As I have stressed in my book Potent Medicine and in other articles I have authored payment reform is one of three critical factors required to transform health care. In this issue of Health Affairs, there are several opinion pieces describing what we need to do next. This includes getting capitation right. In the article by […]
https://createvalue.org/blog/health-affairs-outlines-key-payment-and-delivery-reform-issues/
I was asked by the I.O.M. to review this extensive document. For the most part I think they got it right. There are some weaknesses in this review and, although the final document is not actually released, I have a couple of concerns. First, there is too much emphasis on technology as the answer to the […]
https://createvalue.org/blog/institute-of-medicine-releases-better-care-at-lower-cost/
With 10,000 hospitals the largest of which has 6500 beds, China healthcare is like everything else in the massive country. The scale is unfathomable. But as I have found visiting 11 countries over the last five years, the problems are exactly the same in China as everywhere else: the costs are sky rocketing, the quality […]
https://createvalue.org/blog/china-is-moving-toward-lean-healthcare/
See what happened when the department of radiology at Akron Children’s Hospital embarked on a Lean Six Sigma mission as part of a hospital wide initiative to show increased customer satisfaction, reduce employee dissatisfaction and frustration, and decrease costs. To read the article, click here –Radiology Management Article on Lean Six Sigma in Radiology by […]
https://createvalue.org/articles_and_news/a-lean-six-sigma-journey-in-radiology/
Hospitals and doctors still get paid based on the sickness care model. It should be no surprise why 30 day readmission rates for common clinical conditions haven’t changed over a three year period: Hospitals get paid to readmit patients not to keep them out of the hospital. Even though penalties are about to be applied […]
https://createvalue.org/blog/why-are-30-day-readmissions-not-going-down/
The Center’s three-pronged strategy for true health reform relies on two parts of the bill that are most important — payment reform and the release of Medicare data with public reporting. We believe the experiments established by CMMI to test bundled payments, comprehensive primary care payments and the Pioneer ACO program, which moves to global […]
https://createvalue.org/blog/the-supreme-court-upholds-healthcare-reform-law/
AHRQ releases it’s state health rankings once a year. Wisconsin and Minnesota have been competing at the top for years and this year Minnesota won out in a close race. There are many good things happening in both of these states including transparency initiatives, lean healthcare, and major payment reform initiatives. Those that argue these […]
https://createvalue.org/blog/wisconsin-no-2-in-ahrq-health-rankings/
Beth Israel Deaconess has been working on lean for a number of years. They are redesigning care to focus on reducing hospital readmissions. Using lean tools such as value stream mapping and kaizen improvement teams they are identifying waste in the inpatient care delivery process and removing it. They have mapped each step in the […]
https://createvalue.org/blog/beth-israel-recipient-of-cms-innovators-grant/
As if we needed another reminder that change is necessary. This well crafted article http://www.jsonline.com/business/health-care-costs-for-family-of-four-to-top-20000-d95e6f2-151550145.html by Guy Bolton explains what is happening to families as health care costs continue to spiral out of control. In my new book Potent Medicine https://www.createvalue.org/delivery/books-media/new-potent-medicine I describe the fundamental factors contributing to this cost crisis and what is working to fix the problem. From […]
https://createvalue.org/blog/health-insurance-premiums-up-70-since-2005/
I’m hoping many of you have already heard the news about my latest book, Potent Medicine: The Collaborative Cure for Healthcare. It launched earlier this month, and if you haven’t had a chance to check it out yet, jump over to our Books & Media page. The Kindle version will be available in May. I’m particularly excited about […]
https://createvalue.org/blog/the-power-of-potent-medicine/