Transparency in healthcare, pay-for-performance (P4P) and healthcare IT are among the top ways experts say the country could overhaul its healthcare system to not only improve care, but also reduce costs.
At a Senate Finance Committee hearing Tuesday, providers and experts from the private sector urged the federal government to take the lead on reform.
Peter V. Lee, executive director of the National Health Policy at the Pacific Business Group on Health said the federal government needs to promote markets, "both directly as a purchaser and by supporting the information every American needs to get better care."
Lee said the government should create comparative performance information not just for providers, but for treatments that will be used in payment and incentives.
The government should also rebalance Medicare payments to reward care coordination, and establish a new payment review process under the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services that is physician-informed and patient-centered, Lee said.
Samuel R. Nussbaum, MD, executive vice president of clinical health policy and chief medical officer at WellPoint, Inc., said this type of healthcare reform will call for widespread adoption of healthcare IT and e-prescribing.
"To change the system, we have to change how we measure and reimburse providers," Nussbaum said. He urged pay-for-performance programs that assess physicians and hospitals on evidence-based quality indicators and reward them for better health outcomes, patient safety, and member satisfaction.
Greg Schoen, MD, regional medical director of Fairview Northland Medical Center in Princeton, Minn., a rural 54-bed regional hospital and clinic, also backed pay-for-performance. Fairview participated in the CMS/Premier Hospital Quality Incentive Demonstration project with drastic improvements in its performance.
"We believe that aligning financial incentives is the right approach to pushing quality to a higher level," Schoen said. "By creating a positive incentive to improve quality, pay-for-performance is an engine for improvement and can be a framework for fundamental transformation."
Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee said he would hold two more healthcare reform hearings this year.
With healthcare spending outpacing the overall economy and inflation, "we simply cannot afford to continue paying for inappropriate or inadequate medical care," he said.