Online Program

278103
Evaluation of a bundled payment system in the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program: Colorado's Women's Wellness Connection


Wednesday, November 6, 2013 : 11:00 a.m. - 11:15 a.m.

Karen Cheung, MPH, ICF International, Seattle, WA
Simone Peart Boyce, PhD, ICF International, Atlanta, GA
Holly Heisler, MPH, MBA, ICF International, Atlanta, GA
Shelby Cash, MPH, ICF International, Atlanta, GA
Christen Lara, Center for Health and Environmental Data, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, Denver, CO
Emily Kinsella, MSPH, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, Denver, CO
Stephanie Melillo, MPH, Division of Cancer Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA
Janet Royalty, MS, Division of Cancer Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA
Amy DeGroff, PhD, MPH, Division of Cancer Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA
The Women's Wellness Connection (WWC) program is administered by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) as part of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC's) National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program (NBCCEDP). WWC provides free breast and cervical cancer screening and diagnostic services to low-income, uninsured, and underserved women across Colorado. Screening and diagnostic testing services are provided through a network of 45 clinical providers, including local public health departments, Federally Qualified Health Centers, non-profit health centers, safety net clinics, and hospitals. In 2009, CDPHE developed the Bundled Payment System (BPS) and began paying providers predetermined reimbursement levels based on expected costs of a set of breast and cervical cancer screening and diagnostic services. BPS provides increasing levels of reimbursement for escalating case complexity for screening and diagnosis ranging from $50-$1445 across four levels for breast services and $50-$480 for cervical services. Researchers from ICF International, CDPHE, and CDC conducted an evaluation of BPS to assess effectiveness in improving timeliness and completeness of care and impacts on costs. Using a mixed-methods approach of analyzing quantitative data from WWC's electronic data management and public health surveillance system used to track clinical service delivery and reimbursement and conducting key informant interviews with providers, the research team aimed to understand the clinical, data quality and financial impacts of BPS on breast and cervical cancer screening and diagnostic services. Findings suggest that compared to the former capitated payment model, BPS is associated with increased likelihood of timely and complete patient care and follow-up for those with abnormal breast cancer screening results. This effect was not observed for abnormal cervical cancer results. In addition, BPS has no differential effect on clinicians' ordering practices; in other words, bundled payments did not appear to incentivize unnecessary diagnostic services among WWC providers. Findings related to costs will also be discussed. When implemented in combination with policies mandating data entry timeliness and standard lost-to-follow-up procedures, bundled payments for breast cancer screening may help ensure complete and timely service provision and improved data quality for public health programs. Further, the bundled payments model of reimbursement has the potential to assist other NBCCEDP grantees who are interested in moving away from a capitated or fee-for-service model.

Learning Areas:

Conduct evaluation related to programs, research, and other areas of practice
Public health or related organizational policy, standards, or other guidelines
Public health or related public policy
Public health or related research

Learning Objectives:
Discuss how a bundled payment system is implemented by Colorado's breast and cervical cancer screening program Analyze how Colorado's quality of breast and cervical cancer screening and diagnostic services have changed with bundled payments Assess whether the cost of screening and diagnostic services have changed with the implementation of bundled payments

Keyword(s): Breast Cancer Screening, Evaluation

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have designed and implemented numerous studies that have focused on program evaluation and cost-related studies (i.e., cost of illness and cost effectiveness). I have worked extensively on the evaluation of quality-improvement initiatives.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.