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March 01, 2011 11:00 PM

Berwick urges emphasis on quality

Jessica Zigmond
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    To help achieve what he called “systemic change” in healthcare, CMS Administrator Dr. Donald Berwick said hospital trustees and C-suite leaders should make quality a strategy and consider it when they think about their budgets.

    “We built in fragments, so we pay in fragments,” Berwick told attendees Wednesday at the National Journal's health policy summit on the effect of healthcare-associated infections on costs and quality. “So we're not really paying for what we want: outcomes.”

    In his interview with moderator Marilyn Werber Serafini of the Kaiser Family Foundation, Berwick discussed how America built its healthcare system in fragmented pieces—focusing on hospitals, physicians, nurses and other disciplines—and how that system no longer works as healthcare has evolved. The solution, he said, is quality.

    Citing a recent success in the quality arena, Berwick mentioned the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's report that said rates of central line infections among intensive-care unit patients fell 58% to 18,000 in 2009 from 43,000 in 2001, which the CDC said has saved some 27,000 lives and about $1.8 billion in excess healthcare costs.

    Berwick also described steps CMS has taken, and will take, to improve quality, such as rolling out the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation; making improvements to the agency's Hospital Compare website; and changing payments to reward quality and penalize high re-admissions and HAIs.

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        • Northeast
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    • Blogs
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      • From the Editor
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        • Nominate/Eligibility
        • 100 Most Influential People
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        • Best Places to Work in Healthcare
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        • Diversity in Healthcare
          • - Luminaries
          • - Top 25 Diversity Leaders
          • - Leaders to Watch
        • Women Leaders
      • Conferences
        • Digital Health Transformation Summit
        • Leadership Symposium
        • Social Determinants of Health Symposium
        • Women Leaders in Healthcare Conference
      • Galas
        • Best Places to Work Awards Gala
        • Health Care Hall of Fame Gala
        • Top 25 Diversity Leaders Gala
        • Top 25 Women Leaders Gala
      • Virtual Briefings
        • - Looking Ahead to 2024
        • - AI and Digital Health
        • - Hospital of the Future (Fall)
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      • Sponsored Podcast - Healthcare Insider
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      • Sponsored Video Series - Checking In with Dan Peres
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