WASHINGTON – Comparing the effectiveness of various drugs, treatments and devices will be the key to reining in out-of-control healthcare costs, according to top healthcare leaders who spoke Dec. 4 at the eHealth Initiative's Fifth Annual Conference.
Gail Wilensky, senior fellow at Project HOPE and former Health Care Financing Administrator, said the way Medicare is structured today, "it is impossible to be efficient." Wilensky is also the former chair of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission.
What America needs is comparative effectiveness of bundled treatments needed for a single condition. Medicare shouldn't pay for one treatment or intervention at a time, she said.
Wilensky called it a dynamic process where "the role of IT will very much be that of an enabler." The idea is to reward doctors who provide high quality care at lower costs. Data on best practices will be compared and conveyed via healthcare IT.
Wilensky predicted support from Congress and the Obama administration for comparative effectiveness, but said it would likely come in incremental legislative packages.
Under the Bush administration, Department of Health and Human Services Michael Leavitt has pushed value-based healthcare similar to the comparative effectiveness mentioned at the eHealth Initiative Conference.
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