CMS Introduces The Innovation Center for Medicare & Medicaid–A Place for Collaboration

Now this is a smart move. It is not re-inventing the wheel but other healthcare organizations such as Kaiser Permanente have one and the idea of CMS having one is excellent. Collaboration is what has been missing in a suitable forum area to where actual hands on solutions can be created with collaboration from several outside interests to include payables, patient care, etc. Now I mentioned Kaiser and last year I had the opportunity to interview Chris McCarthy from the Kaiser Innovation Center and they have made great strides and solved some real problems in a scenario that is conducive to COLLABORATION. Keep that last word handy and think of it from time to time as we keep finding it to be the huge missing element in much of Health IT today. Dr. Berwick had his testimony time today with the Senate and from all news accounts it seems like either ratings or just the flat out feelings of those locked up in their own objectives seem to not represent the word “collaboration” very well. Like I said, keep that word close by.

Medicare Chief Berwick Scheduled to Testify Before Senate Finance Committee Next Week- A Witch Hunt or Collaboration?

Granted this is the “baby stage” here but everything has to commence somewhere and this is a proven model that can work. Here’s a link to the interview with Kaiser Permanente and if CMS builds around this model, then they will have something to value as a real tool. The Kaiser facility is already looking at IPads as well.

Innovation and Learning at Kaiser Permanente – Interview With Chris McCarthy

It’s those darn Health IT Illiterates in Congress we have to worry about that are pretty much non participants in this area that we have to explain the value to as they just don’t get it and are seem to be wrapped up in turf wars in DC. They all seem to think that IT infrastructure and efforts in working with outside companies and vendors grows on trees. They don’t see the money in this area to be spent and saved.

CMS Head Dr. Donald Berwick Testifies In The Senate on Repeal and Other Matters–The Big Group of Consumer Health IT Non-Literates

The big problem with innovation in healthcare is that it works fine for entrepreneurs but does little for the actual end users and this has been a healthcare virus for years.

Innovation Without Collaboration Is Fouling Up The US Healthcare IT System–We Need Both As We Can’t Stand on Innovation Alone

Dr. Berwick in establishing this center will be employing some real Algo Men as he will need them to make it work as well as individuals who are committed to establishing solutions to real day problems. You can follow updates on Twitter, such as I am doing and see the progress, again hoping the non participants don’t choose to shoot down a good and necessary project that has gone beyond proof of concept and is in place in other health organizations. BD

Introducing the CMS Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation - and innovations.cms.gov

By Don Berwick, M.D., Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

We have been given a great opportunity - under the historic Affordable Care Act - to create the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation.

The ultimate goal of the Innovation Center is to explore new approaches to the way we pay for and deliver care to patients so that we have better results both in terms of the quality of care and the affordability of coverage. Congress has charged this new CMS Center with identifying, testing and ultimately spreading new ways of delivering care and new ways of paying for care.

This is an enormous, challenging and exciting opportunity. But, we cannot do it alone. The Innovation Center will work with a diverse group of stakeholders including patient advocates, hospitals, doctors, consumers, employers, states, and other federal agencies to get the best ideas and put them to work.

We want to work with you to better understand your needs.

The Innovation Center is different from what CMS has done before. The Innovation Center will rigorously and rapidly assess the progress of its programs and work with caregivers, insurers, and employers to replicate successful innovations in communities across the country.

The initial work of the Center will focus on three areas:

Better Care for People: Improving care for patients in hospitals, nursing homes, and doctors' offices, and developing ways to make care safer, more patient-centered, more efficient, more effective, more timely, and more equitable.

Coordinating Care to Improve Health Outcomes for Patients: Developing new models that make it easier for doctors and nurses and other caregivers to work together to care for a patient.

Community Care Models: Exploring steps to improve public health and make communities healthier and stronger by fighting the epidemics of obesity, smoking, and heart disease.