on expert partners like Vatica Health to help upskill PCPs and relieve the admin burden—providers can better identify and manage patient risks, close gaps in care, stay in compliance with evolving guidelines and, ultimately, thrive in a value-based care world. 


Putting PCPs at the center of risk adjustment 

General Physician, PC, one of the largest and most respected medical groups serving Western New York and Northern Pennsylvania, has made it their mission to deliver quality care that’s second to none. Vatica partners with General Physician, PC to overcome the mounting complexity of risk adjustment and lessen the load associated with coding and documentation.

At the 2024 RISE Conference, Richard Charles, MD, Chief Medical Officer and Physician Lead for General Physician, PC, shared his group’s Vatica journey and the role accurate and complete coding and documentation play in helping close care gaps and deliver top-notch care. 

Dr. Charles’ PCPs—like many—needed support on the risk adjustment journey. Dr. Charles and Vatica knew they needed to shift the group’s perceptions that risk adjustment is a benefit only for health insurers and engage the team purposefully in striving for accurate coding and documentation. “There’s been considerable education of our providers around risk assessment,” says Dr. Charles. 

As providers continue to evolve their approaches and protocols in the name of value-based care, continued coaching and education around the upsides of improved risk adjustment—fair and accurate compensation, greater continuity of care, more proactive and higher-quality interactions and more—will separate the leaders from the pack.


“There’s been considerable education of our providers around risk assessment.” 


— Richard Charles, MD, Chief Medical Officer and Physician Lead, General Physician, PC


Empowering teams to deliver quality care

Vatica provides clinical teams plus user-friendly technology at the point of care to enable PCPs at General Physician, PC to capture more accurate and complete diagnostic codes, which helps optimize risk adjustment and leads to accurate CMS reimbursement. A prospective program not only benefits health plans—it helps providers proactively manage care with a comprehensive pre-visit workup of all active and suspect conditions aggregated from various sources. 

Curating only validated conditions and codes prior to the encounter, Vatica empowers PCPs to address HEDIS gaps through necessary interventions, like screenings or medication adherence, and make the most of their time with patients. “That pre-visit summary gets our providers thinking about not just the conditions but what care management is needed,” Dr. Charles explains. “It helps our providers build trust with patients.” 

Vatica also provides group training, one-on-one education and CME courses to help PCPs and their teams understand and overcome the complexities of coding and capitalize on the benefits of better risk adjustment. 


Closing gaps and opening doors

Dr. Charles cites a 10% improvement in risk score accuracy since General Physician, PC partnered with Vatica. He also found specific improvements in hemoglobin A1C levels and blood pressure control, attributed in part to Vatica’s process. “There’s a tremendous improvement in how many HEDIS gaps and how many other care gaps we’ve closed,” he says. 

“There’s a tremendous improvement in how many HEDIS gaps and how many other care gaps we’ve closed.” 

— Richard Charles, MD, Chief Medical Officer and Physician Lead, General Physician, PC


Figure 1: YoY Performance 2021–2023


General Physician, PC has capitalized on improved risk adjustment by using the newly captured revenue to offer additional services. These services give physicians valuable resources to help patients address issues and more time to focus on other clinical tasks and priorities. “We have a large clinical pharmacy program that addresses polypharmacy, high-risk drugs, transition of care, diabetes. We have nutrition, behavioral health, all of which are funded from these dollars,” explains Dr. Charles. “When a patient hears about all the services you have, they become more engaged.”


“We have a large clinical pharmacy program…nutrition, behavioral health, all of which are funded from these dollars.” 

— Dr. Richard Charles, Chief Medical Officer and Physician Lead, General Physician, PC


Better coding in the name of better care

Accurate and complete coding benefits the provider, the practice and the patient. With Vatica as part of its risk adjustment protocol and clinic ecosystem, General Physician, PC has reduced the administrative burden on its team and optimized its diagnosis coding practices. And for Dr. Charles, that goes well beyond time savings or even compliance: “We want to take great care of these conditions, not just document that [patients] have them,” he concludes. 

Maximizing quality of care. Minimizing admin load.

By Vatica Health | July 12, 2024 | Risk Adjustment

Effective risk adjustment drives value-based care performance and promotes fairness and equity in the Medicare Advantage (MA) program by ensuring that payments to health insurance plans and providers reflect the health status and needs of the patients. 

The keyword here is effective. For risk adjustment to deliver on its purpose and its promise, all parties involved—patients, providers and payers—must be coordinated and aligned. The trouble is, legacy programs, such as Health Risk Assessments (HRAs) completed by in-home assessment vendors, remain disconnected from treating providers. While HRAs can be a helpful tool in identifying active conditions, diagnoses captured in HRAs are often not recorded in a subsequent medical visit. Detached programs and practices can undermine the purpose of risk adjustment, increase the risk of non-compliance with evolving regulatory requirements and fail to adequately support and incentivize providers in their transition to value-based care (VBC).

The modern healthcare ecosystem is increasingly complex. Risk adjustment programs that exclude the Primary Care Physician (PCP) are inefficient, create provider-patient friction and amplify risk. Physicians and their teams need a risk adjustment solution that makes coding and documentation easier and leads to high-quality outcomes for their practice and their patients.

Here’s how Vatica Health’s one-of-a-kind risk adjustment and quality of care solution can complement current coding and documentation processes and enhance risk adjustment without overextending staff or sacrificing precious time and resources. 

