The next WIHI broadcast — The Ups and Downs of Health Care Costs and Reform — will take place on Thursday, February 12, from 2 to 3 PM ET, and I hope you'll tune in.
Our guests will include:
- Donald M. Berwick, MD, MPP, FRCP, President Emeritus and Senior Fellow, Institute for Healthcare Improvement
- David Cutler, PhD, Otto Eckstein Professor of Applied Economics, Harvard University, Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Harvard School of Public Health
There are lots of health care issues to
speculate about in the coming year. Here in the US, the ongoing
expansion of health insurance coverage is an ambitious work in progress
that continues to face plenty of political and legal headwinds. And then
there’s the still glaring and still growing $3.9 trillion national
price tag of US health care. Some are encouraged that health spending is
slowing, but do we have any strong evidence that improvements in the
quality of care, safety, and IT, coupled with payment reforms that
increasingly tie reimbursements to quality and value, are key factors?
Fortunately, we have two individuals to turn to for their thoughts on these matters and many more. Don Berwick and David Cutler are my guests for the Feb 12, 2015, WIHI: The Ups and Downs of Health Care Costs and Reform. Each brings important improvement, policy, and economic perspectives to the table to help make sense of the current environment and what’s ahead.
Against the backdrop of the Affordable Care Act and other significant initiatives, our guests will offer their assessments of recent progress with better care and lower costs, and where efforts need to continue to yield even bigger benefits. We’ll also touch upon the following: global payments and the various payer-led financial carrots and sticks in play right now designed to improve health care delivery; the state of statewide reforms, Medicaid expansion, and community-led, population health-driven experiments; and the bright spots and storm clouds on the horizon with respect to policy makers, politicians, and the public where there are still major divides.
What are your questions for Don Berwick and David Cutler? Please join them and me on February 12. You can enroll for the broadcast here. We'd also appreciate it if you would spread the word about the show via Twitter.
Fortunately, we have two individuals to turn to for their thoughts on these matters and many more. Don Berwick and David Cutler are my guests for the Feb 12, 2015, WIHI: The Ups and Downs of Health Care Costs and Reform. Each brings important improvement, policy, and economic perspectives to the table to help make sense of the current environment and what’s ahead.
Against the backdrop of the Affordable Care Act and other significant initiatives, our guests will offer their assessments of recent progress with better care and lower costs, and where efforts need to continue to yield even bigger benefits. We’ll also touch upon the following: global payments and the various payer-led financial carrots and sticks in play right now designed to improve health care delivery; the state of statewide reforms, Medicaid expansion, and community-led, population health-driven experiments; and the bright spots and storm clouds on the horizon with respect to policy makers, politicians, and the public where there are still major divides.
What are your questions for Don Berwick and David Cutler? Please join them and me on February 12. You can enroll for the broadcast here. We'd also appreciate it if you would spread the word about the show via Twitter.
"Against the backdrop of the Affordable Care Act and other significant initiatives, our guests will offer their assessments of recent progress with better care and lower costs, and where efforts need to continue to yield even bigger benefits. "
ReplyDeleteThey have got to be kidding if they are starting with this premise. Better care and lower costs is a complete fraud. I guess if you keep,telling the lie you must believe people will start believing it, but in this case people are feeling the pain that has been inflicted on them by this mess. Even the New York Times had a piece about it the other day.
Bobby, as you know, I have great sympathy for your point of view. I don't think things have changed all that much with regard to better care or lower costs.
ReplyDeleteBut other parts of the ACA were important, like separating the availablity of health insurance from employment.
Um, I thought the primary purpose of the ACA was to cover more people.
ReplyDeletePaul,
ReplyDeleteI have argued for years that health insurance should be separate from employment, but that really hasn't happened. People are still much better off getting their insurance through their employer. If you hominy the individual market you are not eligible for FSA (a convoluted benefit that does give at least some help in paying out of pocket expenses). You are also not eligible for a MSA (something a bit better).
As I have been trying to get across for some time now, and even the NYT, not usually a critic of Obamacare, has recently had a piece on, is the higher costs and extreme red tape involved with getting health care. It seems just about everything we were told was a lie. More people may now have insurance, but less people can afford to get treatment.
If you are happy to trade having people put not a position where there have to decline care in order to have gained what you deem to be a few good changes, I am very surprised.
I have told you before that I have learned a lot from reading your blog. You have great insight, and when I was working your wisdom was of great benefit to me. I would now toss some back at you. When something that seemed like a good idea turns out not to be so when put into practice do not be afraid to say it isn't working and push to change it. It seems too many people are bogged down in the politics of this, and too many people who are telling those of us who have been burden by this mess that it is good for us don't have to deal with it themselves.
I am reminded of the line from Cool Hand Luke, "Boss, I wish you would stop being so good to me."