Value-based medicine gains momentum

Reuters: In Healthcare Experiment, Patients Pay More For 'Bad' Medicine
When Tanner Martin, 17, developed excruciating back pain last year, he was sure he needed an X-ray to find out what was wrong…But Konnie Martin was no ordinary parent. As chief executive officer of San Luis Valley Regional Medical Center in Alamosa, Colorado, she is at the center of an experiment, known as value-based insurance, that could transform American healthcare. … Healthcare policy wonks have been studying value-based insurance for a decade. For some consumer groups, the concept raises concerns over whether it will deter people from treatment when certain procedures are needed. But the idea has gained momentum since the passage of President Barack Obama's healthcare reform law, which includes provisions to control healthcare spending that now tops $2.7 trillion a year in the United States. About one-third of that is attributed to wasteful or ineffective care (Begley, 12/19).