SPOTLIGHT: Reform proposal ignores obstacles?

In a piece for the new Health Affairs blog, former HCFA administrator Gail Wilensky argues that while value-based competition can help the cause of health reform, it can't drive the entire process. In a recent book, health reform advocates Michael Porter and Elizabeth Olmstead Teisberg put forth new models for improving healthcare transparency. These include the suggestion that providers offer a single price to treat entire conditions, and collect quality data across entire episodes of care rather than within individual provider organizations. However, their analysis glosses over some very substantial political and practical obstacles to making this happen, Wilensky suggests. Blog