The state's new Payment Reform Commission met for the first time
Friday afternoon and laid out an aggressive agenda for its work.
MMS Vice President Alice T. Coombs, MD, was named to the commission
late last week.
commissioners started quickly Friday and discussed a proposed
set of working principles, but reached no immediate consensus.
Among the draft principles debated: • Fee-for-service payments
"rewards overuse of services and therefore is not a preferred model
for most provider payments." Some commissioners thought this
statement was too broad.
- Payment should be "adequate to cover the costs of efficient
providers and ensure adequarte access to care for consumers"
- Payments should "reward the delivery of efficient, high quality
health care that aligns with evidence-based guidelines"
- Payment should "minimize risk to providers for events largely
outside of their control" and should not reward or discourage
providers for "cherry picking" healthy patients
- Payments should "minimize provider and payer administrative
costs that do not add value"
Before adopting final principles in mid-February, the commission
plans to solicit input from a wide range of health care
stakeholders, including physicians, hospitals, insurers, employers
and consumer advocates.
The commission is co-chaired by Leslie Kirwan, state secretary
of administration and finance, and Sarah Iselin, commissioner of
the Division of Health Care Finance and Policy. It will meet at
least twice a month, and smaller workgroups will likely meet more
frequently. The commission plans to file its report by the end of
May.
The commission will post its work at www.mass.gov/dhcfp/paymentcommission.