1. Prioritizes coding accuracy and completeness


Why it matters

Accurate coding is the backbone of effective risk adjustment, ensuring risk scores are calculated correctly and reflect the true health status of enrollees. HRAs, typically performed in-home by vendors on behalf of MA plans, can lead to inflated HCC scores and compromised care.


How Vatica delivers

  • Point-of-care integration: Vatica works at the point of care and proactively surfaces the most appropriate and up-to-date conditions for PCPs to validate. Physicians can focus on their patient interaction, knowing they have a complete and accurate picture of the patient’s conditions.
  • Holistic data collection: Unlike other solutions, Vatica collects and analyzes data from various sources, as well as unstructured data, including consult notes and medical images, offering a more comprehensive picture of a patient’s health. No need for PCPs to connect the dots between various systems and sources.
  • Clinical review: With Vatica, 100% of patient encounters are reviewed by clinicians, such as RNs with advanced coding certifications. This ensures accuracy, completeness and compliance—and offers peace of mind for PCPs.


2. Works with and for providers


Why it matters

Any risk adjustment solution that providers adopt needs to reduce friction, not add to the already taxing administrative load. A flexible and user-friendly solution that meets PCPs where they are ensures effective and robust use, promoting better outcomes for everyone.


How Vatica delivers

  • Provider-centric approach: Comprehensive pre-encounter work performed by Vatica clinicians arms providers with the most clinically relevant information to deliver the highest quality of care during patient visits. Providers remain at the center of care to diagnose, document and follow up.
  • Workflow compatibility: Vatica’s EMR-independent technology works within existing workflows, meeting providers where, how and when they work. 
  • Administrative support: The unique Vatica model includes expert clinician coding support, allowing PCPs more time to deliver high-quality care and assuring that coding and documentation will be accurate, complete and compliant.
  • Payer-agnostic: Vatica is payer-agnostic. Clients include most national health plans and many regional plans. 


3. Supports better outcomes for patients and PCPs


Why it matters

Accurate risk adjustment is a cornerstone of value-based care. Continuing to rely on legacy programs like HRAs and chart reviews that might not reflect the true status of health—and can lead to inflated HCC scores and inaccurate risk-adjusted payments—flies in the face of VBC principles and sets providers back in their journey.


How Vatica delivers

  • Help in identifying care gaps: Vatica flags open HCC coding and care gaps for PCPs to address during encounters. Real-time clinical data assists providers in addressing HEDIS measures during their interaction.
  • Accurate VBC benchmarking: Vatica empowers providers to make the PCP visit the foundation for VBC benchmark accuracy. PCPs can deliver continuous, more effective care and build stronger patient relationships. 
  • Revenue opportunities: Vatica helps PCPs earn additional revenue through reimbursable visits, health plan incentives and enhanced VBC performance.


Better risk adjustment benefits everyone

Vatica Health’s Best in KLAS® risk adjustment solution is designed to help health plans, providers and patients achieve better outcomes, together. By increasing patient engagement and wellness, improving coding accuracy and compliance, and helping identify and close gaps in care, Vatica helps ensure that everyone benefits.

Another blow to detached health risk assessments

By Vatica Health | June 4, 2024 | Provider, Risk Adjustment, Value-Based Care

By Brian Flower, vice president of client solutions, Vatica Health

Health Affairs recently published a study of data from 4 million Medicare Advantage (MA) members indicating that health risk assessments (HRAs) contributed up to $12 billion per year to risk adjusted payments in 2020. This is based on conditions that were submitted exclusively by an HRA (not submitted through another encounter) during the 2019 calendar year. The study implies that HRAs, typically performed in-home by vendors on behalf of MA plans, can lead to inflated hierarchical condition category (HCC) scores. More specifically, of the 44.4% of MA beneficiaries who had an HRA, HCC scores increased on average 12.8%.   

Study authors go a step further by segmenting contracts as low, medium and high, based on the HRA’s effect on risk score at the contract level. This may provide insights into HRA program design by the plan, e.g., which patients are targeted and how HRA outcomes are subsequently attached to care management.   

For nearly a decade, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) have expressed concern with the improper use of HRAs to inflate payments, rather than to improve care and outcomes. While HRAs can be a helpful tool for plans to identify all active conditions on an annual basis, the disconnect or “detachment” arises when diagnoses captured in HRAs are not recorded in a subsequent medical visit. This undermines the purpose of risk adjustment, which is designed to compensate plans based on the expected costs of delivering benefits to enrollees.    

Key observations 

  • The population was designated as follows: 20% low, 15% high and the remaining 64% in the medium cohort. 
  • While comprising only 15% of enrollees, the high cohort accounts for 48% of the total HRA risk-score increase. 
  • The HRA rate was much higher in the high contracts (77.9%) than low contracts (39.5%). 
  • Quality ratings favored low cohort contracts with 85% 4 stars or better vs high cohort contracts at 56%.  
  • Provider and health system integration was dramatically higher in the low vs the high contract cohort.   
  • Comparing the high and low contract cohorts, while the overall HCC score was 18% higher, medical expense was 9% lower (estimating from the plan payment and medical loss ratio values provided). 

Extrapolating on the points above, PCP-integrated risk adjustment solutions drastically reduce the risk of detached HRA outcomes and quality performance. This stands to reason because the patient’s PCP is prioritizing healthcare outcomes and management of chronic conditions, rather than focusing exclusively on code capture.     

