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John W. Mitchell, Senior Correspondent | February 23, 2017
“Are we going to see an eventual “flipping of the switch”? Where are we on a timeline to seeing a conversion to value-based payments? What role should the government serve?
McAdoo – Medicare has started with bundled payments [value-based for an episode of care] for total joint replacements. The commercial payers have adopted this model very quickly. Technology plays a critical role in such a model.
Brillstein - Value-based [episodes of care] is not going to be perfect in the beginning. We just have to do it and be open to change. We have to be respectful of the clinicians (physicians) and develop models that make sense for them. Our analytics partners have done amazing things with the data, it helps our physicians make the data clinically actionable.
Barr – We have an issue with physician burnout, where physicians are starting to question if they made the right decision going into medicine. One of the keys is we need to bring back the joy of practicing by using data and information systems to make them more efficient so we can look up and see the patient again. So we need a model where the data helps the physician be a better doctor. I don’t know any physician who doesn’t want to be a better doctor.
Ramadan-Jradi – To truly move a value-based system, payers have to make a big investment; the commercial side is lagging behind. I don’t think we’re ready to do that. I see a lot of tweaks and finessing, but I think a value-based system is still down the road. The uncertainty in Washington is keeping a lot of people unsure.
"If you had five minutes to spend with Tom Price, M.D., the new Secretary of Health and Human Resources, what would you tell him?"
Ramadan-Jradi – Encourage Secretary Price not to politicize the process. He is a physician and he understands how health care needs to be delivered in practices. We need tort reform. If we’re going to use best clinical practices related to utilization, we don’t want to get sued for doing so.
Barr – We need to make sure that patients are also getting the information they need from the system – they are the true consumers. Also that health care is local, what works in one place won’t work in another. Transparency of data has to get better. Agendas will be hitting him left and right. We’ve got to re-establish the culture of health care – we’ve lost our way. We’ve got to care better – where care is a verb, not a noun. We need for culture to take us down the right path.
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