HLC at Health Affairs Conference: Build Health Reform on Foundation of Private Sector Innovation
At a July 17 conference hosted by the Health Affairs journal and dedicated to health reform implementation that improves care and lowers costs, Healthcare Leadership Council president Mary R. Grealy told the audience that policymakers need to base health delivery reforms “upon the successful innovations already taking place in the private sector.”
In citing several examples found in the HLC Value Compendium and Wellness Compendium, Ms. Grealy said, “I don’t believe there is any question that the private sector understands the urgency of containing costs and improving care. In the real world outside the Washington Beltway, the imperative to achieve cost-efficiency, improved outcomes and, most of all, long-term affordability and sustainability is quite prevalent.
In her remarks, Ms. Grealy also said it was critical to reform Medicare in order to get the health spending curve under control without undermining healthcare access or quality.
She said, “We need to dispense with the notion that Medicare and Medicaid are more efficient simply because they pay less for healthcare services than the private sector. A low reimbursement rate is not a synonym for efficiency. In fact, we should accept the precept that cost containment and quality improvement are interwoven goals and, if we focus solely on one, the likelihood is that we will achieve neither.”
She said reforms that gave seniors greater consumer choice in the Medicare program could drive value and quality, while measures like the Independent Payment Advisory Board will simply cut spending without regard to value.
Finally, she said that the health reform law was constructed with each health sector negotiating separate agreements with Congress, but real cost-and-quality reforms will require multi-sector collaboration.
She said, “To address costs in a way that doesn’t impair quality will require all sectors working together. Plans, providers, pharmaceutical and medical device makers – all must move forward in concert if we’re to achieve long-term system sustainability.”
