An opinion piece by Cheri Lattimer, Executive Director of the Case Management Society of America (CMSA) and a member of the CMC’s new Medicare Advantage Care Coordination (MACC) Task Force, was published today by the Morning Consult. In response to the recent creation of the bipartisan Senate Finance Committee Chronic Care Working Group, Ms. Lattimer points to the highly successful Medicare Advantage program as a standard for reform and highlights the importance of care coordination, a health care innovation pioneered by Medicare Advantage plans.
As the op-ed puts it, Medicare Advantage “has generated evidence-based, proven strategies for reducing costs and improving outcomes for beneficiaries, particularly low-income and minority beneficiaries and those suffering from serious, complex health conditions like heart failure or end-stage renal disease. These high-risk patients benefit from the care coordination services offered by Medicare Advantage plans”.
The innovations and benefits of Medicare Advantage and care coordination are only becoming more important, as roughly fifty percent of Americans will suffer from a chronic disease by the year 2030.
“As a team-based effort among physicians, advanced practice nurses, social workers, case managers, nurses and allied health professionals working together to make a difference for patients and their loved ones, care coordination is a driving force in current health care plan innovation; the strategies deployed by Medicare Advantage plans serve as a foundation for policy proposals to improve chronic care management for Medicare-eligible individuals and foster best practices for our healthcare system.”
The op-ed also cites a 2013 paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research, which found that Medicare Advantage plans actually lower costs for non-beneficiary patients in the area. Besides better health outcomes and lower costs, the article points out that care coordination simply means patients with chronic illnesses are viewed as people and treated as individuals.
Launched in February of 2015, the Task Force is a new collaboration between the Coalition for Medicare Choices and leading aging, caregiver, patient, provider, and minority health organizations to help policymakers understand the importance and benefits of care coordination in Medicare Advantage plans. Click here to learn more about the MACC Task Force, and here to learn more about how Medicare Advantage is helping patients with chronic conditions.