Healthcare reform requires a patient-centric model
Healthcare reform means moving from a provider-centric to a patient-centric model of care, said Jamie Orlikoff, president of the Chicago-based consulting firm Orlikoff & Associates, to an audience at the Association for Healthcare Resource & Materials Management (AHRMM) conference in Boston on Tuesday.
In his speech, “Healthcare Reform: Drivers and Implications,” Orlikoff said the Affordable Care Act will force the United States to move from a healthcare system that rewards volume to one that rewards value.
“We have to move away from fee-for-service,” said Orlikoff. “The focus will now be on value, efficiency and safety. Put another way – it’s about the patient.”
Every president since Teddy Roosevelt has tried to push through healthcare reform. Why has the idea gained traction now? Orlikoff said reform was not adopted previously because the nation “did not have a sense of need for an immediate change. Now we know that we have run out of runway. We are at the point where we can no longer spend as much money on healthcare.”
With the nation’s current need for belt tightening, the healthcare system has to be analyzed. “We cannot not look at healthcare,” said Orlikoff. He cited two figures as examples: 30 percent of all healthcare spending in the United States adds no clinical value and 4.4 million hospital admissions per year are medically unnecessary.
Orlikoff also said that care defects account for 40 percent of care because the system rewards hospitals and doctors financially for injuring patients. “We have to figure out a way to remove defects and take out medically unnecessary procedures,” Orlikoff said.
As healthcare reform starts to take shape, Orlikoff recommends ignoring the “O” in ACOs. “We need to standardize care, utilize electronic records and integrate with physicians,” he said. “But, don’t pay attention to the O. We don't know what the organizations will look like yet.”
“If we focus on the money and not on value, we will all lose,” Orlikoff said. “We have to always be asking ‘what is good for the patient?’”
