"The Ronan Report" provides insight about the activities at the Western Maryland Health System in Cumberland, Maryland, and about the changes taking place in healthcare today from a CEO's perspective.

Friday, July 19, 2013

TheTruth is Somewhere in the Middle

Of late, there has been a great deal of back and forth between the White House and the House of Representatives on Obamacare.  Once the employer mandate delay was announced, the feeding frenzy began.  Personally, I think that the employer mandate, as well as the individual mandate, should both be delayed and reworked.   However, saying that the health care law is a train wreck isn't true. 

The triple aim of health care reform is working and it is working very well at WMHS.  We have improved the quality of care as demonstrated by our quality-based reimbursement scores, the reduction in potentially preventable conditions, and improvements in our patient satisfaction scores as well as our Core Measure results.  We have reduced the cost of care in so many areas, but where we are seeing a significant impact is with our congestive heart failure patients and our COPD patients.  We have brought down the cost of care and have been able to shift many patients from the inpatient arena to the less expensive outpatient setting.  We have also made headway in population health through our partnership with the Allegany County Health Department by improving the health status of our community.  Although the improvement is minimal in a number of areas, we have reversed the negative trend that has been occurring over many years. 

So, the care delivery aspect is working and if we can be successful, so can others.

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