Ms. Grealy’s statement was submitted to subcommittee chairman Rep. Wally Herger (R-CA) in conjunction with the panel’s hearing on premium support models for Medicare reform.  The Healthcare Leadership Council is a coalition of chief executives from leading companies and organizations representing all health sectors.

In her statement, Ms. Grealy said Congress faces a stark choice in deciding how to deal with Medicare’s fiscal challenges.  She said lawmakers could simply reduce the amount of money the government pays for healthcare goods and services, which would exacerbate healthcare access problems for seniors.  Or, she said, “a more patient-centered approach to improving Medicare would involve using the power of consumer choice to drive value, quality and positive outcomes.”

She stated that the Council supports an approach giving Medicare beneficiaries the option of remaining in conventional fee-for-service Medicare or moving into a competitive exchange with the ability to select from multiple competing private health plans.

“In order for such a competitive exchange to be viable, health plans and providers would have to emphasize quality and cost-efficiency, as well as ensuring affordability,” she said in her statement.

She emphasized in her statement that, with 7,500 new beneficiaries joining the program daily and receiving three dollars in healthcare services for every one dollar in taxes paid, “it is a fallacy to insist that we can maintain the Medicare program exactly as it is today.”

The full Healthcare Leadership Council statement can be found here.

HEALTHCARE INNOVATION EXPO 2012

• A report from the U.S. House Ways & Means Committee comes on the heels of another report by the House Energy & Commerce Committee.  The previous report cited rising employer health costs and constrained company growth.
• The combination of a low per-employee penalty for dropping coverage and still-rising health costs could make for some businesses an attractive incentive to drop health benefits, the Ways & Means report concludes.
• That development would add to the number of people going through state-based government exchanges to find coverage.  

Millions of American workers and their families could face the loss of employer-provided health benefits.  And we’re talking about those employed by America’s biggest companies.

• More than 70 Fortune 100 companies replied to the Ways & Means Committee’s survey.
• Their dropping employee coverage would leave about 6 million American workers moving into the state health exchanges.  Adding dependents, the number of newly-uninsured seeking coverage passes 10 million.
• If Fortune 100 companies start down this path, it could lead other, smaller businesses to follow.

• Information company Thompson Reuters and the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society’s HIMSS Analytics arm together produced this report.
• “This is one of the first studies to make the connection between hospitals using advanced information technologies and quality and safety benchmarks,” a HIMSS Analytics official said.

• Their conclusion:  Hospitals ranked on the Thompson Reuters 100 Top Hospitals list have achieved more integration of HIT than the average hospital.
• Health IT is considered one of the keys to improving care delivery, patient safety and management efficiency (and possibly even corresponding cost savings).

Top-rated hospitals are adopting health information technology in their care management processes at a faster rate than other hospitals.  The leaders are more than two times farther ahead than most hospitals.

• In 2010, 21 percent of leading hospitals used HIT at least for administering medication and related patient record-keeping involving doctors or nurses.  That contrasts with 9 percent of all hospitals.
• Just 1 percent of top-rated hospitals were at the earliest stages of HIT integration, while 17 percent of all hospitals haven’t progressed beyond that level.
• Fourteen percent of top-ranked hospitals stood in the final stages of IT adoption in 2010, in comparison with 4 percent of all hospitals.  A year before, 6 percent of rated hospitals had reached that level of integration, while just 2 percent of all hospitals had done so.
• In both 2009 and 2010, ranked hospitals averaged greater progress toward HIT implementation than all U.S. hospitals.
• These data from the study show that better hospitals outpace other hospitals, statistically and in terms of HIT adoption.

The researchers conclude that movement into fuller use of electronic medical record systems reflects in better performance measures.

• Hospitals further along in HIT implementation are significantly more likely to hit national performance goals.

• Those using electronic medical record systems to a more integrated degree appear to perform better in clinical care and business efficiency.

The report from these two groups adds to the body of knowledge and validation that’s accumulated already about HIT.  Health IT holds promise, as well as is demonstrating that medical technology helps improve patient care delivery and efficient health system operations.