Healthcare information technology can collect and help analyze the quality measures the U.S. must have to integrate care, says the chief of the largest healthcare payer in the country, who added that the status quo of fragmented patient health information and fragmented care is no longer acceptable. "We owe Americans journeys of care, not fragments of care,” Donald Berwick, MD, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) told an audience last month at America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) Medicare Conference in the nation’s capital.
All of the physicians involved in a patient's episode of care need access to a single set of electronic health records, Berwick said. With the passage of the HITECH Act in 2009, the Obama Administration set a course toward nationwide adoption of electronic health records, which can help eliminate medical errors. Reducing medical errors is at the top of Berwick’s to-do list, he said. It was part of his quest, too, in his former work as head of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement in Cambridge, Mass. Berwick said he will guide CMS in targeting what he called the "triple aims," better care, better population health and reduction of per capita healthcare costs. To do so, CMS will put an emphasis on chronic disease prevention. America is "seriously underinvested" in preventing the epidemic of chronic disease it now faces, he said.
Berwick praised healthcare "pioneers" who already are promoting better care across the nation. "You have the seeds of optimism in your hands," he told them. The Accountable Care Act is designed to allow healthcare providers to innovate new ways of improving care and lowering costs through the elimination of waste, he added. CMS will lead the way in helping providers to set goals for measuring care standards that will answer the questions of who will accomplish what, and by when. "We won't get where we need to be by trying harder the old way," he said. "If you want new results, you need a new system." Nora Super, director of federal government relations, health and long-term care at AARP said only one quarter of Medicare beneficiaries are enrolled in highest rated health plans. Super said AARP supported the passage of health reform and the organization believes there should be national standards for quality. "Americans should not settle for poor healthcare quality simply because they live in a certain zip code," she said.
At Health IT Policy Committee meeting last month, David Blumenthal, MD, the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology endorsed quality of care data collection as established under the HITECH Act. Blumenthal said collecting data on care brings out the best in physicians.
Berwick delivered his remarks at the AHIP event on Sept. 13, the day before Republican senators entreated him to call for his own confirmation hearing – a hearing he bypassed because President Obama appointed him during a Congressional recess.
