by Shannon Strickler on Monday, May 11, 2009
1
The American Hospital Association, along with other health care industry leaders, presented President Obama with a voluntary cost-curbing plan this morning. In a letter, the groups committed to work together as stakeholders to help achieve the administration’s goal of reducing health care costs by 1.5 percentage points over 10 years – saving $2 trillion or more.
The groups will focus on curbing cost increases through consensus proposals that:
- Make administrative simplifications across all sectors of the health care system.
- Reduce excessive utilization and under-use of health care by aligning quality and efficiency incentives.
- Encourage coordinated care and evidence-based practices.
- Reduce of the cost of doing business through delivery model improvements and information technology.
Many news reports today incorrectly reported that the plan promised to curb the growth rate of health care spending by 1.5 percentage points each year for 10 years. But the letter clearly stated:
“As restructuring takes hold and the population’s health improves over the coming decade, we (hospitals, physicians, other health care workers, payers, suppliers, manufacturers and organized labor) will do our part to achieve your Administration’s goal of decreasing by 1.5 percentage points the annual health care spending growth rate — saving $2 trillion or more.”
IHA has long supported health care reform efforts that incent value by aligning quality and efficiency measures. Confirmed by the 2008 Dartmouth Atlas Project, IHA maintains that Iowa’s care delivery system should be a model for the nation of how to provide high quality care at a low cost.
A complete overview of IHA’s position on value-based purchasing is available for download.
Senior citizens are taking the hit that no one talks about during the recession. Senior citizens, as their numbers increase exponentially, are increasingly taking to short term loans to keep afloat. As more people are laid off, there is less tax revenue coming in, and that is how Social Security and Medicare are funded. The Medicare expense out of every paycheck goes to the Medicare fund, and part of the Medicare woe is that not only is the fund running out faster than it can be replenished, but health care costs are going up. Medicare will be bankrupt in 8 years or less, which means we need debt relief to be able to care for our senior citizens.