Evanger: The Future of Health Care - Rewarding Results
The Supreme Court has rendered its opinionand now we’re going to have around 30 million more consumers entering a health care system that is already broken… and broke.
What should be done? In a word: outcomes.
How many businesses do you know that get paid regardless of the level of service or results that they deliver? Would you pay someone after mowing your lawn even if the grass wasn’t actually cut?
Probably not.
Unfortunately, this characterizes our current health care system in the United States.
We have been operating in a fee-for-service environment for years and the costs have spiraled out of control. There is no accountability in the system. Caregivers have an incentive to gen up more treatments, examinations, admissions and diagnoses so they can bill for more services and earn larger fees. Not every caregiver operates this way, but enough do that their behavior creates massive debt for our country. No one, it seems, is held accountable for the outcomes that are, or are not, delivered. Why should health care be different than any other industry or business that exists to reach end goals before the players are rewarded?
At Pure HealthyBack, we’re tackling back and neck pain. It’s one of the most common reasons for missed work and trips to the doctor’s office — and extremely costly to our system.
My company handles back and neck pain under a different model than what is typical. Our clinics do this with an “at risk,” outcomes-driven and evidence-based treatment program. We don’t get paid for the services we provide to a patient unless that patient stays out of the healthcare system for at least a year after we treat them.
That’s right. If we don’t meet the agreed upon improved outcomes, we don’t get paid.
I call on other health care providers and payers to band together into Accountable Care Organizations or other business arrangements that also reward results. We need to transition to improved outcomes for our healthcare system to handle the challenges of the existing and new patient surge without imploding.
Outcomes measuring will ensure that costs are managed and waste is cut dramatically, while keeping people healthier, the ultimate goal.
Jim Evanger is the president of Pure HealthyBack and a member of the young President's Organization. He has more than (20) years of strategic leadership success within both Fortune 100 and entrepreneurial start-up companies, and diverse experience in the healthcare, medical products, and biopharmaceutical industries.
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