According to Jason Roberson and Jim Landers of The Dallas Morning News in an article entitled “Baylor embracing a new health care approach” announced that Baylor Health Care System would be converting to the accountable-care system within its “13 hospitals and 4,500 network physicians…by 2015” (2009).

What is an accountable-care system?

Within an accountable-care organization, the doctors and hospitals coordinate with each other to provide the most affordable care for their patients with the highest quality service. Currently, doctors and hospitals operate separately charging different fees for each service or treatment provided. This fee-for-service model “rewards volume rather than value” (Roberson & Landers, 2009). The more separate services provided; the more money to be made, regardless of the necessity of the treatment. Also, the accountable-care system allows better communication between health care providers so services are not duplicated or harmful to the patient due to some other prescription or diagnosis received from another physician.

Though some may criticize this as simple another attempt at controlled health care, I think many would rather accept the authority of a hospital system in determining health care regulations rather than accept the authority of the government on this very controversial issue. If a hospital system decides on specific prices or on a specific management method and I don’t like it; I will go to another hospital or use a different physician. Yet, if the government decides on specific health care regulations and fines me if I don’t comply, then where do I go?

Whether or not accountable-care systems are the answer to our current health care needs, it is for certain that health care reform needs to happen. “Dallas spends more for health care than almost any other big city in America…ranking 13^th in the nation, according to the Dartmouth Atlas on Health Care” (Roberson & Landers, 2009). This exponential growth of health care spending in Dallas has occurred simply over the past ten years. If this amount of spending continues, Dallas will easily become the biggest health care spender in America (Roberson & Landers, 2009).

Reference:

Roberson, J. and Landers, J. (2009, November 29). In The Dallas Morning News. Baylor embracing a new health care approach. Retrieved from http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/healthscience/stories/112909dnbusbaylor.3d5ccc5.html

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 29th, 2009 at 11:18 pm and is filed under Health Insurance News, Texas health insurance. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.