Improving the quality and lowering the cost of health care: Medicare reforms from the National Commission on Physician Payment Reform

摘要

The final 3 of the 12 policy recommendations by the National Commission on Physician Payment Reform (NCPPR) dealt specifically with how Medicare should reimburse, finance, and determine the value of healthcare services provided by physicians.With the US health care system facing dual crises of waning quality and exorbitant costs, policy-makers must take action to improve the outlook of US health care. Expenditures in the US health care system total almost $3 trillion per year and account for 18 % of the gross domestic product (GDP) or about $8,000 per person annually.Even with immense funding allocated to health care, health outcomes in the US are poorer than in most other developed nations. According to the World Health Organization, the US ranks 37th in overall health status, behind such countries as Oman and Morocco. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) concluded that Americans are in poorer health and live shorter lives compared to the citizens of other high-income countries.