Healthcare industry leaders to unveil broad plan to cut costs

The nation’s largest hospital, physician and insurance trade groups have pledged to voluntarily adopt measures that aim to lower overall healthcare costs by roughly $2 trillion over the next decade.

Representatives from the American Hospital Association, the American Medical Association, America’s Health Insurance Plans, the Service Employee International Union and others are set to meet with President Barack Obama on Monday to publicly seal their support for healthcare reform, one crafted between the group’s members in private but which closely mirror federal plans now on the table.

A senior White House official, who spoke on background because details of the plan have not yet been made public, said “this step has massive consequences. When we talk about bending the curve on cost growth, this is exactly what’s needed.”

At the outset, the savings would come as providers adopt new, “bundled” payments for services, coupled with shifts toward more coordinated care.

The moves would also come first from the private payer side, though plans to do the same within the Medicare program are a major part of the president’s proposal to reshape the U.S. healthcare sector this year.

The group has wagered that by making care more streamlined and efficient, it could greatly cut into how much is spent each year on healthcare. Early projections show that five years out, a family of four should see a $2,400 reduction in annual healthcare costs, and 10 years from now, overall national healthcare expenditures could be reduced by 3%.

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