Published by: Larry Gage on 4/20/2011 9:41:20 AM
Saturday, April 16 -- just two days after the Congress finally passed a bill funding the current fiscal year (with only five months left -- just one day after the House approved a radical budget resolution with proposals that (if enacted into law) would end Medicare and Medicaid as we know it today) -- an article and op ed piece in the print edition of the Washington Post both make far more thoughtful observations about the radical reforms our health system will require in the years to come.
Massachusetts, of course, enacted a universal coverage plan five years ago, even before Barack Obama was a serious candidate for President. The article, “Massachusetts, pioneer of universal health care, now may try new approach to costs” by Amy Goldstein, describes Gov. Deval Patrick's plan to salvage that reform by moving away from fee for service medicine to "more accountable" arrangements that pay for "integrated care."
It is perhaps too easy to suggest that the Massachusetts plan was implemented too quickly and without adequate attention to financing. State Senate President Therese Murray is quoted in the article as saying: "We did access first. Now we have to figure out how we afford that." But virtually universal coverage is now a reality in the state, and providers -- including safety net hospitals and health systems -- must work together to develop and implement the new deliver systems that will be required. (That is what NAPH's new Transformation Center is all about.)
The second piece in the Post indicates that safety net providers understand and are ready to meet the challenge. In an op ed titled, "How patients can help doctors practice better, less costly medicine," Boston Medical Center pediatrician Sean Palfrey lays out a thoughtful analysis of the changes that will be required (by doctor and patient alike) if we are ever to "succeed in reducing health care costs and providing health services to all children” (and adults for that matter) ...
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Larry S. Gage
NAPH President