Political Theater?

Our politicians were cordial with each other and the Thursday summit was civil.But did it do anything to change fundamental flaws of the original discussions on health reform? The answer is a resounding no!  Neither the democrats or the republicans are talking about the fundamental components that will  improve our dysfunctional and under performing health care delivery system. As I have written and blogged for the last year the debate is fundamentally flawed and continues to be.

Unless we get serious about changing the way we deliver health care and the way we pay for care in this country, costs will only continue to escalate exponentially.

There was no serious talk about that on Thursday. At the end of the discussion incentives were brought up as a potential important concern but that was about it. No talk of re-designing care delivery, transparency of performance, or changing Medicare to reward health care value.

The following  three fundamental principles are required for any health reform to be successful:

1. Mandate that each state establish consumer reports for health care cost and quality. It must report measures that are meaningful for patients such as medication errors and infection rates. Allow existing  regional public reporting collaboratives to publicly report the data such as the Wisconsin Collaborative for Health Care Quality for this state.

2. Change government payment processes to reward better quality and lower cost. Medicare and any other public plans should be in the business of stimulating competition among providers to achieve what The Health Care Value Leaders Network members have achieved using the lean methodology. That competition needs to be based on who treats the patient condition best in terms of cost and quality.

3. Any new insurance plan should be paid for by taking cost out of the existing health system and it should be administered at the state level. The federal role is to assure all state residents are covered and quality performance is met but administration should be local like is already happening in so many states in the U.S.

These recommendations are based on years of experience working with many providers and insurance companies.