Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Out of the mouths of executives
They weren't the "futurists" who have been popular features of conferences lately, but I'd still put some faith in the predictions offered by the speakers I heard this morning. An MGMA panel included Toby Cosgrove, MD, Gary Kaplan, MD, and William Wright, MD, chief executives at the Cleveland Clinic, Virginia Mason and Permanente Colorado, respectively.
They had a lot of miscellaneous information to offer (strategies for improving quality, maintaining employee satisfaction, etc.) but I found a couple of points on health reform particularly interesting.
All three have electronic medical record systems, and while they think that the technology will have beneficial impact on quality, they say the government's focus on EMRs as cost savers is misguided. "I do not think we've saved a penny so far and we've shucked out hundreds of millions," said Dr. Cosgrove. Dr. Wright also made the point that EMRs will make no difference in quality, either, unless they're used to improve other aspects of care.
So how will health care reform manage to save money? Bundled payments. All of the execs think that bundled payments for episodes of care and outcomes are coming and that they will have a major impact on the way money is distributed within health care. Dr. Kaplan thinks they'll even create downward pressure on proceduralists, when various specialties have to divide the pot. They're so certain about the impending changes that one of the docs described physician-owned hospitals as an effort "to take the gains for the few remaining years left."
Another prediction that might displease physicians was the experts' certainty that minute clinics are here to stay. They advised providers to either embrace the trend or partner with it (Cleveland has a partnership with CVS).
Labels: health care reform, MGMA conference
posted by Stacey Butterfield at
12:53 PM
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