The Institute of Medicine Committee on Geographic Variation in Health Care Spending and Promotion of High-Value Care opened its first meeting Tuesday in Washington, D.C.
The Committee has been charged by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to study geographic variation in healthcare spending and use.
Jonathan Blum, CMS deputy administrator, and Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D - Pa.) kicked off the two-day meeting with remarks about the policy and legislative context for the study. The afternoon session was highlighted by a presentation by Donald Berwick, MD, the new CMS administrator.
The Committee continues its discussion on measuring quality and care today with input from Janet Corrigan, president of the National Quality Forum, Carolyn M. Clancy, M.D., director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and Peggy O’Kane, president of the National Committee for Quality Assurance.
The purpose of the Committee is to address unnecessary variation in Medicare spending. The IOM will recommend changes to specific Medicare payment systems that would promote high-value care, especially for high-volume, high-cost conditions. The IOM is considering a value index based on measures of quality and cost that payers could use to promote high-value services by healthcare provider.