Senate majority leader Harry Reid declared yesterday there would be no vote on a health care bill until at the earliest September. As there is time now to try and get the health care bill done correctly the following are a series of questions we need to make sure legislators are able to answer: If a […]
The discussion on health care continues to be remarkably silent on the issue of creating better value.How do we know a federal insurance plan is going to provide better value to patients? Nothing in the proposed legislation ensures that it will. It is a sad fact that instead of being able to talk about true […]
This is an excellent summary of the various payment methods that are being considered by Massachusetts.With their health reform plan costing much more than they expected they have a burning platform. This summary describes why the state has decided to focus on “global payments” rather than “episode payments”. Global payments, the authors argue, are focused on […]
“We do not see the sort of fundamental changes that would be necessary to reduce the trajectory of federal health spending by a significant amount”…Douglas Elmendorf, Director of The Congressional Budget Office. CBO gets it. The proposals on the table will increase the cost of health care in the U.S. – not decrease it. If we […]
The Senate Health Committee released their version of the health reform bill on July 15th. One thing is for sure, there will be a proliferation of new agencies and a bolstering of the power of AHRQ. In other words,more centralization of quality measurement oversight, quality improvement activity, and best practices. I see this as the antithesis […]
Yesterday, the House released its 1000+ page bill regarding health reform. What’s interesting is what is not being discussed about the bill. Believe me it is a schlog to get through this bill but it is an incredibly thorough health care bill that touches on everything from insurance companies to provider reporting.Of course, the controversial components […]
A group of about a dozen state hospital associations are fighting to make sure that a value-based incentive is included in any health reform proposal. The attached statement is their attempt at defining how value should be rewarded and our comments. It seems like everyone is getting into the act to define value. This group of […]
The Lean Enterprise Institute and the ThedaCare Center for HealthCare Value have teamed up to bring lean to healthcare. Jim Womack the CEO of LEI and the author of the most important books written on lean such as “Lean Thinking” has been to Appleton three times to review the work of ThedaCare. The following video […]
Jim Womack CEO of the Lean Enterprise Institute in Cambridge, Mass. was back in Appleton on Friday, June 25. He was here because he believes this is where the true potential for health care reform lives. The Lean Enterprise Institute and the ThedaCare Center for HealthCare Value have teamed up to bring lean to healthcare. […]
LEI and the Center are excited to announce the formation of this network of high performing organizations from around North America committed to the delivery of better value to their customers. These 16 organizations have agreed to form a deep dive learning network to accelerate their journey of continuous improvement using Lean. They have committed […]