The correlation between HRAs and coding intensity is particularly relevant given the Risk Adjustment Data Validation (RADV) Final Rule, which authorizes CMS to extrapolate RADV audit findings beginning with payment year 2018, applying the error rate from a sample, and the associated financial penalties, across a broader population of the Medicare Advantage Organization’s contract. In a RADV audit, conditions supported by a single encounter, like detached HRA visits, are at higher risk because there are no additional medical records to fall back on if there is an access, accuracy, or completeness issue with the primary record.  A PCP-integrated approach encourages follow-up care and additional documentation to support valid diagnoses.   

It should be noted that this study uses the 2020 CMS risk adjustment model.  We expect the exclusive impact of HRAs on risk scores would be tempered by as much as 40% using the 2024 risk adjustment model, which is being phased in now and will take full effect for 2025 dates of service. 

Conclusion  

At-risk entities should evaluate their current risk adjustment programs and focus on solutions that produce accurate and compliant coding accuracy that dovetail with quality and health outcomes. Legacy programs, such as retrospective chart reviews and HRAs completed by in-home assessment vendors, should be augmented with a provider-centric approach. Build a risk adjustment strategy that recognizes PCPs as partners in accuracy and quality capture, as well. PCPs are best positioned to capture all existing conditions and to address the CMS and OIG’s concerns by connecting the dots between accurate HCC capture and improved care and outcomes. 

Advancing health equity with an index

By Vatica Health | May 17, 2023 | Compliance, Risk Adjustment, Value-Based Care

By Jamie Jenkins, PhD, MBA, CPHQ, quality of care director, Vatica Health

Advancing health equity is the first pillar of Centers of the Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) strategic plan. The Biden-Harris administration has committed to promoting racial equity through government programs focused on underserved communities. To that end, CMS’ 2023 Medicare Advantage Quality Rule released in April 2023 finalized the new Health Equity Index (HEI) for measuring how well Medicare Advantage and Part D plans manage at-risk populations.

What is the index?

The HEI will drive health plans to fully engage and take steps to address the social determinants of health (SDOH) which negatively impact health quality and outcomes.

CMS has defined HEI as an index or single score that encapsulates contract performance for plans whose enrollees face specific social risk factors. The index will use existing data to limit the number of members who are identified as vulnerable. Stratified plan members who receive a low-income subsidy, those with a disability and those who are dual eligible will be in the scoring pool. Health plans should begin analyzing their data and designing programs to support these members.

What are the goals?

The initial goal of HEI is to increase transparency and understanding of plan performance in addressing the needs of members facing social risks. First, the index will be used to identify populations with the greatest needs so that targeted assistance may be granted to communities and providers serving those communities.

Second, the HEI will allow beneficiaries to select plans based on performance on health equity measures. Third, the index would become part of the Star Ratings program which is used to incentivize health plans with bonuses to improve performance. Prior to this new approach, there were no targeted incentives to address disparities among a plan’s enrollees. The HEI would be an added layer encouraging investment in health equity initiatives for Part C and Part D Star Ratings.

Call to action

Health plans have time to begin examining their approaches. The baseline data for the initial calculation of the HEI will be based on calendar years 2024 and 2025. The performance reward will be included in the 2027 Star ratings year.

Health plans can start their data analysis by comparing contracts to one another. For example, plans may consider the variances between those populations receiving a low-income subsidy versus those who are not. Comparing groups will allow plans to determine where support is most needed.

Data collection is key

One of the five priorities outlined by CMS in the framework is expanding the collection and analysis of standardized reporting. The agency seeks comprehensive, interoperable and standardized individual-level demographic and SDOH data. With an increased understanding of members’ needs, CMS plans to leverage quality improvement and other tools to ensure all members have access to equitable care and coverage.  

CMS notes that developments in health information technology have improved the ability to collect health data and measure disparities at the provider level. Vatica Health, for example, provides technology and dedicated clinicians to enable providers to efficiently capture more accurate and complete diagnostic coding and documentation both for risk adjustment and improving quality of care. Vatica’s team of nurses curates relevant clinical data from various sources and creates a pre-encounter provider notification to enable more comprehensive encounters. The notification lists medical conditions, unreconciled medications and targeted quality measures to help the provider efficiently address the patient’s needs during the visit. As part of this process, Vatica can collect race and ethnicity information as well, using CDC specifications.

In summary, this framework is the first step in CMS’ drive toward improving health equity. “Our goals for Medicare Advantage mirror our vision for CMS’ programs as a whole, which is to advance health equity; drive comprehensive, person-centered care; and promote affordability and the sustainability of the Medicare program,” said CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure.

How Vatica Health can help

If you are considering a partner to help improve your Star quality measure performance, consider Vatica Health. We are the #1 rated risk adjustment and quality of care solution for health plans and health systems. By pairing expert clinical teams with cutting edge technology, Vatica increases patient engagement and wellness, improves coding accuracy and completeness, identifies and facilitates the closure of care gaps and enhances communication and collaboration between providers and health plans. The company’s unique solution helps providers, health plans and patients achieve better outcomes together.

