An analysis of key provisions in health care legislation released to-date

Aug 11 2009

The Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease (PFCD) today released a side-by-side comparison of chronic care provisions contained within health reform legislation passed out of committee.

Also included is an analysis of how the bills can be improved to increase quality of care and reduce health care spending over the long-term. The publication will be updated as other legislation is introduced, specifically the Senate Finance Committee plan.

The publication, "Hitting the 'Bulls-eye' in Health Reform: Controlling Chronic Disease to Reduce Cost and Improve Quality," offers five recommendations for how Congress could better improve quality and reduce spending over the long-term:

• Rollout evidence-based models for nationwide coordination of care in Medicare within the next three years;
• Immediately expand the types of treatments in Medicare that would be paid on a "value," not "volume," basis;
• Aggressively promote chronic disease prevention in the traditional health care system and beyond;
• Remove barriers patients face to avert the development and progression of chronic illness; and,
• Move from a paper-based system to a high-tech system that helps to coordinate care.

"In order to improve health and reduce costs over the long-term, Congress must include adequate provisions to better prevent and manage chronic disease, which affects nearly half of Americans and accounts for seventy-five percent of overall health spending," said Ken Thorpe, Ph.D., PFCD Executive Director. "The current bills are a great start, but as this analysis shows, there is more work to be done and bolder action needed from Congress."

Thorpe continued, "To 'bend the spending curve,' we need comprehensive reform of the payment and delivery systems, creating a system that truly incentivizes high quality care through prevention, care coordination, and other efforts which have been proven to improve health and provide long-term cost savings."

About the Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease:

The PFCD is a national coalition of more than 120 patient, provider, community, business and labor groups, committed to raising awareness of the number one cause of death, disability, and rising health care costs in the U.S.: poorly prevented and mismanaged chronic disease.

The PFCD's mission is to:

• Challenge policymakers - in particular, the 2008 presidential candidates - to make fighting chronic disease a top priority and discuss how they will address it in their health care proposals
• Educate the public about chronic disease and potential solutions for individuals, communities, and the nation
• Mobilize Americans to call for change in how policymakers, governments, employers, health institutions, and other entities approach chronic disease

For more information about the PFCD and its partner organizations, please visit: http://www.fightchronicdisease.org.