Written by: Mark Blum 7/29/2009 6:30 PM
At the Second Annual Kaiser Permanente (KP) Health Care Institute Conference last Friday, I heard Kaiser CEO, George Halverson, make the case for Kaiser’s emphasis on prevention and “integrated care” -- the term KP uses for care coordination. It was a sympathetic audience as the room was full of front line health care providers who had designed and worked in coordinated care teams. Halvorson explained KP’s focus on coordinated care by noting that 75% of all health expenditures are related to treatment of chronic diseases, many of which can be prevented or managed to avoid onset of advanced conditions -- which are very expensive to treat. Further, since 80% of health costs are incurred by 10% of the population, the core of Kaiser’s savings strategy focuses on preventing patients from becoming part of that high-cost group. Former Pitney Bowes CEO Mike Critelli echoed KP’s approach saying Pitney Bowes is grounded in the view that it makes a lot more financial sense to increase investment in relatively low cost prevention -- promoting good employee health on the front end -- than on treatment of acute conditions. In fact, an array of pioneering health care provider leaders -- like Kaiser’ss Halverson and innovative corporate leaders like Pitney Bowes’ Critelli -- have reached similar conclusions regarding the effectiveness of disease prevention, chronic disease management through coordinated delivery of care, and the importance of evidence-based best practices to saving costs and improving medical outcomes. What’s more, organized labor supports the same delivery system reform principles. Now, the challenge today is to get the historic consensus that has emerged on the need for basic reform of American health care delivery adequately reflected in federal health reform legislation. Halverson happily recounted that after speaking to a group of Blue Dog Democrats in Congress the day before, one of them remarked that he now supports a new health reform policy that would mandate all Americans to enroll in Kaiser Permanente! “Not a bad proposal,” Halverson joked…sort of.
At the Second Annual Kaiser Permanente (KP) Health Care Institute Conference last Friday, I heard Kaiser CEO, George Halverson, make the case for Kaiser’s emphasis on prevention and “integrated care” -- the term KP uses for care coordination. It was a sympathetic audience as the room was full of front line health care providers who had designed and worked in coordinated care teams.
Halvorson explained KP’s focus on coordinated care by noting that 75% of all health expenditures are related to treatment of chronic diseases, many of which can be prevented or managed to avoid onset of advanced conditions -- which are very expensive to treat. Further, since 80% of health costs are incurred by 10% of the population, the core of Kaiser’s savings strategy focuses on preventing patients from becoming part of that high-cost group.
Former Pitney Bowes CEO Mike Critelli echoed KP’s approach saying Pitney Bowes is grounded in the view that it makes a lot more financial sense to increase investment in relatively low cost prevention -- promoting good employee health on the front end -- than on treatment of acute conditions.
In fact, an array of pioneering health care provider leaders -- like Kaiser’ss Halverson and innovative corporate leaders like Pitney Bowes’ Critelli -- have reached similar conclusions regarding the effectiveness of disease prevention, chronic disease management through coordinated delivery of care, and the importance of evidence-based best practices to saving costs and improving medical outcomes. What’s more, organized labor supports the same delivery system reform principles.
Now, the challenge today is to get the historic consensus that has emerged on the need for basic reform of American health care delivery adequately reflected in federal health reform legislation.
Halverson happily recounted that after speaking to a group of Blue Dog Democrats in Congress the day before, one of them remarked that he now supports a new health reform policy that would mandate all Americans to enroll in Kaiser Permanente!
“Not a bad proposal,” Halverson joked…sort of.
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