A wave of CMS regulatory changes – a new paradigm for risk adjustment

By Vatica Health | April 10, 2023 | Compliance, Risk Adjustment

By Steve Zuckerman, cofounder and chief strategy officer, Vatica Health

Over the last several months there have been dramatic regulatory changes that will have a significant impact on Medicare Advantage Organizations (MAOs). The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) made sweeping changes to both the audit process and underlying risk adjustment model, based on concerns with coding of conditions that the government claims are not credible predictors of future expenditures. These changes are against the backdrop of a wave of lawsuits and reports by the Office of Inspector General (OIG), alleging billions in overpayments emanating from legacy risk adjustment models such as chart reviews and home assessments.

Risk adjustment is the foundation of Medicare Advantage (MA). It’s a necessary but complicated process that ensures at-risk entities have sufficient funding to provide the appropriate care and resources to members based on their clinical profiles. As membership in MAOs has steadily increased over the last decade, so have the costs, leading to recent reforms. The first blow occurred on January 30, 2023, when CMS released the final rule on Risk Adjustment Data Validation (RADV Final Rule). This rule authorizes CMS to extrapolate RADV audit findings across a health plan’s entire membership base. The practical effect is that audits will be more frequent, and the new extrapolation methodology will likely result in much more significant fines and penalties (CMS estimates it will collect $4.7 billion more from plans over the next 10 years).  

The government’s next initiative to address coding errors and variations occurred on March 31, 2023, when CMS released the Calendar Year 2024 MA Capitation Rates and Part C and Part D Payment Policies (Final Rate Notice), which shifts diagnosis coding from ICD-9 to ICD-10 and removes over 2,000 codes from the Hierarchical Condition Categories (HCC) model. Despite a massive industry-wide lobbying effort from both payers and providers, the new risk adjustment model was adopted. However, CMS did agree to a phased-in approach over three years which represents a meaningful concession.

Finally, on March 27, 2023, a bipartisan senate bill was introduced by Sens. Bill Cassidy, R-Louisiana, and Jeff Merkley, D-Oregon, entitled the “No Unreasonable Payments, Coding or Diagnoses for the Elderly Act.” This bill seeks to exclude diagnoses from chart reviews and health risk assessments in the calculations of a patient’s risk score. While the bill is in the early stages of consideration, it is consistent with the prevailing perspective and momentum away from legacy models and toward involving treating providers in the risk adjustment process.

The phased-in approach under the Final Rate Notice gives MAOs an important opportunity to review their risk adjustment solutions to make sure they will be effective under the new regulatory landscape. Here are a few practical strategies to consider:

  1. Provider-centricity will be more critical than ever. As we transition to value-based care, it is critical for payers and primary care physicians (PCPs) to work together to improve care, outcomes and costs. Accurate risk adjustment is essential to ensure appropriate care for MA patients, the fastest growing healthcare segment. Therefore, it stands to reason that payers and providers should collaborate on risk adjustment and quality initiatives. Further, given the loss of several valuable HCCs under the Final Rate Notice, it will be more important than ever to ensure the capture and clinical substantiation of all risk adjustable conditions. Legacy models are deficient, work around providers, disrupt continuity of care and don’t accompany patient care plans. A better approach is to empower the PCP with tools and resources to perform HCC coding because the PCP has an existing relationship with the patient, direct knowledge of the patient’s history, and real-time access to the patient’s medical records. Enhanced payer and provider collaboration in this regard can produce better clinical and financial performance.

  2. Reevaluate chart reviews and home assessments. Chart reviews and home assessments that lack connectivity to the PCP and don’t impact care are being targeted by the Department of Justice, CMS and OIG. Both may become obsolete if the “No Upcode Bill” is ultimately passed. Lack of clinical oversight and perverse incentives within these legacy risk adjustment models create an environment ripe for error and malfeasance. Another major concern is that they are not coordinated with treating providers and therefore have minimal impact on improving overall population health and value-based care performance. Consider ways to coordinate your chart review and home assessment programs with in-office solutions to keep PCPs at the center of care.

  3. Focus on accuracy. In light of the RADV Final Rule and the myriad of lawsuits and investigations, at-risk entities should invest in solutions that produce compliant yield. They should focus on improving accuracy and completeness of documentation and coding and include a QI process that reviews both additions and deletions to validate coding prior to submission. The shift to value-based care will put even more pressure on payers and providers to use compliance-centric solutions that are focused on improving the accuracy and completeness of diagnoses codes and documentation.

How Vatica Health can help

Vatica Health is the #1 rated risk adjustment and quality of care solution for health plans and health systems. By pairing expert clinical teams with cutting-edge technology, Vatica increases patient engagement and wellness, improves coding accuracy and completeness, identifies and facilitates the closure of care gaps, and enhances communication and collaboration between providers and health plans. The company’s unique provider-centric solution is used prospectively at the point of care, giving the provider control and ensuring continuity of care. The solution helps providers, health plans and patients achieve better outcomes, together. Vatica Health is trusted by many of the leading health plans and thousands of providers nationwide. For more information, visit vaticahealth.com.

The RADV final rule – strategies for mitigating the impact

By Vatica Health | March 13, 2023 | Compliance, Risk Adjustment

By Brian Flower, vice president of client solutions, Vatica Health

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released on January 30 the long-awaited final rule on Risk Adjustment Data Validation (RADV). The rule includes two significant modifications to the RADV audit methodology used by CMS to address overpayments to Medicare Advantage plans based on the submission of unsupported risk-adjusting diagnosis codes. First, the final rule authorizes CMS to extrapolate RADV audit findings beginning with payment year 2018 (not 2011-2017 as originally proposed) but did not elaborate on the extrapolation methodology. Second, a fee-for-service (FFS) adjuster will not be applied to RADV audit results, which was previously leveraged as a method of normalizing Medicare Part C payment errors against fee-for-service Medicare.

