CMS provides comments on draft State Health Innovation Plan

Thursday, November 21, 2013 11:09 AM

The Colorado Medical Society provided comments on the draft Colorado State Innovation Plan in a Nov. 15 letter to Lorez Meinhold, deputy executive director of the Department of Health Care Policy and Financing. The plan is a 185-page document with a wide-ranging narrative, and a set of goals and strategies in each chapter. CMS President John Bender, MD, FAAFP, expressed support and appreciation for the opportunity to participate in its development.

“The current health care system is unsustainable. The Colorado Medical Society is committed to help align incentives and build systems that can achieve the aim of improving individual patient experiences, improving population health and reducing per capita costs. The Colorado Health Innovation Plan is firmly on the right track and we look forward to continuing our work together to finalize and then execute the plan,” CMS President John Bender, MD, FAAFP, wrote.

Reflecting the physicians’ voice, CMS provided comments on nearly every chapter. In the section on delivery system design and payment reform, CMS expressed the need to foster coordinated systems of care and other value-based payment models.

In the section on health care workforce, CMS asked for an amendment to one of the five critical areas identified in the plan, that one goal should be to address policy and operational barriers related to workforce innovation and workplace satisfaction. This represents the findings of the recent RAND Corporation study that detailed issues stakeholders must address to reverse the dangerous spiral of professional dissatisfaction.

Click here to read the full letter.