Health Policy Program
 

Grand Junction, Colorado

A Health Community That Works

It is possible to delivery higher quality care at lower costs in the U.S. health care system. We have to look no further than Grand Junction, CO to prove it is possible. To better understand the principles and actors that make the Grand Junction health community work so well, the Health Policy Program at the New America Foundation recently completed a case study, "Grand Junction, Colorado: A Health Community that Works." Read the full report here and a summary here.

In 2006, average Medicare spending per enrollee in Grand Junction was $5,800, about 30 percent lower than the national average of $8,300 and more than 60 percent lower than high-cost areas like McAllen, Texas. Despite its lack of a formal integrated delivery system, Grand Junction patients benefit from excellent outcomes, state-of-the-art health information technology, and the latest innovations in preventive and palliative care at much lower costs than elsewhere in the U.S.

For more information, read our posts on Grand Junction at the New Health Dialogue blog, here and here.

 

About Us

The American health care system is in crisis. To create a sustainable health system for all, we must cover all Americans, control costs, and enhance quality. The Health Policy Program at New America Foundation is committed to comprehensive reform of the American health care system to meet these goals. With bipartisan leadership that extends from Congress to business, labor, and health system leaders, we can improve Americans’ health and financial security and make our economy more competitive around the globe.

A more-detailed program description is available here.

Be sure to visit our New Health Dialogue blog.

Check out our State of State Health website.

Program Staff

Articles

Is It Time for Malpractice Reform?

Year after year, Republicans try to pass legislation that would limit medical malpractice awards. Fix the tort system, they argue, and we fix rising health-care costs. And year after year, Democrats resist placing arbitrary caps on awards to people who may have suffered from an egregious medical error. The fight plays out like a predictable old Western -- good guys versus bad guys. Depending on your politics, the villain is either the greedy doctor or the greedy trial lawyer.

Health… more

Be More Like Medicare

The Medicare payment reforms in both the House and the Senate bills will help to slow the growth of costs by rewarding value over volume, as will the proposed Medicare commission and the tax on insurers who offer high-cost health plans, which are in the Senate Finance Committee bill. And both House and Senate legislation also include “innovation centers” which will allow us to test different payment models and health care processes.

Even with these steps, the reform bills could be strengthened. Specifically:

Len Nichols | NYTimes.com | November 11, 2009

'Frequent Fliers' Add Billions to Hospital Bills

Doctors call them frequent fliers.

They are the patients who leave the hospital, only to boomerang back days or weeks later. They have become a front-burner challenge not only for hospitals and doctors but also for those trying to rein in rising costs.

Typically elderly and suffering from the chronic diseases that account for 75 percent of health-care spending, their experiences of being readmitted time and again reflect many of the deficiencies in a fragmented, poorly coordinated health system geared toward acute care.

Joanne Kenen | Washington Post | June 30, 2009

Affordable Coverage That’s Economically Sustainable

Health care reform worth the name would accomplish two things: (1) quality, affordable coverage for all, and (2) a high-quality health system that is economically sustainable. These goals are linked --one cannot be achieved without the other. We must summon the courage to do bold reforms, not timid half-measures, when the going gets tough.

Len Nichols | New York Times | June 23, 2009

China's De-Socialized Medicine

The United States and China have more in common than their paramount importance in the global economy. The citizens of both countries share the same basic complaint: bad healthcare. As the White House prepares to roll out its plan to overhaul the United States' woefully inadequate health insurance system, it may be instructive to look across the Pacific, where an even more ambitious effort is underway to give access to healthcare to the millions left behind by China's rapid economic… more

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Policy Papers

Realigning U.S. Health Care Incentives to Better Serve Patients and Taxpayers

Our Vision for Health System Reform:

June 12, 2009

The Hill Physicians Medical Group and the Baylor Health Care System

In these case studies for The Commonwealth Fund, Dr. Nichols and Tom Emswiler examine high-performing health care systems to see how they achieve better outcomes at lower cost. Both the Hill Physicians Medical Group, an association of physicians in individual practice, and the Baylor Health Care System, a highly integrated delivery system, have successfully standardized care, implemented electronic medical records, and improved clinical outcomes.

Len Nichols, Tom Emswiler | March 25, 2009

Making Medicare Sustainable

About the Collection:

The ever-growing cost of health care is the largest threat to our nation's long-term fiscal future. One way of tackling this problem is by using Medicare-the nation's largest purchaser of health care-as a catalyst for widespread efficiencies in the private sector. Medicare must become a more value-based purchaser to make the Program sustainable over time and incent the private sector toward change. It is imperative that we act decisively and soon. Yet, we believe embarking on a Medicare-only reform effort

Len Nichols | March 19, 2009

A Modest Proposal for a Competing Public Health Plan

For the full text of the paper, please click here.

For a brief summary of the paper, please click here.

For Len Nichols' post on National Journal's Health Care Experts blog, please click here.  

Len Nichols | March 11, 2009

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Events

Health CEOs for Health Reform

Our nation has an obligation to make sure everyone has quality, affordable health coverage. However, coverage will not be sustainable unless we refocus our delivery system on patients, improve quality, and increase efficiency. Transforming our delivery system is good public policy and a necessary component of fiscal responsibility. Yet, we will not slow the rate of health care cost growth until we create stronger incentives for providers - the people who deliver care -… more

06/12/2009 - 12:30pm
06/12/2009 - 2:30pm

Discussion and Wine Reception: Making Medicare Sustainable

The rising cost of health care is the largest long-term fiscal problem facing our nation. Efforts to control health care costs and reform the delivery system should be system-wide, but Medicare can lead the way. Medicare - the largest purchaser of health care - should act as a catalyst to inject value into the health system and incent the private sector toward change.
03/26/2009 - 4:00pm
03/26/2009 - 6:00pm

The Wireless Future of Health IT

This luncheon event is co-sponsored by the Wireless Future and Health Policy Programs of the New America Foundation and CTIA-The Wireless Association.

03/23/2009 - 9:00am
03/23/2009 - 1:30pm

New Health Insurance Marketplace

03/02/2009 - 3:00pm
03/02/2009 - 5:00pm

CEOs for Health Reform

Meaningful health reform will entail quality, affordable coverage for all Americans and a restructured health care delivery system. A growing number of health industry leaders understand they must reorganize their business models to realize these goals.

12/11/2008 - 4:00pm
12/11/2008 - 5:00pm

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Testimony

Program Director Len Nichols is regularly asked to testify before Congress on health policy matters. For the full texts of his prepared testimony, please see the links below:

Health CEOs for Health Reform
Making Quality Healthcare Affordable for All

Event. Health CEOs for Health Reform recently held a successful event on Capitol Hill, Making Quality Healthcare Affordable for All. For more details, check out our posts on the New Health Dialogue Blog.We also have a video highlight reel of speakers, including White House Office of Health Reform Director Nancy Ann DeParle. Full video coverage is available here.

Policy Paper. The Health CEOs for Health Reform event was accompanied by the release of Realigning U.S. Health Care Incentives to Better Serve Patients and Taxpayers, also available as a two-page executive summary. This white paper details the recommendations of the Health CEOs, emphasizing a need to refocus health care delivery on the patient and move away from fee-for-service medicine.