Crosscut Strategies, LLC

Crosscut is looking for a Director to join our DC-based team. The ideal candidate brings 7+ years of relevant communications experience and has demonstrated experience with media relations, managing teams, providing strategic counsel, and crisis communications. If you're creative, dynamic, and love working in a fun, fast-paced environment, we want to hear from you! Check out the link below to learn more about the position and apply. https://lnkd.in/gzK9Heh6 #StrategicCommunications #Hiring #DCJobs #JoinOurTeam?

We're #hiring a new Communications Associate in Washington DC-Baltimore Area. Apply today or share this post with your network.

One of the first thing we ask any client facing a "crisis" is: have you been telling your own story? If you are not doing that, your competitors and opponents will -- and it's not going to be what you want. I learned this from my years in politics -- which was shaped by the lessons of the Dukakis campaign in 1988: an attack unanswered is an attack believed. There are a lot of people analyzing what happened Tuesday, but one thing is clear: Harris did not respond to a relentless ad campaign painting her as dangerously out of touch on cultural issues. As I wrote in the Bulwark, she forgot that lesson from 1988. Full article is linked in the comments. #crisiscommunications #pr

Today marks the start of open enrollment for ACA plans. It also marks my wedding anniversary (32 years, crazy, Jennifer Loew Mendelson) so I can always remember. Useful piece from KFF below worth reading as background. In many ways, the exchanges have never been healthier: 20 million Americans rely on them. Of course many are heavily subsidized by the Federal government, and the future of those subsidies are in doubt and dependent on the outcome of the election next week. I do expect that there will be change in the program on re-authorization and hope that the discussions result in more stability and coverage in this important program. One area of consensus appears to the ICHRAs. I recently talked with policymakers from across the spectrum who are bullish on ICHRA's that enable small businesses to give employees money to purchase coverage in the exchanges. It's good for employees who now can get coverage, good for businesses who now have an affordable benefit, and good for the exchanges as it widens the risk pool. Mark Bertolini CEO of Oscar Health has been positively focused on this market, as have Centene Corporation, Venteur, and others. However the election shakes out, we should see a robust debate about the exchanges role in them in the coming year. https://lnkd.in/eTpsXucy

Open enrollment season has just begun, and millions of seniors are choosing how they will engage with Medicare. Considering that half of all Medicare beneficiaries already have chosen Medicare Advantage (MA), we can expect a huge number to follow that lead -- just when many in the policy world are becoming skeptical of MA. We’re seeing a high level of political scrutiny around MA right now - skepticism around payment rates, concern that plans are gaming the system through coding and risk adjustment to drive higher payments, and anger around denials of care which seem altogether too common to be valid at this point. The Biden Administration has been taking practical steps to address these issues. At the same time, it also feels like MA has lost many of its strongest political supporters. Gone are the pragmatic Republicans like Bill Thomas / Paul Ryan who understood the need to drive value-based care. On the other side, many Democrats either know very little about value-based care (and how Obamacare championed it). Humana’s lawsuit (see John Tozzi article) won’t win any popularity contests with the regulators, and it also seems unlikely that CMS’s efforts to improve quality will qualify as “arbitrary and capricious”. But the suit does show how much strain the system is in right now. Where is MA headed? A few thoughts. 1. MA is here to stay. With more than half of Medicare beneficiaries choosing this option, and higher in many geographies, seniors are signing up because of the benefits it offers, the cost stability, and the simplicity of navigation. 2. The plans need to do a better job of self-policing, and aligning with consumer interests. If it does not, it is pretty clear that Congress and the Administration will be forced to get very aggressive. 3. MA needs more -- and better champions in Congress who understand the importance of pay for value, and are realistic about the limitations of fee for service which really needs to be retired in the Medicare program. 4. We need to be open to different forms of MA plan and provider ownership. There is a role for non-profits, for-profit public corporations, and private equity in this space. Each form of ownership has strengths and limitations around transparency, growth, capitalization. 5. Providers have real concerns about the trajectory of MA and the rates they are getting and the administrative burden associated with these contracts - these need to be accommodated. Finally, conventional Medicare is deteriorating and needs to be fundamentally overhauled if it is to survive. It's good that there are those calling for the addition of dental /vision, but these new benefits shouldn’t be added without controls on cost and integration of value-based benefits. A nice topic for the next CMS Adminstrator! https://lnkd.in/dcd8d7sp

