Conference Round-Up: VSSL presentations at National Meetings

Recently, VSSL team members participated in several national conferences focused on health systems issues.

Dr. Joshua Liao presented "The Association between Bundled Payment Participation and Changes in Medical Episode Outcomes among High-Risk Patients". The talk covered an analysis evaluating how high-risk patients fared in medical condition episodes under Medicare's Bundled Payments for Care Improvement (BPCI) program. As Dr. Liao noted, the study findings may help allay concerns about worsened disparities in medical condition bundles. The presentation was selected as a "Best Health Equity Oral Abstract" finalist.

Dr. Leah Marcotte presented several analyses as virtual posters. Both posters described work mentored by Dr. Liao and involved other VSSL members.

The first analysis described early perspectives from physicians about the national Merit-based Incentive Payment System. Key conclusions included the following:

• Most physicians believed that if MIPS improves value, that would occur predominantly through process improvement activities
  

• Retaining emphasis on process improvement alongside clinical outcomes may be important for supporting physician engagement in MIPS
  

The second analysis described nationwide trends in the use of telehealth services over a decade between 2007-2017 prior to COVID-19. Key conclusions included the following:

• Telehealth visits were relatively uncommon over this period, with increases and trend toward younger individuals and those with high-deductible insurance plans
  

• These findings have implications for telehealth use among commercially insured populations following the COVID-19 pandemic
  

Future posts will include more detailed information about each of these projects. In the meantime, interested individuals should contact Drs. Liao and Marcotte directly. Interested individuals are also encouraged to learn more about work in the VSSL portfolio.