Industry leaders and health plan advocates have expressed concerns. Matt Eyles, president and CEO of America’s Health Insurance Plans, said, “Our view remains unchanged: this rule is unlawful and fatally flawed, and it should have been withdrawn instead of finalized. The rule will hurt seniors, reduce benefits for those who choose MA, and yield fewer plan options in the future.”

Health plans had similar reactions. “While we all can agree that improvements can be made, the failure to adjust for the legitimate differences between Medicare Advantage and original Medicare will have a detrimental effect on the seniors and people with disabilities who rely on the Medicare Advantage program,” the BCBS Association said. “CMS should have implemented a narrower solution aimed at a few bad actors, but instead this overreaching regulation will raise costs, reduce choice and make it more difficult for seniors and those with disabilities to effectively manage their health.”

As analysis of the rule continues, here are a few insights and practical strategies we have shared with our payer and provider clients.

  1. Assess your “thin HCC” risk
    Even while the focus remains on accurate submissions, some HCCs will be easier to substantiate than others in an audit. It is important to understand what percentage of your submissions and Risk Adjustment Factor share would qualify as “thin” (associated with only one or two encounters, especially if significant effort is required to obtain a valid medical record). Understanding your risk will inform decision making on remediation within and after a given measurement period, as well as financial planning. 
  2. Prioritize treating providers
    Invest in programs that inform treating providers and empower them to code directly and accurately in a consistent and submittable manner, in favor of downstream coder abstraction that is not associated with the patient’s care plan. Engaged providers will become better organic coders over time, and a structured process can ensure necessary supporting documentation is reliably collected. In addition, compliant conditions collected shortly after encounters are recognized earlier than retrospective coding, allowing plans to identify open revalidation candidates within, instead of after, the measurement period.
  3. Anchor on primary care
    The clinical benefits of encouraging a strong patient-to-PCP relationship are largely understood. Build a risk adjustment strategy that recognizes PCPs as partners in accuracy and quality capture as well. PCPs are your starting lineup for long-term chronic care management, medication compliance, specialty referrals and testing needed to fully assess many HCCs.
  4. Engage the member
    As scrutiny over coding escalates, payers and providers should collaborate on member engagement to ensure annual visits are performed so that chronic conditions can be properly managed, as well as documented. Medicare Annual Wellness Visits (AWVs) are a great opportunity to engage patients in preventive care. AWVs can also be used as a springboard to participate in health plan-sponsored programs designed to capture accurate clinical documentation and close risk and quality care gaps. This expanded scope, which Vatica Health has dubbed an “Enhanced Wellness Visit,” ensures appropriate care and reimbursement while enhancing performance under value-based care arrangements.
  5. Focus on accuracy above all else
    The final rule can result in more severe penalties, as well as myriad legal actions against payers and providers relating to alleged improper practices focused on boosting risk scores and associated payments. In light of this, at-risk entities should evaluate the compliance (real and perceived) of their current risk adjustment solutions. Consider solutions that produce compliant yield, focus on improving accuracy and completeness of documentation and coding, and include a QI process to validate coding prior to submission.

How Vatica Health can help

Vatica Health is the leading provider-centric risk adjustment and quality of care solution for health plans and health systems. By pairing expert clinical teams with cutting-edge technology, Vatica increases patient engagement and wellness, improves coding accuracy and completeness, identifies and facilitates the closure of care gaps, and enhances communication and collaboration between providers and health plans. The company’s unique solution helps providers, health plans, and patients achieve better outcomes, together. Vatica Health is trusted by many of the leading health plans and thousands of providers nationwide. For more information, visit https://www.vaticahealth.com/.

Elevating risk adjustment by activating physician participation

By Vatica Health | March 3, 2023 | Risk Adjustment

As the pandemic subsides, many PCP groups are seeking to restart or ramp up value-based care (VBC) initiatives that took a back seat to battling COVID for the past two years. The economic impact of COVID on PCPs heavily reliant on fee for service and the looming recession will only accelerate the transition to VBC. However, it does come at a time when many providers are short-staffed and feeling overwhelmed.

A recently-released three-year study by JAMA revealed that, between the fall of 2019 and early 2022, the percentage of healthcare workers who perceived emotional exhaustion in their workplace climate increased from 53.3% to 64.9%. The unfortunate reality is that many physicians are struggling with burnout which has been greatly exacerbated by the multi-year COVID crisis. Addressing this challenge requires collaboration and coordination of efforts among payers and providers.

How can care providers and payers work together to activate physician participation in this climate to improve diagnosis coding and documentation, close gaps in care, achieve better clinical and financial performance, and support VBC initiatives? Some answers were offered in a “Bright Spots in Healthcare” podcast.

Moderated by host Eric Glazer, the podcast offered the perspectives of a diverse, blue-ribbon panel of experts:

  • Jeslie Jacob, divisional vice president, provider analytics, reporting and connectivity, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois
  • Janie Reddy, DNP, FNP-BC, director of family medicine, CommuniCare Health Centers
  • Rebecca Welling, associate vice president, risk adjustment and coding, SelectHealth
  • Lisa Wigfield, RN, BSN, CCM, CRC, CDEO, clinical advisor, risk management, Priority Health
  • Hassan Rifaat, MD, CEO of Vatica Health

Watch the whole podcast to get the full story, but in the meantime, here are some key pieces of advice from the panel:

“The key is to bring the gaps in patient care into the workflow at the point of care.”

