Ballad Health supports national LAN’s new goals

On Thursday, the Health Care Payment Learning & Action Network (LAN) released the results from its latest Alternative Payment Model (APM) Measurement Effort, an annual collaboration to measure nationwide progress in APM adoption. Building on the Measurement Effort results, the LAN unveiled new goals and visions for the future of national payment reform.

Ballad Health Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Alan Levine has been selected to serve on the newly launched CEO Forum of the LAN, along with other notable national leaders in healthcare.

“Ballad Health pledges its support for the LAN’s new goals as it moves into its next phase of transforming payment reform. We believe that adoption of these goals is essential to improving cost, quality, and health equity objectives in support of value-based, person-centered care,” said Levine.

As a partner of the Health Care Payment Learning & Action Network (LAN) and a member of its newly-launched CEO Forum, Levine is pledging his support for the organization’s goal of advancing healthcare payment reform.

The LAN is an active group of public and private healthcare leaders dedicated to revamping the American healthcare payment system. Instead of the traditional fee-for-service structure, the LAN advocates for alternative payment models (APMs) that offer incentives for high-quality and cost-efficient healthcare.

Alternative payment models, which includes shared savings, shared risk, bundled payments and population-based payments, incorporate quality and total cost of care into the amount of money healthcare providers are reimbursed for the care they provide patients.

Levine said Ballad Health is an ardent supporter of the movement toward alternative payment models with shared accountability, which means all stakeholders within the healthcare system, including patients, are responsible for and contribute to the success of patient outcomes.

On Aug. 21, 2019, Levine participated in the inaugural Health Care Payment Learning & Action Network CEO Forum in McLean, Virginia, where executives and clinical leaders from around the nation discussed different ways to advance payment models that reward providers for quality and value of care. 

“It is an honor to have been asked to serve with such influential leaders who can help move America’s health system forward,” Levine said. “As a member of the LAN’s CEO Forum, Ballad Health is proud to join a group of committed leaders in a shared effort to prioritize and execute key focus areas that can advance shared accountability for public and private payers around the adoption of alternative payment models.”

“With the right payment incentives in place, we are hopeful that we can accomplish many of the goals outlined by the LAN.”

Some of the focus areas identified during the CEO Forum include: addressing social determinants of health; reducing ineffective care and utilization; increasing data transparency and improving analytic capabilities; adopting enhanced technology; facilitating market-based solutions; and implementing new population-based approaches.

At the 2019 LAN Summit on Thursday in Washington, D.C., the LAN unveiled its new set of goals that outline the percentage of healthcare payments by type of payer it hopes will be tied to alternative payment models with shared accountability.

Those include:  

• Medicare Advantage & Traditional Medicare
  • 30% by 2020
  • 50% by 2022
  • 100% by 2025

• Medicaid & Commercial
  • 15% by 2020
  • 25% by 2022
  • 50% by 2025

Please visit the LAN organization for more information on these goals and the organization.