Another year of #HLTHUSA in the books for Crosscut Strategies, LLC! Our clients brought their A game to the stage, the showroom floor, and to their interviews and podcasts. And we got to connect in person with health care leaders and friends old and new. A ton of work goes into this from many different people, and a huge shout out to the HLTH USA team for always making it great.

One in three patients don't fill their prescriptions, and the top reasons are lack of awareness and costs. That's according to a new op-ed in Medical Economics by Hilary Hatch, Ph.D., my colleague and Phreesia's Chief Clinical Officer. She shared three ways to make it easier for patients to fill their prescriptions and get life-saving medicines: ?? Meet patients in the moments that matter, right after they receive a prescription for a new medication or refill ?? Remove financial and other barriers (patients can initiate a digital request to fill, learn about additional discounts or coupons, and receive their prescriptions the very same day) ???? Automate processes that encourage patients to fill their prescriptions without adding extra work for providers. Read the full op-ed here: https://lnkd.in/gvGM_93B

Check out our new video to learn how Apella’s AI computer vision automatically tracks the moments that matter in the OR to help hospitals of all sizes cut overtime by 10%, improve schedule accuracy by 24%, and add 10% more cases without compromising quality of care.

This plan, introduced yesterday?by VP Harris to create a Medicare at Home benefit is something that Medicare, and those who rely on it and care for those who do, have needed for a long time. A few thoughts on the plan... Medicare needs to modernize. The last major update to Medicare was in 2003 when Part D, or coverage for prescription drugs, was added. Since then, Medicare has become increasingly ossified. Already, it has had a hard time covering care delivered virtually (critical during COVID), and one of the biggest movements in health care is moving care out of institutions (like hospitals and skilled nursing facilities or "nursing homes") to the home. The Harris plan would enable people to get the help they need to age at home with the people they love. Considering that about 20 percent of those over 65 and half of those over 85 need some help with basic functions, this is a long overdue benefit. Cares for the caregivers. Harris has spoken movingly about how hard it was to be a prosecutor and care for her aging mother when she had cancer (which eventually took her life). Caregiving is a labor of love -- and an immense, stressful burden. It keeps people from work, and hits those with lower incomes particularly hard. Often, it forces them to drop out of the workforce. The economic effects of this could be substantial. (Thinking about you Anne Tumlinson and Daughterhood.) Paid for. Yes, in 1998-2000, I served as President Clinton’s head of OMB Health.?These were the only years since 1969 that the US had a balanced budget BTW! ?It was is refreshing to see that Harris was up-front about how much this new benefit would cost ($40 billion a year) -- and a way to pay for it.?Specifically, they propose using savings from Medicare negotiating on drug prices to pay for the Medicare at Home plan. This is sound policymaking. What isn't modeled, and needs to be considered, are the long-term savings that may accrue?to Medicare and Medicaid as seniors are kept out of institutions, kept out of hospitals, and are able to age at home where they are loved and happy. Regardless of politics, those that care about keeping our health care system up to date and delivering for those most in need should look at this. At a minimum, it should spark a debate about how best to care for the rapidly growing generation of seniors -- and how best to lighten the load on their families. https://lnkd.in/emDV3Ezt

Privacy is a huge priority for Phreesia, and we maintain strict privacy standards for our entire portfolio. We’re thrilled to join the Network Advertising Initiative (NAI), working closely to promote consumer-centric privacy practices in healthcare. Learn more about this membership: https://bit.ly/47ZK8Fp