NEJM article proposes strategies to curb health spending

Posted on August 2, 2012 | No Comments
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In an article just published in the New England Journal of Medicine, many of the nation’s top health care experts, several of whom helped write the Affordable Care Act (ACA) released a strategy to curb spending.

The proposal details how states can cut spending through:

1) promotion of payment rates within global targets,

2) acceleration of the use of alternatives to fee-for-service payment,

3) the use of competitive bidding for all commodities,

4) requirement for Exchanges to offer tiered products,

5) requirement for all Exchanges to be active purchases,

6) simplification of administrative systems for all payers and providers,

7) requirement of full transparency of prices,

8) making better use of nonphysician providers,

9) expansion of Medicare ban on physician self-referrals,

10) a leverage for the federal employees program to drive reform, and

11) a reduction in costs of defensive medicine.

The Center for American Progress (CAP) convened the group for a daylong session in January to discuss health policy options for slowing the ever mounting health care costs.

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