Hospital CEOs offer 10 steps to high-value, cost-effective care

As lawmakers continue to try new ways to bend the healthcare cost curve, one group of hospital CEOs is putting part of the cost containment burden on its peers. Healthcare costs are at a tipping point. According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, healthcare costs have grown faster than the rest of the U.S. economy, for 32 of the past 40 years. Lawmakers in Massachusetts, where healthcare coverage has been mandated since 2006, passed cost-control legislation that will prevent healthcare costs from rising above the average gross state product. The authors of a discussion paper titled “A CEO Checklist for High-Value Health Care” believe that healthcare providers can do a better job of delivering high-value care at a lower price. The 10 items on their checklist address high-level concepts such as foundational elements, infrastructure fundamentals, and care delivery priorities. The items are not simply tasks that can be checked off, but rather elements that “must become core component of an organization’s DNA”. Included in the discussion paper are several case studies of other healthcare organizations that have adopted the checklist’s principles and achieved positive outcomes. However, the authors also acknowledge that system-wide changes need to be made to healthcare payment models to remove barriers that create disincentives to adopting some of the checklist strategies. In particular, payment models that reward providers for high-quality care and not high-volume, will encourage institutions to adopt more efficient strategies. Take a few minutes to read through the discussion paper, especially the case studies. It’s an inspiring read.