Report: California Could Save $110B Through Coordinated Care Switch
California could save $110 billion in health care costs over a decade by moving away from the traditional fee-for-service payment system and toward coordinated care models, according to a report from the Berkeley Forum, the Sacramento Bee reports.
Based at the UC-Berkeley School of Public Health, the Berkeley Forum is a collaboration of health care CEOs, insurers, public policymakers and health care researchers (Craft, Sacramento Bee, 2/26).
Key Findings
The report found that 78% of the state's health care costs -- about $245 billion annually -- still are paid through fee-for-service systems that could encourage health care providers to perform unnecessary procedures.
According to the report, the $110 billion in savings over 10 years that would result from shifting toward more coordinated care would translate to household savings of $800 annually.
Report Recommendations
The Berkeley Forum recommended a shift toward "global budgets" that would pay physicians and hospitals preset amounts that are adjusted to reflect the health of patients and are tied to providers' performance on several quality measures.
The forum called for:
- Reducing the share of fee-for-service arrangements in the state from 78% to 50% by 2022; and
- Increasing the share of the state's population receiving coordinated care from about 30% to 60% within the next 10 years (Terhune, Los Angeles Times, 2/26).