Editor's Note: We realize that Conway is an Obama appointee with a vested interest in shining a positive light on the work of CMS. Bias noted. That being said, improving health care value means making things better for patients, something we can all get behind.
The View From (near) The Top
1 in 3 healthcare dollars is paid for by Health and Human Services, making them the largest payer in the United States. Under the previous administration, Former Secretary Sylvia Burwell outlined a three-part vision to move health care forward:
- Realigning incentives to pay for better care
- Developing care models that emphasize coordination and prevention
- Leveraging electronic health records
In an article for the NEJM Catalyst, “Progress and Path Forward on Delivery System Reform,” Patrick Conway asserts that “Much of the work to date has been based on empiricism: developing models, learning what works, and scaling successes,” and that these nonpartisan goals will continue under the new administration.
It made us think of Dr. Chris Pelt’s comment that improving value is doing what’s better for patients. He said “Improving value is not just about saving money for CMS or the financial return to the organization. It’s about my ability to tell a patient, ‘What is most important is that by going home you are at a lower risk for infection, complication, readmission or reoperation.’”
Mari Ransco
Chrissy Daniels
Intensive Outpatient Clinic Physician Stacey Bank, Social Worker Christina Cackler, and Executive Medical Director of Population Health Peter Weir share what it took to build an integrated practice and why it pays to innovate for patient-centered care.
Patients will ask three things of us over the next decade of health care improvement: help me live my best life, make being a patient easier, and make care affordable. To meet those needs health care must shift—from organizing around a patient’s biology to understanding the patient’s biography.
Sometimes the most impactful change comes from simply asking, “Why are we doing things this way?” Pediatric infectious disease professor Adam Hersh explains the impact of practice inertia on antibiotic treatment in pediatric patients, and how questioning the status quo improved outcomes and reduced cost.
