Comments on: Regional Payment And Delivery Reforms: Critical To Obama Plan’s Success

By: Headline Commentary Sept 8-Sept 13 | Health Content Advisors

Headline Commentary Sept 8-Sept 13 | Health Content Advisors — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 20:22:50 +0000

[...] » Regional payment reforms critical to health reform (Health Affairs) [...]

By: kfeinstein

kfeinstein — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 15:12:02 +0000

Universal or nearly universal coverage won’t be sustainable without corresponding improvements in quality, safety and efficiency. As Harold Miller points out, regional collaboratives like the Institute for Clinical Systems Improvement (ICSI) in Minneapolis and the Pittsburgh Regional Health Initiative (PRHI) have shown the power of bringing together all stakeholders – physicians, patients, hospitals, insurers, and employers – to work toward quality and safety improvements. Ten years ago, PRHI sponsored a collaboration among more than 30 area hospitals that achieved a 68% reduction in central line-associated bloodstream infections. A series of parallel projects have followed, including: additional nosocomial infections, pathology errors, medication reconciliation, patient falls, integration of substance use and mental health screening in primary care, and preventing of recurring hospital admissions for chronic illnesses. Federal government support of such regional pilot projects can accelerate the process of eliminating waste and errors, while showing how best to implement badly needed, fundamental changes in healthcare delivery and payment.

By: RobertBurney

RobertBurney — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 15:27:14 +0000

Bingo! . . . But . . . You make the right diagnosis but prescribe the wrong treatment. Remember, the biggest problem with U.S. healthcare today is that it costs too much. We don’t need more things for Medicare to pay for. Hospitals need to devise their own solutions within their own budgets to prevent readmissions, because it’s financially advantageous for them to do so. Regional Collaboratives are unlikely to devise ways to reduce their own revenues. Prevention is a good idea but has never been shown to reduce costs–particularly in the short run. We need to reduce the costs of individual healthcare services, and that is best done by competition. If you want a Total Hip Replacement, you have to go where Medicare has awarded the contract for that procedure.

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Twitted by lsaldanamd — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 00:45:28 +0000

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By: kentbottles

kentbottles — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 22:06:59 +0000

Harold Miller makes some excellent points in this blog piece. No matter what is in the final version of federal health care reform that gets passed there will be a need to figure out how to implement regionally. Regional collaboratives like the Institute for Clinical Systems Improvement (ICSI) in Minneapolis have a track record of bringing doctors, hospitals, patients, and health plans together to figure out ways to decrease per capita cost and increase quality. For example, DIAMOND which is a way to treat depression in primary care and High Tech Diagnostic Imaging which is a way to decrease unnecessary imaging both have been implemented by ICSI and both have explored novel applications of payment reform. There is much that Washington, DC can learn from successful pilot projects out here in the Heartland.

By: Twitted by norskedoc

Twitted by norskedoc — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 21:57:39 +0000

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Tweets that mention Health Affairs Blog -- Topsy.com — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 21:09:44 +0000

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