Report sets framework for payment reform

A new report from the Network for Regional Healthcare Improvement outlines alternative health care payment systems that the organization hopes will “solve the problems without placing the kinds of restrictions on doctors and patients that doomed many managed care initiatives a decade ago” (Source: “Better Ways to Pay for Health Care: A Primer on Healthcare Payment Reform,” January, 2009).

“While well intended, there is a growing recognition that most current pay-for-performance initiatives won’t by themselves solve the fundamental problems and disincentives that are built into the underlying payment systems,” the report concludes. “Moreover, pay-for-performance systems may unintentionally result in an overly narrow focus on the specific processes being rewarded, potentially causing providers to lose sight of the true goal—improving patient outcomes.”

The report is the second in a planned series based on the NRHI's Robert Wood Johnson-funded "From Volume to Value" payment reform initiative. The first report was an executive summary of recommendations from the 2008 NRHI Payment Reform Summit.

In Ohio, payment reform was a primary consideration at Ohio Health Quality Improvement Summit. Organizers of the Summit agreed that improving the health care payment system was a “cross cutting” concept that affected work in all four of the Summit’s focus areas (chronic care management, patient safety, health promotion/disease prevention and efficiency and cost improvement).