Healthcare’s push to boost quality and curb costs by publicly reporting on price and performance may be critical to reform efforts, but patients probably have little use for what’s currently available, a new Commonwealth Fund/Modern Healthcare survey finds.
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Handing consumers hospital chargemasters to help them “shop” for the best deal is about as useful as handing them a scalpel and telling them to perform their own bypass surgery. Yet, the state of California in 2003 enacted a law requiring all hospitals to make their chargemasters publicly available. Numerous states have followed suit in one manner or another by requiring hospitals to disclose charges for common procedures. These well-intentioned but misguided attempts at cost transparency strike me as efforts to show the public that policymakers are doing something—anything—to address rapidly...
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Broad agreement that clinical performance measures should be publicly released marks a major transformation in the U.S. healthcare system. Several trends have combined to create this historic change. Increasing cost pressures and compelling data documenting shortfalls in quality and efficiency have laid the groundwork for two powerful forces to coalesce: collaboration between private- and public-sector purchasers and the injection of consumerism into the healthcare sector. Employers and the CMS are convinced that publicizing quality and price information would engage consumers, accelerate...
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Rapidly adopting information technology is the most effective cure for costly and harmful medical errors, say healthcare industry leaders and policy experts, who call for the federal government to lead the way in paying for it.
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For too long, U.S. healthcare has operated on the basis of payment simply for services provided. Health plans and providers usually were immune from consumer questions about safety and quality of care. But it’s time to transform the American healthcare system from curative to preventive—one that delivers safe and effective care to all Americans and rewards innovation in how it’s accomplished.
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Almost a decade ago, I co-chaired the Presidential Advisory Commission on Consumer Protection and Quality in the Health Care Industry. We concluded that the president should lead the nation in accepting a unifying statement of purpose for the healthcare system. We suggested: “The purpose of the healthcare system must be to continuously reduce the impact and burden of illness, injury and disability, and to improve the health and functioning of the people of the United States.”
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Healthcare experts and executives surveyed by the Commonwealth Fund and Modern Healthcare overwhelmingly support expanding the popular State Children’s Health Insurance Program, a stand in stark contrast to the Bush administration’s strong push to limit the program’s growth and spending.
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Every American should have access to basic health insurance at an affordable price, especially children. To that end, the Bush administration has supported efforts to extend health insurance to children through the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. Some 2 million low-income children have been added to the program in the past six years.But now some members of Congress want to expand SCHIP well beyond the low-income children it was designed to serve. Some members even desire a single, government-run health system, and SCHIP is their vehicle for getting there.
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As governor of New York, one of my highest priorities is ensuring that every child has health insurance. Access to quality healthcare is critical for children to grow up healthy and be able to learn. My plan to cover the 400,000 uninsured children in New York builds on the State Children’s Health Insurance Program just as that critical program is about to celebrate its 10-year anniversary.
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With this report, Modern Healthcare joins the Commonwealth Fund in an expanded version of the fund’s ongoing Healthcare Opinion Leaders Survey. This online poll is designed to highlight perspectives on the most timely health policy issues from a panel of the nation’s leading hospital systems, physician and health plan executives, as well as policymakers and healthcare purchasers.
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Most of the healthcare opinion leaders who responded to the Commonwealth Fund/Modern Healthcare survey agreed that Congress should target the uninsured as a top priority in the next five years, but some are doubtful that the issue will get much traction on Capitol Hill in the near term.
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In the 110th Congress, new leadership will bring new priorities. However, we have to be realistic: President Bush will continue to occupy the White House for two more years. Instead of working toward quality healthcare for everyone, President Bush wants to dismantle the parts of our healthcare system that work—Medicare, Medicaid and the coverage that most of us receive through our jobs. We can’t expect too much from a president who ignores the overwhelming majority of Americans who support life-saving stem-cell therapy.
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As we prepare for the 110th Congress, healthcare reforms undoubtedly will continue to dominate the agenda of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. Following two years of milestone achievements in healthcare policy, I am confident that the committee and the Senate as a whole will continue their aggressive work to respond to the healthcare priorities facing most Americans.
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