Evolving to outcome-based reimbursement

Today, we provide a link to a Brookings Institution conference, "Health IT in an Era of Accountable Care: Update from the Beacon Communities". This is a series of videos comprising what is possibly the most inclusive and best available summary of the vast expanse covered by health care reform.  


The single most important message is that the Beacon Community Program is heavily involved in studying the payment reforms needed in order for healthcare to move from fee-for-service to outcome-based reimbursement.  This conference looks at models and recommends the exact components to be reimbursed in the future. It is of great concern that Optometry is not there suggesting a payment component for independent eye care, with supporting and demonstrable reasons.  

Event Summary                                                                                                            The Beacon Community Program – a major project of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) – provides funding to 17 selected communities throughout the United States that have made inroads in developing secure, private, and accurate systems of electronic health record adoption and health information exchange. The Beacon Program supports these communities to improve care coordination, increase quality of care, and slow health care spending growth. 

As an alternative to watching the conference videos, you may read more here about the Beacon Community Program.


Jim Grue, O.D.