Clinicians, employers, hospitals, pharmacists, consumer groups and
insurance providers coalesce around 10 key policy principles to support
a modernized, sustainable healthcare system
WASHINGTON, D.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
In a letter
to Congress and the Administration, leading healthcare organizations
today called for a renewed effort to move to value-based,
patient-centered payment models that reward improved quality and
cost-effective care. Central to this effort is addressing the perverse
incentives in the fee-for-service system, and antiquated laws and
regulations that impede innovation and care coordination.
The bipartisan journey toward value-based care began more than 15 years
ago with pay for performance, bundled payment and accountable care
organizations (ACOs). Healthcare providers, clinicians and insurers have
invested significantly in moving healthcare toward this direction.
Policy changes and payment model improvements are critical to strengthen
and expand on this movement, which is starting to generate results. For
instance, Medicare ACOs have collectively generated $1.29 billion in
savings since 2012 while improving quality.
“I am confident that the migration toward value-based care will continue
regardless of what happens over the next few months,” said the Honorable
Michael O. Leavitt, Chairman and Co-Founder, Leavitt Partners,
three-term Governor of Utah and Former U.S. Secretary of HHS. “There is
a remarkable amount of bipartisan agreement when it comes to payment and
delivery reforms, as evidenced by legislation like MACRA, and the
Republican Congress has established a clear pattern of supporting the
transition from fee-for-service to value payment.”
As policymakers debate the direction of federal healthcare policy,
signers of the letter recommended 10 principles to build momentum behind
value-based care and shift incentives away from a reactive healthcare
system to one that is centered on the patient’s health, high-quality and
cost-effective care. Supporters include the American Society of
Anesthesiologists (ASA), Healthcare Leadership Council (HLC), Health
Care Transformation Task Force (HCTTF), National Coalition on Health
Care (NCHC) and Premier Inc., as well as more than 120 co-signers
representing clinicians, employers, labor, hospitals, pharmacists,
consumer groups, biopharmaceutical companies and insurance carriers.
10 policy principles to improve the value-based
care movement:
-
Empower and engage patients to make healthcare decisions with
information and support from their healthcare team.
-
Invest in engaging patients on the development of measures on provider
performance that are relevant to them to be consistently and
transparently reported by all public and private payers.
-
Improve clinician and provider access to timely, accurate and complete
claims data to better facilitate care management.
-
Recognize that the socioeconomic status of many patients creates
challenges in providing care, and adjust payments to providers as
appropriate.
-
Design and refine payment models so that they provide a reasonable
return on investment, and support high-value services at a reduced
cost based on patient choice and competitive markets.
-
Expand the use of waivers from fee-for-service legal and regulatory
requirements that impede collaboration and shared accountability,
while preserving consumer protections and safeguards against fraud.
-
Build on and expand payment models that promote collaborative
financial and care coordination arrangements using incentives that
align payers, healthcare providers, providers of long-term care
services and clinicians.
-
Appropriately incent access to medical innovations and treatments that
hold the potential to improve quality of care and reduce overall
system cost.
-
Promote public and private investment in the transparent,
evidence-based testing and scaling of new alternative payment models
as directed in MACRA so that clinicians, other healthcare providers
and payers can learn how payment models work and evolve in the
clinical setting.
-
Ensure alignment between private and public sector programs, which is
critical to a sustainable value-based payment marketplace.
“As a purpose-driven organization, Aurora Health Care is committed
improving the health and well-being of the people and communities we
serve in eastern Wisconsin,” said Nick W. Turkal, MD, president and CEO,
Aurora Health Care. “As a participant in a Medicare ACO, we have
achieved top performance in clinical quality, while sharing in
associated cost savings with the federal government. We have also shared
the insights we have gained nationally through Premier’s population
health collaborative. We strongly believe that alternative payment
models can effectively align incentives to improve clinical quality and
reduce costs and have demonstrated this in our ACO performance.”
“Our member organizations have committed to moving 75 percent of their
business to value-based models by 2020, a move that has required a
significant investment and planning,” said Jeff Micklos, Executive
Director of the Health Care Transformation Task Force. “With so many
organizations on the cusp of meaningful, long-term change, we need clear
signals of support, and a strong commitment to move value-based care
forward – now and in the future.”
In support of the 10 principles, the sponsoring organizations are
hosting an educational briefing on value-based care today at 2:30 p.m.