Successful VBC is built on data and analytics, but as Jeslie Jacob stressed, gaps in care must be visible at the clinician’s fingertips when interacting with the patient. Jacob emphasized the value of EMR integration and dashboards to ensure that clinicians have ready access to up-to-the-minute insights when they meet with patients.

“Capture as much as you can during the visit.”

Janie Reddy emphasized maximizing the opportunities presented by the office visit. “If a patient comes in for an acute visit – say, for a cough – we treat the cough, but we’re also looking to see if they’ve had their preventive screenings,” she said. “If they’re diabetic, have they had their A1Cs done for the year? We’re looking at the whole picture: all their quality metrics. It’s all embedded in data analytics and presented via dashboards that show us exactly what is outstanding for each patient.”

“It’s got to be documented to capture it.”

Data goes both ways, according to Lisa Wigfield. You’re not just using historical health data to inform the office visit; you’re also generating new, vital data during the visit. For that reason, she cited the importance of documenting everything, thoroughly and accurately. Wigfield mentioned how Priority has enhanced MA benefits and offers a “free to talk” visit that has no copay. The visit provides an opportunity for PCP and patient to talk about health. It’s a good way to address care gaps and discover new issues the PCP may not be aware of.

“Go from a physician-only approach to a team approach.”

Reddy is a firm believer in sharing the VBC workload among physicians and other staff so that the burden doesn’t fall disproportionately on physicians. There are several advantages to this. For one thing, it enables physicians to accomplish more during the time they have with patients. Secondly, it builds a sense of VBC ownership across the entire team. When everyone feels that they are being supported by their colleagues in making VBC work, the effort will be more sustainable. However, keep in mind that a successful team approach requires that each team member has a clear understanding of their role and responsibilities and the practice’s expectations of them.

“Make sure health plan incentive dollars flow down to the practice.”

Incentive dollars aren’t much of an incentive if the people earning them don’t receive them. That’s why Hassan Rifaat, MD, stressed that clinicians should be paid directly for the work they’re doing. He urges practices to “make sure money is flowing down into the practice, from providers to support staff; invest the time to figure out how to do that.” That tangible ROI for the team’s VBC efforts will help ensure their continued commitment. Dr. Rifaat also made a key point about the economics of VBC implementation: “The upfront costs of a VBC program are significant and it can take as long as two years for some of those investments to start generating positive cash flow,” he said. “Once it does, it’s self-funding. But until that happens, some form of subsidy can help providers make the investments needed to get their VBC program off the ground.”

“Be sure to include staff in the incentives.”

When it comes time to share incentives with staff members, PCPs have any number of ways to do it. Which is best? Rebecca Welling believes one effective way is to link specific incentive payments to the successful performance of specific tasks. “For example,” said Rebecca, “you could offer to pay your scheduling staff $25 for every one of these high-acuity patients they bring in.” The direct connection between task and reward can be a strong incentive.

“Take advantage of friendly competition.”

Don’t be reluctant to share provider performance data within your organization to spur friendly competition. Reddy said, “As clinicians, we have a competitive drive within ourselves, and this has really motivated us to push each other to deliver quality care to our patients.” Bottom line? Money isn’t the only incentive; competition can be a powerful tool, as well. To encourage competition, Dr. Reddy said “Dashboards are our friend.” Readily accessible and easy-to-read dashboards make it simple for physicians to compare their work with their peers’.

How Vatica Health can help

The Vatica Health solution directly supports many of the recommendations made by the experts on the podcast. Vatica Health is the leading PCP-centric risk adjustment and quality-of-care solution for health plans and health systems. By pairing expert clinical teams with cutting-edge, Vatica increases patient engagement and wellness, improves coding accuracy and completeness, identifies and closes gaps in care, and enhances communication and collaboration between providers and health plans. The company’s unique solution helps providers, health plans and patients achieve better outcomes, together. With the Vatica team providing the extra resources needed to get VBC off the ground and operating successfully, physician participation is easier to enlist and sustain. To learn more, visit https://vaticahealth.com/.

How complete and timely data exchange can improve VBC outcomes

By Vatica Health | December 13, 2022 | Value-Based Care

Doctor typing on a laptop

As an old saying goes, “timing is everything.” In value-based care (VBC), that’s especially true—particularly when it comes to data exchange. Timely data exchange is essential. It provides greater visibility into a patient’s overall health during a face-to-face encounter, enabling providers and payers to deliver the best care with the appropriate resources.  

There’s no question that VBC thrives on accurate and timely data. Data identifies target patient populations. It spots risk factors and care gaps. It can highlight problem areas and drive appropriate interventions. And when leveraged effectively, it improves efficiency, measures progress and ultimately enhances VBC performance.  At the end of the day, having a 360-degree view of current patient information is essential to making sense of a patient’s health and making the best care decisions at every encounter.

Despite the importance of leveraging actionable data at the point of care, there are some formidable stumbling blocks. Relevant clinical data is often siloed – stored in different systems that do not communicate with each other. Payers, providers and pharmacies maintain separate databases that are not reconciled. This can lead to conflicting information, confusion and ultimately, subpar care. 

