Quality and Value in Health Reform

After months of debate and deliberation, Congress has passed federal health reform legislation, signed into law by President Obama. While the bill is primarily focused on health insurance coverage and changes, a few provisions related to quality and value made their way into the final legislation:

• A charge to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to establish a national strategy to improve health care service quality, the delivery of health care services, health outcomes, and the health of the overall population
• Provisions to improve coordination of care: establishment of Accountable Care Organizations, a bundled payment pilot program, and medical home grants
• Provisions to increase transparency and public reporting: funds for HHS to develop national annual priorities for quality performance improvement, strengthen and improve the federal quality measure development process for new measures, new quality reporting programs for long term care hospitals, inpatient rehabilitative facilities, hospice, and cancer hospitals
• A focus on prevention and wellness, and public and community health
• Establishing the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute to identify national priorities for comparative clinical effectiveness research

At Stratis Health, we look forward to following the legislation as it moves to implementation and rulemaking process. With our partners, we will lead and participate in the quality-focused opportunities that bring our expertise to bear.

In another federal development, Don Berwick has been nominated to serve as administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Dr. Berwick is the President of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) and a faculty member at the Harvard University Medical School and School of Public Health. Those who have had the opportunity to hear him deliver an address at the annual IHI conference, or engage with him in health care quality dialogue and debate, know what a dynamic and inspirational champion of health care quality he is. I am confident he will bring energy and leadership for quality and innovation to CMS, the largest health care purchaser in this country. I, for one, am grateful for his willingness to take on the challenge of being a public servant at a time when our country is in the midst of one of the largest health care transformations in our history.

In this issue of Quality Update, you’ll see Stratis Health’s work, and our active collaboration with many partners and stakeholders in rural health, palliative care, HIT, health care homes, and more…and how many of these efforts are interrelated and move the bar in dramatic ways to improve our health system.

Jennifer P. Lundblad, PhD, MBA

President and CEO, Stratis Health