TRENDING: 3 costly healthcare megatrends to watch in 2016

There are three trends that emerged in 2015 that are likely to prove costly in 2016.

1. Physician awareness of MACRA. The Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act was enacted in 2015 to replace the flawed sustainable growth rate. Under MACRA, performance measurements for new payment models begin in 2017, which makes it vital that physicians begin learning about the implications of MACRA for their practices in 2016.

According to a recent Health Affairs blog post by Susan DeVore, president and CEO of Premier, Inc., it is critical physicians learn how to improve performance and avoid payment penalties under MACRA. This will entail “developing more complex governance models, adjusting to more data sharing across the care continuum and more performance measurement,” according to Ms. DeVore. Physician practices will also need to conduct financial planning to choose payment models that best fit their current performance and organize themselves to take advantage of their payment model choice.

Preparing and complying with MACRA will be a difficult and expensive task, which may cause an uptick in physicians joining or affiliating with health systems. MACRA may also cause an increase in early retirements among physicians who are opposed to the changes.

2. Rising prescription drug prices. Spending growth on prescription drugs has emerged as a primary concern for healthcare providers and consumers alike as growth rates continue to surge. Overall drug prices jumped an alarming 12.2 percent last year, which marked the highest rate of increase in more than 10 years. Prescription drug spending represented 9.8 percent of overall health spending in 2014 and is projected to hit 10.1 percent in 2015 and 10.4 percent by 2024, according to a report by the Peterson Center on Healthcare and the Kaiser Family Foundation.