The House Energy and Commerce Committee recently convened a hearing on the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation.
Although the center “was created over a decade ago and provided billions in funding and broad authority to find ways to save taxpayer dollars and improve health outcomes for patients,” Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) and Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) noted, “it has little to show in demonstrated successful outcomes.” Why is this so?
Medicare traditionally pays healthcare providers for every service and procedure they deliver. It makes separate payments for hospitals, physicians, rehabilitation services, diagnostic tests and drugs associated with the treatment of a single medical condition. If costly low-value services are delivered, it pays for those. If doctors make errors, and patients require additional treatment, it simply writes additional checks. This provides little incentive for prevention or the cost-conscious employment of medical services.
Continue reading the entire piece here at The Hill
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Chris Pope is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. Follow him on Twitter here.
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