HCFO Researcher Quoted in New York Times Article on Federal Value-based Payment Policy

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A New York Times article on federal value-based payment policies quoted HCFO-funded researcher Andrew Ryan, Ph.D., Weill Cornell Medical College, regarding whether to adjust for patient socioeconomic status in value-based payment schemes so as to avoid unfairly penalizing the safety net. Ryan noted that this discussion is similar to the debate raging over whether teacher pay should be linked to student achievement, measured by test scores. “If not used carefully, such merit-pay arrangements can divert resources from the neediest schools and students.” Ryan’s HCFO-funded study evaluated the effect of the Medicare Hospital Value-based Purchasing (HVBP) program on quality of care during the program’s first year of implementation. In related work, Ryan found that hospitals caring for more disadvantaged patients did in fact fare worse in the first year of HVBP.