Guest Post from J. Todd Barnes, MBA, CMPE
Administrator Dept.’s of Neurology and Neurosurgery
University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center
Given the quantum changes that are happening to the healthcare system in the United States, there has never been more of a need for quality data in almost every facet of neurological surgery. Public and private insurers want to add quality into the payment calculation, rather than paying for quantity only. Hospitals and healthcare systems are rapidly consolidating in an attempt to position themselves to compete in the new world of accountable care organizations and patient centered medical homes. Consumers are demanding more information about the quality of care they are receiving. To this end, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is attempting to measure quality with its CAHPS program, though it centers on the patient experience and has little to do with the actual quality of the care provided. HHS has also launched programs like Physician Compare and Hospital Compare, but these too fail to give neurosurgical patients useful information about neurosurgical quality. The uncertainty of the future has also pushed many physicians to the safety of employment whether by a hospital or a physician group. Practices will have to figure out how to survive in both the fee-for-service reimbursement world while transitioning to the post-ACA era of value-based contracting and bundled payments. The need for quality data exists whether to measure the quality of surgical outcomes, or to formulate a fair physician compensation package, or even to help assess the fair market value of emergency room call coverage provided to a healthcare facility.
