Angel Valladares provides research and analytic support for clients within the field of evidence-based medicine and healthcare quality measurement and improvement.
Angel has experience in quality measure feasibility and development, specifically as it relates to electronic clinical quality measures. He has experience in patient-centered outcomes research, qualitative and quantitative research, program evaluation, and the design and implementation of clinical research studies.
Prior to joining Avalere, Angel was a research assistant at the University of Michigan’s School of Nursing, designing, implementing, and managing an NIH-funded research grant that led to several peer-reviewed publications. The objective of the project was to develop an innovative virtual platform for delivering evidence-based training to clinicians in a variety of disciplines and professions. Through his training, he has harnessed skills and knowledge around population health and epidemiology, statistical and survey methods, health communications delivery, and healthcare policy analysis.
Angel received an MPH from the University of Michigan and a BS in biological science and anthropology from Florida State University.
Authored Content
On July 9, Health & Human Services (HHS) announced the formation of the Quality Summit (QS), as directed by a recent executive order aimed at improving price and quality transparency.
Over the past several years, Avalere has collaborated with the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics to establish and support the Malnutrition Quality Improvement Initiative (MQii).
CMS removes 25 existing hospital quality measures in the Proposed FY2019 Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) Rule as part of its broader effort to focus on measures that matter.
Yesterday, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a final rule that makes changes to the second year of the Quality Payment Program (QPP) for 2018. The QPP was created by the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA).
Today, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the proposed rule that makes changes to the Quality Payment Program (QPP) for 2018, the second year of the program created by the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA).
The number of CMS-approved QCDRs tied to payment grows by more than 60% in 2017.
Citing alarming statistics that show that nearly 1 of every 2 older Americans is at risk of malnutrition and that disease-associated malnutrition in older adults is estimated to cost $51.3 billion annually, a broad group of advocates laid out a roadmap for a new national effort to help millions of Americans who suffer from malnutrition or could be at risk as they grow older.
In June 2016, Avalere in collaboration with the American Society of Clinical Oncology, Cancer Support Community, Community Oncology Alliance, and Patient Advocate Foundation, and with support from Bristol-Myers Squibb, brought together a variety of healthcare stakeholders in a national Dialogue to discuss challenges and opportunities surrounding the advancement of quality in cancer care.
Earlier this year, Avalere led a work group of rheumatology, orthopedic surgery, psychiatry, sports medicine, and primary care clinicians to develop appropriate use criteria for the use of hyaluronic acid (HA) in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis (OA).
In the final episode of our podcast series for Malnutrition Awareness Week™, Avalere's Kristi Mitchell is joined by Bob Blancato to talk about the growing crisis of malnutrition care and its impact on older adults. Bob is the president of Matz, Blancato, and Associates, the national coordinator of the bipartisan 3000-member Elder Justice Coalition, and the executive director of the National Association of Nutrition and Aging Services Programs.
Avalere's Angel Valladares is joined by Dr. Ken Nepple in episode 4 of our maltnutrition podcast series discussing the implementation of eMeasures. Dr. Nepple is an associate professor in the Department of Urology at the University of Iowa Health System with great professional interest in nutrition care. He has led the MQii project at his facility as a measure testing site and participated in the hospital learning collaborative piloting the standardized toolkit.
New quality measures to address malnutrition among hospitalized older adults are now being evaluated by the National Quality Forum (NQF) for endorsement, and by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for inclusion in their Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting Program.
In epidode 3 of our maltnutrition podcast series, Avalere's Kelsey Jones is joined Dr. Karim Godamunne, Chief Medical Officer, North Fulton Hospital and member of the MQii Advisory Committee, sharing why a multi-disciplinary approach, high-quality measures, good data, and patient engagement are all needed to advance malnutrition care.
In episode 2 of our podcast series for Malnutrition Awareness WeekTM, Avalere's Michelle Bruno and Dr. Heidi Silver, research associate professor of medicine and director of the Vanderbilt Diet, Body Composition, and Human Metabolism CORE, discuss implementing a new MQii Toolkit across hospital departments at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. The MQii Toolkit provides practical, interdisciplinary tools and resources to help hospitals implement malnutrition best practices across all aspect of malnutrition care (e.g., screening, assessment, diagnosis, discharge planning).
For Malnutrition Awareness WeekTM, Avalere will be releasing a series of podcasts focused on new tools developed by the Malnutrition Quality Improvement Initiative (MQii)—a collaboration of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, Avalere Health, and other organizations dedicated to improving nutrition care. Listen to episode 1 featuring Dr. Alison Steiber, chief science officer at the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, and Dr. Beverly Hernandez, the director of clinical nutrition at Tampa General Hospital.
Avalere recently analyzed the quality measure landscape for rheumatoid arthritis.
Avalere recently analyzed the quality measure landscape for schizophrenia.
HHS released a proposed rule to MACRA which implements two pathways: Merit-Based Incentive Payment System and Advanced Alternative Payment Models. In this podcast, Avalere's Angel Valladares discusses the four performance categories.