In the inaugural edition of Health Talk on Newstalk KGVO Radio, Jeff Fee, CEO of Providence Health and Services at St. Patrick Hospital, said the healthcare organization is in the middle of a paradigm shift in its payment structure.

During the Monday, April 13 talk show, Fee contrasts where the hospital is today, versus where it is headed by 2018.

"Right now, we're in a fee-for-service arrangement," Fee said. "For every MRI, every knee, every open heart surgery that we do, we get paid on a per-click basis. There are inherent perverse incentives with that economic structure. So, the CMS (Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services) have basically put a line in the sand and said that by 2018 they expect to have 60 percent of their payments revolve around some sort of value-based payment."

Fee explains how a value-based payment structure would look.

"At the very front of it is quality, and the patient experience being one of the per capita costs," he said. "Most Americans expect that they're going to get high quality healthcare when they enter into a delivery system, but what they don't think they're getting is the bang-for-the-buck, and actually driving down the cost of care that brings to Triple-Aim."

Fee explains the concept of Triple Aim.

"The Triple Aim is exactly what we as a healthcare delivery system are trying to do, and that includes improving the quality of care, improving the experience of care, and while doing both of those, lowering the overall per capita cost of care."

Health Talk, featuring professionals from Providence Health and Services, will air each Monday from 8:30 to 9:00 a.m. on Newstalk KGVO 1290 AM, 101.5 FM and online at Newstalk KGVO.com

 

 

 

 

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