February 12, 2009

Arizona Trial Has Right Idea for Healthcare

Wayne Glowac

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/07/business/07medhome.html?_r=2&ref=healt...

According to the NYTimes, UnitedHealth is testing out a new model of care that focuses on quality and cutting costs together. The approach, known as the “medical home” model, pays doctors for closely monitoring their patients and providing better care, as opposed to the number of services they perform.

This idea has potential because it doesn’t just work on one single problem alone, such as only cutting costs or improving efficiency. Instead, patient well is the priority, and doctors are rewarded for it. The existing system only pays physicians for the number of services they provide, which results in unnecessary spending and sometimes, a lack of true concern for a patient’s well being.

But we at WAVE have high hopes that this test proves successful and can help us streamline healthcare to make it more affordable and valuable.

RT @wavedriven Arizona healthcare trial model promising as an example of how to change the system www.wavedriven.com/blog

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