Boston, April 09, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Centering Healthcare Institute (CHI) today shared a white paper titled “Aligning Value-Based Payment with the CenteringPregnancy Group Prenatal Care Model: Strategies to Sustain a Successful Model of Prenatal Care”. The white paper explores new opportunities to promote improved outcomes and lower costs in maternity care though value-based payment strategies. It demonstrates specifically how CenteringPregnancy can be an effective, financially sustainable model of maternity care, that meets the goals of value-based payment contracts.
As the American health care system continues to shift from fee-for-service payment toward value-based payment (VBP), states and other payers are adopting a host of strategies to contain Medicaid costs, improve health outcomes and respond to federal priorities. Alternative payment models are beginning to emerge in maternity care reimbursement, including a wide variety of outcomes-related incentive payments as well as bundled payment programs. Payers and providers are pushing towards payment models that reward quality and value of care, rather than volume.
CenteringPregnancy is the only model of group prenatal care that has been extensively researched, with more than 100 published, peer-reviewed studies. Evidence shows CenteringPregnancy reduces costs, improves health outcomes for mothers and their babies as well as reduces racial health disparities. This holistic model can be sustainably financed along the continuum of value-based payment using a variety of approaches. Policy makers, payers and providers can work together to integrate group prenatal care and value based-payment within maternity care. In Medicaid, the largest payer for maternity care, states have the opportunity to work with CHI to offer the CenteringPregnancy model of care to more women as part of their emerging payment and delivery system reforms. Furthermore, aligning emerging value-based payment models that reward providers for better outcomes with CenteringPregnancy is an opportunity to make this practice model financially sustainable for healthcare providers.
“With more than two decades of experience and expertise in pioneering group parental care, we have long known that Centering is unique in its ability to improve health outcomes through relationship-based care and healthcare system reform,” said Angie Truesdale, Chief Executive Officer at CHI. “As we partner more closely with state governments and payers, we are encouraged to see increasing interest in offering reimbursement incentives for Centering as part of the movement toward value-based payment. Fundamentally, Centering offers significant benefits for patients, providers and payers – and this new resource captures that value.”
Independently prepared by Health Management Associates, the report examines:
- Value-based payment in Medicaid maternity care
- Alternative payment models in maternity care across states
- CenteringPregnancy as a model of prenatal group care – outcomes, evidence, cost and savings
- CenteringPregnancy alignment with value-based payment framework
The complete white paper can be downloaded here.
About Centering Healthcare Institute (CHI)
CHI is a national non-profit organization, based in Boston, MA, with a mission to improve health and transform the way care is delivered. With over two decades of experience as the go-to resource for group healthcare, CHI has pioneered and sustained the Centering model of group care currently offered across 580 healthcare practice sites impacting close to 70,000 patients each year. The evidence-based Centering model combines health assessment, interactive learning and community building to help support positive health behaviors and drive better health outcomes. CenteringPregnancy® and CenteringParenting® provide the highest quality of care to families from pregnancy through age two of the child. The CenteringHealthcare® model of care is being extended to many different health conditions including groups for asthma, diabetes, opioid recovery, cancer survivors, chronic pain and other patient populations. Visit www.centeringhealthcare.org for more information.