Survey finds health care opinion leaders see need for fundamental change to health care system

The Commonwealth Fund and Modren Health Care magazine released their 14th annual survey of health care opinion leaders (Source: "Health Care Opinion Leaders' Views on Health Care Delivery System Reform," The Commonwealth Fund, April 2008).  This year's survey includes responses from 211 individuals.

One survey question asked about the amount of change needed to achieve signficant gains in quality and efficiency care.  Among the respondents, 89 percent called for fundamental change and 8 percent for modest reform, while no one responded that no changes are needed.

Another question asked about how important five different policy options are to improving health care delivery.  Strengthening the primary care system and encouraging care coordination were both rated as important or very important by 90 percent of the respondents.  The rating of the other three policy options as important or very important was 88 percent for promoting care mangement for high cost/complex patients, 82 percent for integration of providers and organizatinos, and 67 percent for promoting health information exchange.  Eighty (80) percent of the responded agreed that government funding support for health information technology infrastructure development is a high or very high priority.

The survey also found strong support for payment reform.  For instance, 84 percent of respondents gave strong or very strong rating for providing supplemental payments to primary care providers and for incentives to avoid uncessary hospitalizations and rehospitalizations.  In addition, 71 percent favored giving additional payments to certified medical homes.