There has been a lot of progress to enhance integration and interoperability among various EMRs, stakeholders and systems — but we are still in the early innings. A lot of healthcare data is contained in unstructured formats or trapped in an EMR that doesn’t integrate with other databases. A readily available single source of truth with all relevant clinical information to inform a patient encounter and real-time decision making is rare. Therefore, providers and payers unknowingly make decisions based on incomplete and conflicting information. This impacts care and outcomes and leads to the inefficient use of resources.    

While current and timely data exchange is critical, it’s not a panacea. There has been a lot of progress in healthcare technology, such as artificial intelligence and natural language processing, but nothing replaces the judgment and experience of a trained clinician. A lot of important patient information remains trapped in unstructured formats such as images and physicians’ notes, which technology alone doesn’t sufficiently address. In addition, complex algorithms are rendered useless if the underlying clinical data is inaccurate.

The holy grail is to arm specially trained clinicians with powerful tools to curate all relevant patient information at the time of the encounter and leverage technology to supercharge, not replace, physicians. The combination of the right data, the right clinical resources, at the right time would help drive the most efficient and informed patient visits, lower costs, enhance care and drive practice performance in VBC and other risk sharing arrangements.

How Vatica can help

Vatica Health offers a unique model that pairs expert clinical teams with cutting edge technology at the point of care.  This innovative combination produces a powerful biproduct – sensemaking machines that help our clients wade through a sea of data to garner insights and make better clinical decisions. 

 Vatica’s licensed nurses curate all relevant clinical data to inform comprehensive visits. This information is conveniently documented and provided to the PCP prior to the visit. Only vetted HCC codes and care gaps are presented so PCPs can make the most of their time with patients. Health plans purchase the Vatica solution and make it available to PCPs in their network at no cost to help improve coding and documentation for risk adjustment. A key component of VBC, risk adjustment ensures that risk bearing entities are properly compensated and that adequate resources are available to care for patients, based on their specific conditions and healthcare needs.

3 major PCP risks in VBC—and how to reduce them

By Vatica Health | December 1, 2022 | Compliance, Risk Adjustment, Value-Based Care

By Lindsay Dosen, senior vice president of legal and compliance, Vatica Health

As more physician groups move into value-based care (VBC), many are encountering risk adjustment compliance issues they aren’t prepared for. Some of these issues can have serious legal and financial consequences if left unchecked. Preparing for these issues will enable physician practices to successfully transition to, and thrive in, a VBC environment by reducing compliance risk, improving patient outcomes and boosting financial performance. This article focuses on three common VBC compliance risks that PCPs should be aware of—along with recommendations on how best to mitigate them.

Risk 1: Unsubstantiated HCC codes

With the traditional fee-for-service payment models that PCPs have historically operated under, health plans—not PCPs—have primarily focused on accurately capturing Hierarchical Condition Category (HCC) codes for purposes of risk adjustment. However, under VBC arrangements (depending on the type of gain-sharing relationship), PCPs must focus on accurately capturing and documenting HCC codes. Underreporting or missing codes could translate to lost revenue for the PCP. Overreporting or submitting HCC codes that are inaccurate or unsubstantiated could subject the PCP to legal liability and regulatory penalties.

While this has been a major issue for health plans in recent years, this is also becoming a significant compliance risk for PCPs, as regulatory agencies have increased scrutiny of the risk adjustment programs and activities of both health plans and healthcare providers. These regulatory actions often assert violations of the False Claims Act (FCA) based on the government’s position that the risk adjustment payments were artificially inflated due to inaccurate or unsubstantiated diagnoses codes. Violations of the FCA can result in multi-million-dollar fines, not to mention lasting damage to a physician group’s public image and reputation, even when the violations were committed in error and without intentional wrongdoing by the PCP.

Fortunately, there are ways PCPs can protect against this compliance risk. First, PCPs should avoid payment structures that base payment on either a higher number of codes or higher-value codes. These types of payment arrangements are construed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) as problematic because they incentivize over coding and upcoding. Second, PCPs should provide training that reinforces the importance of compliant and accurate coding and that educates their staff about the potential legal, regulatory and financial risks associated with submitting inaccurate or unsubstantiated codes. Last, PCPs should invest in compliance programs that review coding and documentation to ensure accuracy.

Risk 2: Improper medical record review and sign-off

Another common VBC compliance issue that PCPs face is medical record compliance. You would think that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recommended medical record review and sign-off process would be simple and straightforward. And it is—but only if the right person is doing it.

CMS outlines specific requirements as it relates to medical record documentation and risk adjustment diagnosis codes. Submissions with documentation issues could impact the validity of the medical record in a Risk Adjustment Data Validation (RADV) audit, leading to a potential discrepancy for the audited CMS-HCC findings. For a diagnosis to be risk adjustment-eligible, it must result from a face-to-face encounter with an approved provider type. The medical record must have, among other things, a valid signature and credentials for the approved provider. For PCPs, that means not just anyone in the practice can sign off on a medical record. A CMS risk adjustment-approved physician must be present during the face-to-face encounter. The record must also be signed by the CMS risk adjustment-approved provider. Learn more here.

This is an issue that can be easily remedied with proper education and training. PCPs should take steps to make sure that their staff clearly understands the importance of following the CMS guidance related to medical record documentation for risk adjustment. PCPs and their teams should read and be familiar with these compliance guidelines and should develop and implement policies and procedures to ensure compliance.

