Pursuing Excellence In Efficiencies Trumps Medicare-Purchasing Power

Universal access to affordable care starts with operational efficiencies the rails quality travels to achieve excellence in patient and financial outcomes. Without operational efficiencies, quality outcomes are a crap shoot which is why the US has the best and worst health care.

The constant pursuit of efficiencies forces leadership to be engaged in patient care and financial processes and the rewards are what they value: money. Only a few find value in patient outcomes, otherwise the industry would not be quality challenged. The cultural impact of inspiring excellence in efficiencies transfers to patient outcomes like a contagious disease. This is why this blog advocates paying for excellence and not failure which gives providers the financial resources to pursue efficiencies which will have a direct impact in lowering preventable medical errors IMMEDIATELY.

You can not achieve excellence in efficiencies without leadership inspiring employees and supporting each with continuous education, effective communication, and the most current information timely delivered so each can effectively focus on the needs of the patient in an environment driven by accountability and innovation. Two that approach this strategy are Intermountain Healthcare and Mayo Clinic.

Research by Dartmouth Medical School suggested that if all Americans accessed care from Intermountain and Mayo, the nation’s $2.7 trillion health care bill would be cut 33 and 25 percent with NO rationing while saving $890 billion and $675 billion respectively. It only takes $215 billion in savings to pay for an individual private insurance policy for every uninsured American leaving billions in savings and an unbelievable boost to US businesses.

Presently, Medicare and Medicaid utilize purchasing power to underpay excellence which hospitals and physicians recoup through inflated charges paid by private insurers. These subsidies according to two studies inflate premiums 11 to 13 percent, maybe more, giving the perception Medicare efficient; private insurers inefficient. It is this myth that makes many Americans think a Medicare-like program for the masses is a solution. But, Mayo’s chief executive has stated that a universal Medicare-like program would eliminate these subsidies and, “your very best providers will go out of business.” Health care reform should be focused on increasing “best providers,” not exterminating them.

It is interesting how government advocates that health care professionals learn from best practices, but government does not seem inclined to learn how “best providers” achieve quality outcomes at 25-33 percent savings and no rationing. It is this kind of inconsistency that consistently defines the Obama Administration's attempt to nationalize industries that government manipulation has perverted: health care, education and mortgage banking.