I just returned from the ISPOR 2023 conference with two takeaways: 1) never let yourself (or your voice) be underestimated and 2) we need to put health outcomes before health economics in order to define, measure, and achieve value. These are truisms regardless of political party in power, trends in the health care marketplace, or the methods used to design research or make decisions. The needs and priorities of people at risk for or living with health conditions that affect their physical and mental well-being, their families, and their wallets must be the ultimate driver and the point of accountability for the entire ecosystem, from innovation development to payment and delivery of care, and back again.

A combination of comprehensive data, sophisticated analysis and rigorous modeling are essential to unlocking the potential of value-based care.

In the past few years, multiple states have implemented new policies requiring Medicaid managed care plans (MCPs) to reinvest a percentage of revenue or profit back into the communities they serve (see exhibit 1 below).

Geoffrey Hinton was an artificial intelligence pioneer. In 2012, Dr. Hinton and two of his graduate students at the University of Toronto created technology that became the intellectual foundation for the A.I. systems that the tech industry’s biggest companies believe is a key to their future. Recently, however, he officially joined a growing chorus of critics who say those companies are racing toward danger with their aggressive campaign to create products based on generative artificial intelligence, the technology that powers popular chatbots like ChatGPT. Dr. Hinton said he has quit his job at Google, where he has worked for more than a decade and became one of the most respected voices in the field, so he can freely speak out about the risks of A.I. A part of him, he said, now regrets his life’s work.

We are all futurists. We all have to make predictions—even if only implicitly—about the future to shape our lives: to determine what job we take, where to live, whether to buy a house, whether to get additional education or training and in what subjects, and on and on. 

In this three-part article, I present nine “megatrends” that I believe will characterize US health over the rest of this decade. They follow on the trends I identified eight years ago in my book Reinventing American Health Care. ... Part 2 below covers trends related to system reconfiguration, and Part 3 will focus on patient care trends.

When a health insurance company is deciding whether to pay for your medical treatment, the company generates a file around your claim. All the records associated with your case should be part of your file. This includes documents explaining the reasons your claim was denied.

Roughly 60 percent of the calories in the average American diet come from highly processed foods. We’ve known for decades that eating such packaged products — like some breakfast cereals, snack bars, frozen meals and virtually all packaged sweets, among many other things — is linked to unwelcome health outcomes, like an increased risk of diabetes, obesity and even cancer. But more recent studies point to another major downside to these often delicious, always convenient foods: They appear to have a significant impact on our minds, too.

Momentum Health Strategies

Jennifer L Bright, MPA

(703) 628 - 0534

jennifer@momentumhealthstrategies.com

www.momentumhealthstrategies.com

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