Risk 3: Vendor non-compliance

A third VBC issue is the misconception that a PCP’s responsibility for compliance is limited to only activities within the practice. If a PCP is working with an outside vendor that is non-compliant, the PCP may also be held liable for the vendor’s compliance violations.

The best way to mitigate this risk is to vet prospective vendors thoroughly in advance to ensure they have a clean compliance record and a strong compliance program in place. When selecting a risk adjustment vendor, PCPs should conduct due diligence to include, without limitation, reviewing information about the vendor’s compliance and security programs, any applicable coding policies and procedures, mechanisms for reporting suspected fraud, waste and abuse, exclusion screening, and any prior enforcement or legal actions taken against the vendor. In addition, a thorough review should be completed of the vendor’s operations related to the services being provided, including coding. Finally, PCPs should be thoughtful when structuring any fee arrangements with the vendor so as not to encourage over coding or upcoding. Payments under the arrangement should be based on the scope and quality of the services performed, without fluctuation (including bonuses or penalties) tied to the value or volume of the diagnosis codes captured.  

Final recommendation: appoint a compliance lead

These three issues are examples of the compliance risks that PCPs operating in VBC are faced with every day. However, they are also examples of how an effective compliance program can help PCPs successfully navigate these issues and substantially reduce risk in VBC arrangements. An important way to ensure the PCP has an effective compliance program is to appoint a compliance lead for the practice. The compliance lead should stay up to date on compliance requirements and guidelines, develop policies and procedures to ensure compliance, provide training, promote awareness, and monitor and enforce compliance within the organization. An effective compliance program, led by a person with knowledge and expertise related to the compliance risks and regulatory requirements that are applicable to VBC, can greatly mitigate the compliance and financial risks to the practice. With compliance adequately addressed, PCPs can focus on delivering efficient, high-quality care to patients, which leads to successful financial performance in a VBC arrangement.

In-home risk assessments are under fire

By Vatica Health | October 21, 2022 | Risk Adjustment

A message from our chief strategy officer and co-founder, Steve Zuckerman

On October 17, 2022, the United States filed a lawsuit against Cigna Corporation and its subsidiary Medicare Advantage Organizations, intervening on a lawsuit filed by a whistleblower several years earlier. The lawsuit seeks damages under the False Claims Act for Cigna’s alleged submission of invalid diagnoses codes for purposes of inflating risk adjustment revenue for its Medicare Advantage plan members. Health plans like Cigna are required to report patients’ diagnoses which are used to calculate “risk adjustment” payments to the plan based on demographic information and the health status of patients. Over the last few years, lawsuits against Medicare Advantage Organizations (MAO) have increased significantly, centering around what the government alleges are improper practices focusing on boosting risk scores and associated payments.

The government’s lawsuit against Cigna focuses on diagnosis codes submitted on forms completed by several home assessment vendors. The lawsuit alleges that these vendors did not properly validate the existence of the reported conditions. Further, the diagnoses were not supported by the minimal information contained in the vendors’ forms. The government identified a major flaw in the home assessment vendor process in that it failed to coordinate with the patient’s primary care physician (PCP) or account for the patient’s full medical history. Instead, the home assessment vendors relied on limited data provided by Cigna and self-reported patient information which created an incomplete picture. As a result, according to the government, Cigna was overpaid tens of millions of dollars in risk adjustment payments from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

The government’s action against Cigna is the latest in a string of lawsuits and recent Office of Inspector General (OIG) reports claiming that MAOs have received billions in risk adjustment overpayments. A common theme in these cases and recent OIG reports is that home assessment vendors work around PCPs, instead of with them. Sending a clinician to a patient’s home, without any relationship with the patient or the PCP, has been increasingly scrutinized as it’s viewed as a method to simply improve risk score without improving patient care or outcomes. In fact, going back as early as 2014, in its 2015 Advance Notice Proposal, CMS suggested to “exclude for payment purposes diagnoses identified during at home visits that are not confirmed by a subsequent clinical encounter.”

The mounting scrutiny of home assessments has continued. In September 2021, the OIG issued a report regarding billions in alleged overpayments to MA plans. It specifically criticized home assessments, making the point that the failure to work alongside PCPs raises concerns about the quality-of-care coordination for these patients and the validity of diagnoses. These concerns are being exacerbated by fundamental flaws in the home assessment process, including the failure to consider pertinent patient information contained in PCPs’ electronic medical records and the lack of follow-up with the PCPs to ensure chronic conditions and care gaps identified during the assessment are being addressed.

Despite the flaws with home assessments that are not connected to PCPs, MAOs ultimately bear the responsibility. In our experience, MAOs do not intentionally misrepresent their population risk. They are simply relying on vendors employing legacy programs that have not evolved to meet the current regulatory environment. The shift to value-based care will put even more pressure on payers and providers to use compliance-centric solutions that are focused on improving the accuracy and completeness of diagnoses codes and documentation.

As the pioneer in physician-centric risk adjustment processes, Vatica has emphasized for over a decade the importance of including PCPs in the risk adjustment process. Instead of using third parties with no pre-existing relationship with the patient and no access to the underlying medical record, Vatica’s solution empowers PCPs to improve outcomes while easily completing HCC coding with the greatest level of accuracy and completeness. By pairing technology and dedicated clinical support at the point of care, Vatica enables PCPs to drive the most compliant and accurate risk adjustment results, close care gaps, and improve performance.