Strategic Cost-Saving Opportunities Digital 2014 | Page 6

Good medicine = good value

patient care, thereby providing the

What physicians, hospital administrators and other professionals
need to know under PPACA

stake in the post-reform world.

best value to the consumer.
Government dollars are also at
Under PPACA, the federal government will enact a policy of valuebased purchasing, essentially a

When it comes to the Patient

and deliver higher quality and a

Protection and Affordable Care

better patient experience.”

Act (PPACA), health care providers

To see how Brown Smith Wal-

“That affects both cost and care

pay-for-performance system that

quality,” Present says. “Information doesn’t always pass cleanly

will allot federal dollars, in the form
3

of incentives and reimbursements,

may feel like they’re the rope in a

lace helped a provider develop its

among providers. That often

game of tug-of-war.

mission-critical strategy for health
care reform, click here 3 .

results in greater expense and a

redundancy, care costs and ad-

What to consider

stead of service volume. The idea

less-positive patient experience,

ministrative costs.

The passage of PPACA has set

is to reduce wasteful spending and

off a cascading chain reaction of

unnecessary treatments, further

The transformational health
care legislation, signed into law

because patients have to fill out a

based on patient outcomes in-

Another major change in the

by President Barack Obama in

A care continuum

lot of the same paperwork and

current health care landscape

effects for health care providers.

promoting quality and efficiency

2010, rewards providers that can

Present says he is seeing a num-

repeat certain medical tests for

involves the consolidation of pro-

The act will, at a minimum, affect

throughout the medical industry.

keep costs down while elevating

ber of changes rapidly taking hold

each new doctor or caregiver

viders themselves. Independent

how patients seek primary care

standards of care to measurable

regarding how health care prac-

they encounter.”

doctors and small independent

and how specialists receive refer-

‘value,’” Present says. “It has sig-

new heights. While the goals are

titioners and institutions are now

The government has provided

hospitals are quickly becoming

rals from primary care physicians.

nificant importance under PPACA.

worthwhile pursuits, the x