The CSR Minute: A Prescription for a Sick Healthcare System

A Prescription for a Sick Healthcare System

Ever wonder why everyone agrees that the current US healthcare system is seriously sick, but that nobody seems to agree on the remedy? A commentary by the editorial director of Modern Healthcare, Merrill Goozner, lays out a diagnosis and the prescription for a cure in direct terms.

The ailment as Goozner sees it, is the current system’s goal of profit maximization, based on the traditional fee-for-service model. He notes, “The U.S. is not unique in using fee-for-service to reimburse providers. But other countries tightly regulate prices and utilization, either through a single-payer insurance system or with powerful regulators utilizing tools like use limits, price controls, bundled payments and global budgets.” The Affordable Care Act, while working around the single payer issue, has set in motion several initiatives using those tools.

Any proposed replacement of the ACA must include these ideas in some form, argues Goozner. I’m John Howell for 3BL Media.