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For This Health System, Less Is More
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| Contributor | ArmyDem |
| Last Edited | ArmyDem Mar 30, 2009 11:20pm |
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| Category | News |
| Media | Newspaper - Washington Post |
| News Date | Wednesday, April 1, 2009 05:00:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | Program That Guarantees Doing Things Right the First Time, for Flat Fee, Pays Off
By Ceci Connolly
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 31, 2009; Page A01
DANVILLE, Pa. -- You could think of them as the Maytag repairmen of health care.
In an industry that makes its money by selling more -- more tests, more surgeries, more drugs -- Geisinger Health System officials gambled three years ago that they could succeed by doing less, but doing it better.
Mimicking the appliance company that advertised its products' reliability, the health system devised a 90-day warranty on elective heart surgery, promising to get it right the first time, for a flat fee. If complications arise or the patient returns to the hospital, Geisinger bears the additional cost.
The venture has paid off. Heart patients have fared measurably better, and the health system has cut its bypass surgery costs by 15 percent. Today, Geisinger has extended the program to half a dozen other procedures, and initiatives such as the counterintuitive experiment in Pennsylvania coal country are now at the heart of efforts in Washington to refashion how care is delivered across the United States.
Though not identified by name, the Geisinger model tracks closely with the policy goals of President Obama. A key target is to reduce expensive errors, duplication, and unnecessary procedures that do nothing to improve health and may actually result in worse outcomes. |
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