One-hundred days into the second Trump administration, Quality Matters host Andy Reynolds welcomes Eric Musser, Vice President of Federal Affairs at NCQA, for an insightful discussion about NCQA’s recommendations to the Trump administration for improving health care quality.

Eric shares ideas to shape a strong quality future for value-based care, digital health infrastructure and behavioral health.

The conversation focuses on value-based care models that prioritize care integration to prevent or alleviate chronic illness. Eric identifies fragmentation’s threats to care delivery and data management—problems NCQA’s recommendations aim to address.

Specific suggestions include:

• Expanding the commitment the first Trump administration made to getting all Medicare beneficiaries in value-based care arrangements by 2030. This ambitious goal requires big changes in policy and practice, but could lead to better outcomes and more efficient care delivery.
• Creating innovative care models that leverage technology and dynamic care plans. These models would use advanced technologies like AI to integrate patient data more quickly and effectively. Dynamic care plans would allow for real-time updates based on patient data from various sources, including remote monitoring.
• Prioritizing patient-generated data and patient-reported outcomes. This approach focuses on incorporating patients' experiences and goals into their care plans. The aim is to improve patient engagement and ensure care matches what matters to patients, particularly those with chronic conditions.
• Promoting standardized data exchange in Medicare Advantage programs. This recommendation addresses the need for better data sharing between plans, providers and patients. This would mean dismantling data silos and creating more comprehensive, real-time views of patient populations.

There is tremendous potential for the Trump administration to improve health care quality. Listen to this episode to find out how.

Key Quote:

“ We know the Trump administration has a patients first agenda. They put the consumer first in the way they think about quality and payment. There is a desire in the measurement space to have more measures centered around patients’ goals. That's a person-reported outcome or a patient-centered outcome, as we call it here at NCQA. 

You want to make sure that the patient gets that strong clinical care. But the experience to ensure that they want to come back for that clinical care is also extremely important. 

So person-reported outcomes are about enhancing the experience of patients as they work with their care team. This is important for folks with chronic conditions, behavioral health. Having those goals that are patient-centric–like walking down the stairs, getting to church–are all ways which improve health and then get that buy-in to the care plan that we're seeking to support.”

-Eric Musser

Time Stamps:

• (01:22) Opportunities in the First 100 Days of a New Administration
• (05:30) Deep Dive: Value-Based Care and Care Integration 
• (07:12) Fixing Two Kinds of Fragmentation
• (10:49) Four Operational How-Tos 

Links:

NCQA’s Recommendations to the Trump Administration

Listen to Eric’s Episode on Data Sharing

Connect with Eric