Medicaid is a big part of our national healthcare expenditure. It accounts for 25% of the average state budget and nearly 10% of the federal budget. Caring for the 72 million+ Medicaid enrolled beneficiaries is challenging. Many live in unhealthy environments and face significant obstacles to maintaining their health and obtaining necessary medical care. On top of that, providers are paid significantly less to see Medicaid patients than they are for those with Medicare or private insurance. These factors and many more make Medicaid ripe for the type of reform we see being attempted under DSRIP initiatives across the country.
Some groups like Qliance and Harmony Health believe that Direct Primary Care, or DPC, is the best model to lower the cost and improve the quality of care provided to Medicaid patients.
Harmony Health Co-founder and CEO, David Kulick will join The #hcbiz Show! this week to discuss the model of Direct Primary Care that they’re launching for Medicaid patients in New Orleans. His company promises to “provide high quality, comprehensive, and unlimited primary care to patients with Medicaid in order to improve health outcomes and lower downstream costs”.
#hcbiz 21 Discussion Details
12:00 PM EST – Tweetchat
We’ll setup this week’s show with a tweetchat from 12-12:30 PM EST. We’ll ask 3 questions in 30 minutes:
Q1: Healthcare insurance does not always lead to healthcare access. What are the primary issues hindering healthcare access for the Medicaid population?
Q2: How do the low reimbursement rates under Medicaid affect the availability and quality of care available to its beneficiaries?
Q3: What regions or states are making headway in Medicaid reform and what models have been most successful?
Follow the #hcbiz hashtag on Twitter or use an app like tchat.io to join the conversation.
12:30 PM EST — Blab
Join me (@dflee30) and co-host Shahid Shah (@ShahidNShah) for our first Startup Showcase. We’ll begin with the typical #hcbiz format where we dissect the issue at hand to try and understand what it is, why it is and what we should be doing about it. Then, we’ll give our startup founder the opportunity to make their pitch and open up the session for questions and feedback from the community.
Our goal is to give the startup a chance to get the word out, but more importantly to offer them constructive feedback, help make needed connections and generally help them in any way that we can.
Our startup founder this week is David Kulick of Harmony Health.
Our guest panelist is Dave Thiemecke of VCAMP; a digital Health accelerator for very early stage companies and ideas with a strong focus on improving the delivery and economics of healthcare.