The next president must exhibit strong leadership on health care reform. Polls consistently show that Americans want the president-elect to tackle this important issue. We look forward to working with President-elect Obama, the new Congress and both political parties on health care reform, which is critical to patients and to our nation’s future.
President-elect Obama’s health plan
We look forward to working with President-elect Obama to advance health care reform in America. President-elect Obama’s health care proposals align with Mayo Clinic Health Policy Center cornerstones in several ways:
Create Value
- The health care system should be centered around meeting the needs of patients and families.
- Requires full transparency on quality and costs
- Reduces wasted and increases efficiency with disease management programs for chronic conditions (diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, etc.)
- Significant emphasis on wellness: prevention, early intervention, health habits, new treatment models
- Creates systems to improve speed and accuracy of decision making
Coordinate Care
- Uses care management programs and “team care” to improve coordination and integration of care
- Significant, rapid investment in Health IT systems
- Promote patient safety by requiring reporting of preventable medical errors to prevent further occurrences
Payment Reform
- Uses disease management programs to reduce the cost of care for chronic conditions
- Aligns provider incentives to teamwork and coordination of care
Insurance for All
- Proposes a National Health Plan similar to FEHBP (federal employee plan) that guarantees eligibility, provides comprehensive benefits, affordable premiums, subsidies for those who cannot afford premiums, and portability
- Create a “National Health Insurance Exchange” (similar to Federal Reserve) to regulate basic requirements for all insurance plans (public and private) regarding the benefits, efficiency and quality. Would also develop and disseminate best practices, align reimbursement with quality and reward providers for achieving better performance and outcomes
The Mayo Clinic Health Policy Center has spent the last two years convening more than a dozen policy forums and 160 stakeholder meetings across the nation. Our goal: consensus on patient-centered health care reform.
The MCHPC recommends that the health care system be built upon four cornerstones: create value, coordinate care, reform the payment system and provide insurance for all.
Everyone will have to “give”/change in order to accomplish reform.
2 Comments
I am interested in helping in whatever way I can in regard to the Mayo Clinic’s health care reform efforts. I had a long history of involvement in early reform efforts, particularly through invelvement with the Iowa Leadership Consortium on Health Care in the 1990s. I am a former hospital CEO who began his career with Intermountain Health Care, back when clinical data was housed in a bevy of Tandem mainframes on an entire floor of LDS Hospital. Dr. Homer Warner developed that system and saw medical care for what it could be, not for the parochial, usual and customary practices it comprised thirty years ago. Dr. Warner mentored me, as a young, idealistic administrative resident and helped shape IHC into the data-driven, system improvement health organization it is today. How can I help?
Insurance for all “legal Americans” is laudable. I hope the Mayo Clinic does not espouse providing health insurance paid for by tax money to “illegal aliens.” This stance would cause an incredible amount of grief for the clinic in terms of donations and philanthropic gifting.