Health Leaders Applaud HHS Efforts to Bring Greater Value to Primary Care
Regulatory Actions to Reduce Administrative Burdens on Healthcare Providers, Improve Care to High-Cost Patients Are Welcome
WASHINGTON – The Healthcare Leadership Council (HLC), comprised of top executives from all sectors of American healthcare, today expressed its support for a regulatory direction announced by Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma aimed at bringing greater value to primary care and improving outcomes in patients with complex, chronic conditions.
“We are encouraged by the administration’s continued efforts to shape a Medicare program that focuses on improving care while, at the same time, containing costs,” said HLC president Mary R. Grealy. “We applaud efforts to make the antiquated fee-for-service model a part of healthcare’s past while ushering in a future that focuses on value, and putting the patient at the center, rather than volume of services.”
Ms. Grealy’s comments came following a press conference today in which Secretary Azar and Administrator Verma announced a new set of primary care payment models developed by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation aimed at reducing overall costs and allowing primary care providers to spend more time caring for patients.
“One of the most encouraging aspects of the announcement today is the emphasis on the patients who account for the greatest proportion of healthcare costs, those with serious illnesses and multiple chronic conditions,” said Ms. Grealy. “We strongly support the continued movement toward coordinated care for this patient population and the new payment models’ incentives for providers to treat these high-need patients.”
She said, “Today’s announcement also underscores the importance of having a Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, to have a testing ground in which new patient-centered models can be evaluated, advanced, and bring substantive improvement to patient care.”
