Feeding Off the Energy

Returning from the Care Innovation Summit, I left energized by the optimism that coursed through the 1,000+ attendees (another 1,200 viewed it on the Web).

Hosted by CMS, Health Affairs and West Wireless, some wonderful better care models were on display, much of them focused on chronic disease. The Care Delivery|Chronic Disease Innovation Case Study moderated by Atul Gawande highlighted a few such examples: 

• Healthways’ Silver Sneakers program to get seniors to be more physically active
• Health Quality Management’s Community-Based Care Management
• Mary Naylor’s Transition of Care Model focused on the hospital discharge process
• Wellpoint/CareMore’s approach to managing patients with high-cost chronic conditions. 

Each demonstrated success achieving the “Triple Aim” -- improving care, population health and lowering cost; each has an almost decade long-history of operating apart from traditional fee-for-service payment.  

These models have been on the radar for a while. But as they have grown in sophistication, it now feels like the field views them less as exemplary exceptions and more as aspirations for communities across the U.S.

The hope is that payment changes will propel their spread. The primary threat to their success, as identified by their proponents, is not payment, but limitations in how we approach care for patients (due to regulation, our ability to think differently, or behave differently as providers).  

As Tom Lee of One Medical reminds, “Creativity is thinking new things, innovation is doing new things.” Are we up to the challenge?