As a response to mounting healthcare costs and concerns about the quality of the care those dollars are buying, payers increasingly are exploring ways to bend the cost curve and improve quality to yield greater value. For healthcare delivery organizations in this environment, strategic alignment with clinicians has never been…
Our healthcare system today is broken in large part because of how we pay for it. Our fee-for-service legacy gives providers an incentive to deliver as many exams, tests, and treatments and fill as many beds as possible. But as we know, piling on services does not equate to high-quality…
The spiraling costs of healthcare in the U.S. have precipitated a tangible backlash — as demonstrated by the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in 2010 — that suggests that demands for better care at lower cost are not simply going to go away. In light of…
Imagine the following case… The executive team is meeting to decide which cost reduction projects to fund. Each has a supporting “business case”, but everyone knows the numbers are soft. Comparing financial impact across projects is difficult, and debates about assumptions and scenarios to test lead to months spent on…
The U.S. healthcare industry is currently undergoing what will ultimately be a radical transformation, driven by unsustainable cost increases, increased regulation, and shifting power relationships among payers, providers, physicians, and patients. We have reached the point where all four of these key constituent groups have significant economic concerns — providers…
As the national debate continues over spending, deficits, taxes and the fiscal direction of he country, one point of general agreement is that fundamental change to the American healthcare system is needed: healthcare costs must be brought under control. As hospitals grapple with ways to adapt, physician leaders have a critical…
