Newswise — BURLINGTON, VT -- In a major break with the current payment system for health care, The University of Vermont Medical Center’s CEO, John R. Brumsted, M.D., has announced an ambitious goal to have 80 percent of the care provided by the Medical Center to be paid for based on quality of care, instead of the traditional method of being paid for the amount of care provided, by 2018.
Speaking to leaders of some of the highest-rated hospitals in the nation, who gathered recently in Baltimore at the annual meeting of the Association of American Medical Colleges, Dr. Brumsted argued that this aggressive approach is the best way to increase quality, collaboration and cost effectiveness, and it will create a powerful incentive to shift the focus of providers to prevention and wellness.
Earlier this year the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced that 50 percent of all traditional Medicare payments would be based on quality of care by 2018. The UVM Medical Center’s plan significantly surpasses this target by including care provided to Medicaid and privately insured patients by the same deadline. It also goes further than a goal set by a coalition of the nation’s largest health systems and four biggest insurers.
“It will be a very big challenge to achieve this goal, but this transformation must be done as quickly as possible so we can provide what our patients deserve; superb care delivered seamlessly at the lowest possible cost,” said Brumsted.
The Medical Center is the hub of The University of Vermont Health Network, a partnership of five rural hospitals and hundreds of providers spanning Vermont and northern New York State. It has also partnered with Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in leading a statewide Accountable Care Organization in Vermont that over the last three years has saved millions of dollars and met or exceeded federal quality measures.
“Due to the progress we’ve made creating partnerships that deliver the full continuum of care, our willingness to partner with regulators and our proven ability to innovate, we are in a position to lead this transformation and believe we have an obligation to do so,” said Brumsted. “It is long past time for health care providers across the nation to center everything we do on achieving optimal health for our patients and provide them with an efficient and pleasant experience. It is simply the right thing to do, and the best way to reform our expensive and underperforming health care system.
About the University of Vermont Medical Center The University of Vermont Medical Center (formerly Fletcher Allen Health Care), is a 447-bed regional referral center providing advanced care to approximately one million residents in Vermont and northern New York. Together with our partners at the University of Vermont College of Medicine and the College of Nursing and Health Sciences, we are Vermont’s academic medical center. The University of Vermont Medical Center is a member of The University of Vermont Health Network, a four-hospital system established to deliver high quality academic medicine to every community we serve. Our partners are: The University of Vermont Health Network – Central Vermont Medical Center; The University of Vermont Health Network – Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital; and The University of Vermont Health Network – Elizabethtown Community Hospital.
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