Quit Wasting My Healthcare

Hospital Support for Reform

Kaiser had a good interview with Chip Kahn, the president of a major for-profit U.S. hospital federation.  http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Checking-In-With/Checking-in-Chip-Kahn.aspx  Chip has balanced comments even about the possible success (or lack there of) of a Mayo type healthcare model.  It is clear from Chip’s point of view that hospitals support reform as long as they don’t get stuck with Medicare rates that fail to cover hospital costs and that access to care / insurance improves for millions of Americans.  When access to care / insurance improves, hospital volumes and reimbursements increase.  

The problem is that this dynamic does not necessarily lend itself to “bending the cost curve”.   Clearly, more access to care with better insurance for a population that is an underutilizer of care right now will lead to increased national healthcare expenditure.  Over the long term, better care should divert more intensive procedures / costs but as we discussed in a different blog the net effect of more care now vs less care in the future does not necessarily result in cost savings even if it acheives a societal good.

Having worked closely with well intentioned hospitals and doctors for many years, I strongly believe that reimbursement rates should support the scope and value of care that is provided.  Our goal at Compass is to empower patients to better define their personal values for providers so providers know where they need to compete and become more efficient.   Consumer involvement is often dependent on having choices and a financial stake in the process.  This is why I believe that reform can be successful from a cost perspective in many forms as long as it creates avenues to control costs by promoting the role of the consumer in the healthcare decision-making process.