Medicare System for Treating Chronically Ill Should Be Coordinated, Opinion Piece Says

While Social Security reform "will dominate politics ... for months to come," the government's "failure" to better coordinate care for chronically ill Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries "could undermine efforts to ensure financial security for many retirees," Lois Quam, CEO of Ovations, the UnitedHealth Group division that focuses on the needs of people over age 50, writes in a Boston Globe opinion piece. The current "fragmentation of care" under traditional fee-for-service systems "can lead to poor health outcomes that are unnecessarily costly and draining for patients and physicians alike," Quam writes. She states that chronically ill patients need a "coordination of multiple treatments, health maintenance and prevention of disease," and a few small programs have shown that such an approach can save money and improve care. According to Quam, Ovations' Evercare plans have cut hospitalizations in half in several states while garnering a 97% satisfaction rating from participants. "The long-term survival of Medicaid and Medicare may depend on the wide adoption of this approach," Quam states, adding that the new Medicare law's Special Needs plans can provide the framework for such a federal program. The public and private sectors "need to do a much better job of analyzing the effectiveness of alternative-care models and applying evidence-based lessons on a nationwide basis," Quam writes, adding that "we need to move quickly, beginning this year." She concludes, "If we wait until Washington deals with Social Security and other issues on its agenda, we may simply run out of time" (Quam, Boston Globe, 3/11).