MEDICARE: Another Voice for Reform

Medicare reform is in the air this month, with events and forums all over Washington (even more than usual—it's not exactly like Medicare is ever off the table in D.C.). The Century Foundation is chiming in, starting a reform task force, including some of the experts we had at our own Medicare conference last week. They plan on issuing a report later this year, in time for any new administration to take their thoughts into account. Maybe it's wishful thinking on our part, but the whole debate seems to have shifted significantly in the last year or so. (Or maybe it's just me spending more time listening to think tankers and less time wandering around Congress). But there seems to be less partisan fighting about privatization and premium support, and more bipartisan discussion about how to use Medicare as a model for an improved health care delivery system for everyone. Topics that Century will address include:

• Physician Payment
• The role of Medicare Advantage
• Drug costs
• Efficiency
• Comparative effectiveness
• Care Coordination
• Health IT
• How to reward quality of care instead of volume of care
• Palliative care

Good to see that Diane Meier (a doctor I've written about for several publications and mentioned in the past in this blog) is included. Dr. Meier is a geriatrician and palliative care specialist at Mount Sinai, and she also heads the Center to Advance Palliative Care, which is both a research and a training resource for hospitals around the country that seek to improve care of the seriously (although not always terminally) ill. Hard to imagine how we can fix Medicare without also fixing the care we give to its sickest patients and their families.