UMass Medical School researchers have suggested New Hampshire consider holding providers and insurers responsible for improving the quality of health care and containing costs, according to a report co-authored by health policy experts at UMass Medical School and released by the New Hampshire Insurance Department April 20.
The report, Health Care Payment Reform: Options and Recommendations, evaluates a variety of strategies, from short-term actions to comprehensive reforms, and issues recommendations. The Center for Health Law and Economics, a unit within UMass Medical School’s Commonwealth Medicine division, co-authored the report with Compass Health Analytics Inc. at the request of the New Hampshire Insurance Department. The UMass Medical School report’s authors include Katharine London, MS; Carol Gyurina, MMHS; and Rachel Gershon, JD, MPH.
New Hampshire’s growth rate in per capita health spending is 6.6 percent a year, making it the fourth highest in the nation. In a span of 18 years, New Hampshire has jumped from number 32 to number nine on a list of highest health care spending per person in the nation. In developing and evaluating the strategies, the report’s authors reviewed health care market information and previous analyses in New Hampshire. The recommendations New Hampshire may consider are broken down into three categories: comprehensive payment reform, short-term steps and stand-alone actions.
”Every single stakeholder we talked to expressed concern about the rising cost of health care in New Hampshire,” London said at an April 24 public forum hosted by the New Hampshire Insurance Department. ”People were looking to the state to develop one unified vision for how New Hampshire should move forward to promote better health in New Hampshire, to improve quality of care and to contain costs.”
Watch London and Gershon discuss the report recommenations at the forum in this video posted by the New Hampshire Insurance Department.
