3 Lessons Learned from The Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation
An engaging HLTH VRTL 2020 session with former and current directors of The Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation made me question the old trope that the government is slow-moving and resistant to change. In fact, there’s a lot for the private sector to learn from the Center about how to drive large-scale change across the healthcare system. Here are three ideas that stood out.
Lesson #1: What you pay for is what you will get. Each of the panel speakers reiterated that the Center’s mission is to move healthcare reimbursement away from volume and towards value. According to Adam Boehler, the second director of CMMI, everything we don’t like in healthcare starts with how we pay. For example, if we pay for facility-based care, that is what we will get, even when it’s not the best place for care to be delivered. By aligning incentives to be value-focused, we can drive towards better quality care.
Lesson #2: To create transformation, make permanent change. Here’s an example of how this can happen. The Center tested a diabetes management program with bundled payments. When it proved to be successful and was made permanent, it became part of the infrastructure of the healthcare system, paving the way for other programs like it. That’s how transformation can be achieved. The CMMI has the ability to experiment with different payment and care models to find what works – and put them in place in the long term.
Lesson #3: The healthcare issue must be bipartisan. As a government entity, CMMI is thinking about how to lower health costs across our country. As an American priority, not a party priority, this goal needs bipartisan support to avoid unnecessary roadblocks that prevent positive change. If we all stay focused on the outcome -- a better healthcare system that curbs the cost curve -- we can work together to achieve it.
My takeaway? The government is driving change to build a better healthcare system. Employers and the private healthcare system can look to CMMI for ideas, examples of success, and inspiration to accelerate the kind of impactful change that leads to transformation.
The second annual HLTH conference on innovation in healthcare took place in October, and Mercer again sponsored a series of sessions for employers. We encourage you to explore these 30-minute sessions. They begin with a short introduction from an industry CEO, followed by an interactive discussion between two to three employers.