EST in the Hart Senate Office Building, room 902. Moderated by Blair
Childs, senior vice president of public affairs at Premier, speakers
include Governor Leavitt; Kevin Klobucar, executive vice president of
healthcare value at Blue Cross Blue Shield Michigan; Stanley Stead, MD,
MBA, ASA vice president for Professional Affairs and CEO and founder,
Stead Health Group, Inc.; Nick W. Turkal, MD, president and CEO, Aurora
Health Care; and Bill Kramer, Executive Director, National Policy,
Pacific Business Group on Health.
“Through value-based models like the Perioperative Surgical Home, we are
better managing care before, during and after a surgical procedure,”
said Stanley Stead, MD, MBA, ASA vice president for Professional Affairs
and Founder of Stead Health Group, Inc. “As a result, we’re reducing
complications, readmissions and speeding up recovery times for patients.
This is exactly the kind of experimentation that we must continue to
invest in for the future.”
“Despite all that we’ve managed to do, healthcare is increasingly
unaffordable- for families, for businesses and for taxpayers. Even in
the relatively stable employer-sponsored insurance market, deductibles
are climbing and the average premium for a family plan has topped
$18,000 a year. If we are to have any hope of taming these increases, we
must accelerate, not slowdown, the transition from volume to value,”
said John Rother, President and CEO of the National Coalition on Health
Care.
About the American Society of Anesthesiologists
Founded in 1905, the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA®) is an
educational, research and scientific society with more than 52,000
members organized to raise and maintain the standards of the medical
practice of anesthesiology. ASA is committed to ensuring physician
anesthesiologists evaluate and supervise the medical care of patients
before, during and after surgery to provide the highest quality and
safest care every patient deserves. For more information on the field of
anesthesiology, visit the American Society of Anesthesiologists online at asahq.org.
To learn more about the role physician anesthesiologists play in
ensuring patient safety, visit asahq.org/WhenSecondsCount.
About the Healthcare Leadership Council
The Healthcare Leadership Council (HLC), a coalition of chief executives
from all disciplines within American healthcare, is the exclusive forum
for the nation’s healthcare leaders to jointly develop policies, plans
and programs to achieve their vision of a 21st century system that makes
affordable, high-quality care accessible to all Americans. Members of
HLC – hospitals, health plans, pharmaceutical companies, medical device
manufacturers, biotech firms, health product distributors, pharmacies,
post-acute care providers and academic health centers – envision a
quality-driven system that fosters innovation. HLC members advocate
measures to increase the cost-effectiveness of American healthcare by
emphasizing wellness and prevention, care coordination and the use of
evidence-based medicine, while utilizing consumer choice and competition
to elevate value.
About the Health Care Transformation Task Force
Health Care Transformation Task Force is a unique industry consortium of
patients, payers, providers and purchasers working to lead a sweeping
transformation of the health care system. By aspiring to have 75 percent
of their business in value-based models by 2020, Task Force members are
committed to accelerating the transformation to value in health care by
producing policy recommendations, best practices and tool kits. To learn
more, visit www.hcttf.org.
About the National Coalition on Health Care
The National
Coalition on Health Care (NCHC), the oldest and most diverse group
working to achieve comprehensive health system reform, is a 501(c)(3)
organization representing more than 80 participating organizations,
including medical societies, businesses, unions, health care providers,
faith-based associations, pension and health funds, insurers and groups
representing consumers, patients, women, minorities and persons with
disabilities. Member organizations collectively represent – as
employees, members, or congregants – over 100 million Americans.
About Premier Inc.
Premier Inc. (NASDAQ: PINC) is a leading healthcare improvement company,
uniting an alliance of approximately 3,750 U.S. hospitals and more than
130,000 other providers of care. With integrated data and analytics,
collaboratives, supply chain solutions, and advisory and other services,
Premier enables better care and outcomes at a lower cost. Premier, a
Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award recipient, plays a critical role
in the rapidly evolving healthcare industry, collaborating with members
to co-develop long-term innovations that reinvent and improve the way
care is delivered to patients nationwide. Headquartered in Charlotte,
N.C., Premier is passionate about transforming American healthcare.
Please visit Premier’s news and investor sites on www.premierinc.com;
as well as Twitter,
Facebook,
LinkedIn,
YouTube,
Instagram
and Premier’s
blog for more information about the company.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170125005798/en/
Source: Premier Inc.