With heart disease still the leading cause of death in the District of Columbia, February’s American Heart Month and Black History Month are timely reminders of the need to improve cardiovascular health and related disparities in risk factors, treatment, and outcomes. Approaches that advance whole-person, coordinated care, such as value-based payment (VBP) models, hold promise for preventing and managing heart conditions. A 2022 white paper by the American Heart Association (AHA) and Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy, based on Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI)-implemented VBP models, concludes that VBP is an important pathway for improving heart health. AHA’s 2023 policy statement also offers clinicians who treat cardiovascular disease recommended best practices for implementing VBP programs and measuring their impact.
How can you get started? Request an Integrated Care DC coach to help you assess your current practices and implement new strategies. You can also visit our website to access the Business Transformation VBP Toolkit and Primary Care Behavioral Health (PCBH) Learning Series, including the PCBH Model of Integrated Care and New Diagnosis of a Chronic Medical Condition. To better understand VBP from the perspective of the District’s managed care organizations (MCOs), view the MCO panel discussion and follow-up Q&A from last May’s Integrated Care DC Managed Care Readiness Workshop.
Additional resources:
- Million Hearts™ initiative, led by the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
- CDC’s American Heart Month 2024 Toolkit: Resources for Health Care Professionals
- CDC’s “Live to the Beat” campaign, developed with the CDC Foundation, addresses cardiovascular disease risk reduction among Black adults ages 35 to 54