Mayo Clinic applauds Senators Amy Klobuchar (MN), Maria Cantwell (WA) and 26 other Senators for urging President Obama to realign Medicare spending in order to provide greater value to patients and lower costs.
In a letter to the President, the bipartisan group focuses on the many benefits of instituting payment models in Medicare that would reward health care providers for the quality of care they deliver, not the quantity of services they provide.
In the letter, the 28 Senators, representing more than one quarter of the entire Senate, point out that “the current Medicare payment structure penalizes those who proivde efficient care, while rewarding those who order unnecessary tests and services. To incentivize more efficient health care practices, Medicare needs to incorporate a payment system that factors in the quality of care provided relative to its cost. This new payment methodology needs to reward providers who achieve good quality outcomes at a low cost. Such a change is critical to reining in costs and improving patient outcomes.”
