Lagging life expectancy, persistent health disparities, and a lack of access to affordable care: these are symptoms of a health system badly out of balance, especially given the enormous amount the United States spends on health care.
Writing in Health Affairs Forefront, the Commonwealth Fund’s Joseph Betancourt, M.D., Milbank Memorial Fund’s Christopher Koller, and Arnold Ventures’ Mark Miller call for a course correction to strengthen primary care, the bedrock of a high-performing health system. They offer three recommendations, with the Medicare program in mind:
- Pay for health improvement, not just medical services, by reimbursing clinicians with a blend of per-patient and per-service payments.
- Increase primary care spending rates within current Medicare limits.
- Fix the flawed process used to value physician services.
“Unless we use the power of Medicare to prioritize primary care and rebalance our health care system,” they say, “we stand no chance of making progress on more affordable, trustworthy care that improves population health.”
