Hell no.
Whether prices actually come down is debatable, and another solution to that may still have to be created, but right now the health care industry is being forced to move off their asses and help change for the better.
The new federal health care law is bringing additional demands by insurance companies that doctors and hospitals be held to higher quality standards. While insurance companies say quality is what gets the name of a doctor or hospital on its preferred choices list, cost is also a major factor. A doctor who manages his patient's medical care better and keeps costs low, for example, would be more apt to make the list. Insurers argue that higher-quality medical care at a lower cost is attainable.
And insurers are beginning to respond to consumers' hunger for information on medical care providers. Insurers increasingly will provide doctors and hospitals enhanced payments if they meet certain quality measures. Medical care providers "will be paid less and less on volume and more on value," Ho said.
Doctors and hospitals are finding ways to embrace the changing landscape.
At NorthShore University HealthSystem in Chicago's suburbs, Dr. Kenneth Anderson is setting goals for its hospitals' doctors and nurses to use fewer urinary catheters, which often are unnecessarily and account for about two in five hospital infections nationally."Better patient care of highest value, attention to measures of quality and use of technology to more completely deploy best practices are pivotal for success in the proposed new environment created by U.S. health care reform," said Anderson, who became NorthShore University HealthSystem's first chief medical quality officer two years ago.
"By predictably improving quality, we can drive higher-value health care services,
which are of benefit to patients."
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