WARNING: Rough Waters Ahead

This is a self-promotional blog post, but the connection to healthcare public policy is clear enough.  Just this morning Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson released a new plan that seeks to find some balance between the polar opposition of the Republican and Democratic parties over fiscal management.

Their approach would cut $600 billion from Medicare and Medicaid and raise $600 billion in new tax revenue from ending or curbing deductions and tax breaks. It would also include $1.2 trillion in cuts to discretionary spending, along with cuts in cost-of-living increases for social security, farm program and civilian and defense retirement programs. 

The Obama Administration has discussed supporting $400 billion in cuts to Medicaid and Medicare, while the House GOP considers any new revenue a nonstarter.  The self-serving political intransigence of the two parties is unlikely to abate any time soon.  But the metaphorical swirls of focus and attention, like water in a sink flowing toward the drain, are clearly zeroing in squarely on further Medicare and Medicaid cost containment.

Healthcare providers are going to have to double down on lowering expenses while concurrently reacting to market and regulatory forces that are driving demands for improved outcomes, higher safety and better quality.  In reaction to this tremendous challenge, Artower Advisory Services has partnered with StrategyDriven Enterprises to create a new product offering that can accelerate the efforts of healthcare providers to meet these challenges.

The Value-Driven Performance Improvement Model^© leverages StrategyDriven’s knowledge and expertise developing and implementing performance improvement models in the nuclear power industry to give healthcare providers the tools they need to improve efficiency, enhance production and improve outcomes while lowering costs (i.e., increase patient value).

Please take a moment to read our new White Paper, which describes the V-D PIM in detail (just click on cover page, below).

Cheers,
  Sparky