Ohio doctor running newspaper ads criticizing Obamacare ahead of election Read more:

[Greenbeard]

As for those scary "accountable care organizations" (doctors voluntarily working together to take responsibility for their patients' health, care, and safety) that are going to destroy society, early versions of those models are being tried by certain private insurers and their docs around the country.

Here's one in Massachusetts that's lowering costs and improving quality of care for its patients.

The Alternative Quality Contract, a global payment model put in place by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts in 2009, has both curbed costs and improved the quality of care, according to a Harvard Medical School study published today in the journal Health Affairs.

Global payments, a lump sum to cover all the care of a defined group of patients, are viewed by many experts as a cost-effective alternative to the traditional fee-for-service system.

Massachusetts enacted sweeping state health reforms in 2006 considered by many to be a prototype of the 2010 federal health law, and it is now experimenting with equally dramatic measures to rein in health care spending. The AQC is very similar to the Affordable Care Act’s Pioneer Accountable Care Organization contracts – a part of the Medicare shared-savings program.

In the state version, 11 health care provider groups were given a fixed budget to care for patients covered by BCBSMA insurance. If the providers stayed under budget, they were given bonuses. If they went over, they had to eat those costs.

After studying data from Blue Cross Blue Shield’s claims and comparing them to claims from doctors not participating in the AQC, the researchers found that – during the second year – providers participating in the global payment system spent an average of 3.3 percent less than the other groups. Those providers who came from traditional fee-for-service contract models achieved the greatest savings – as much as 9.9 percent in year two.

The study also found the participating provider groups achieved quality improvements in chronic care management, pediatric care and adult preventive care, especially in year two.

The connection to the ACA, mentioned there again:

The provider organizations participating in the AQC exemplify the concept of Accountable Care Organizations (ACO) and Patient Centered Medical Homes (PCMH) as envisioned by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (PPACA) and the recommendations of Massachusetts’ Special Commission on Health Care Payment System in 2009. [...]

The PPACA promotes the experimentation of delivery system and payment reforms, such as ACOs and PCMHs, through Medicare demonstrations and payment reform policies, Medicaid program options for states, as well as the Center for Innovation at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). [...]

For federal and state policymakers, the findings from the first year of the AQC hold several important lessons. Among these is evidence that improvements in both health care quality and spending are achievable through a payment model that establishes provider accountability for quality, outcomes and costs.

Holding people accountability for their work can work wonders. But obviously that's a tough transition for folks who aren't used to it.

 

[ShaklesOfBigGov]

When the individual seeking care shares no real "value" on the cost of that care (because someone else is covering the tab) and any accountability that comes with properly treating yourself as well as prevention, an ABUSE of the system will be it's end result. Such abuse will only lead to less "quality of care" its effect on costs will only rise. Having more uninsured receiving care they might not otherwise afford, doesn't address the spike in the use of health care verses the loss in revenue to cover doctors AND medical procedural costs. The medicare system is finding fewer doctors that will take medicare patients BECAUSE of the costs involved, and doctors losing compensation. Obamacare will only inflate those issues for the rest of us, just as the Health Care budget in Massachussetts has already shown.

Massachusetts - Doctor Wait Times, Costs, ER Visits in Massachusetts Climb
Medinnovation: Massachusetts - Doctor Wait Times, Costs, ER Visits in Massachusetts Climb

More people are seeking care in Massachusetts hospital emergency rooms, and the cost of caring for ER patients has soared 17% over two years. This is despite efforts to direct patients with nonurgent problems to primary care doctors instead, according to new state data. Visits to Massachusetts emergency rooms grew 7% between 2005 and 2007, to 2,469,295 visits. The estimated cost of treating those patients jumped from $826 million to $973 million.


Merritt Hawkins & Associates, “2009 Survey of Physician Appointment Wait Times,” Physician Jobs and Healthcare Employment - Merritt Hawkins & Associates

It is the state where President Obama received his law school education, where Senator Edward Kennedy has fought for a single payer system for 40 years, where Obama’s closest health care advisors, Dean David Cutler, PhD, of Harvard and Robert Blumenthal, M.D., of Massachusetts General and National Coordinator for Health Information Technology,reside, and where the nation’s first “universal health plan” was spawned and has been in operation for three years.

Yet, despite this political firepower, something seems to have gone askew. Massachusetts health costs are the highest in the land. Despite the highest concentration of physicians per capita and lowest rate of uninsured among the states (2.6%), people are having a hard time finding doctors, especially primary care practitioners but other specialists as well. Bay State residents are flocking to high-cost emergency rooms for care in unprecedented numbers. And all of this in an affluent states which is supposed to set an example for other states to follow.

The average wait times for appointments in Boston for cardiology are 21 days, dermatology 54 days, obstetrics-gynecology 70 days, orthopedic surgery 40 days, and family practice 63 days.

The average cumulative wait times for the 5 specialties just mentioned are,

Boston, 50 days

Philadelphia, 27 days

Los Angeles, 24 days

Houston, 23 days

Washington, D.C., 23 days

San Diego, 20 days

Minneapolis, 20 days

Dallas, 19 days

New York, 19 days

Denver, 15 days

Miami, 15 days

Portland, 14 days

Seattle, 14 days

Detroit, 12 days

Atlanta, 11 days

In Massachusetts, Universal Coverage Strains Care
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/05/us/05doctors.html


AMHERST, Mass. — Once they discover that she is Dr. Kate, the supplicants line up to approach at dinner parties and ballet recitals. Surely, they suggest to Dr. Katherine J. Atkinson, a family physician here, she might find a way to move them up her lengthy waiting list for new patients.

Those fortunate enough to make it soon learn they face another long wait: Dr. Atkinson’s next opening for a physical is not until early May — of 2009.

This article was Published: April 5, 2008

 

[Mr. Shaman]

Ohio doctor running newspaper ads against Obamacare | The Daily Caller

The names of more than 40 doctors are listed as supportive of the letter, which states that Obamacare “is an administrative and fiscal disaster, bringing higher health care costs, a severe physician shortage and the rationing of medical services.”

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nw6g8op_Dz8]Obama Dances Healthcare Victory Lap - YouTube[/ame]

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[squinch]

The Ohio docs are dead. This is good news.

Really?