SPOTLIGHT: Berwick: Quality cuts Medicare costs


In a speech to the federal Medicaid commission, IHI president Donald Berwick argued that the best way to cut down on Medicaid spending is to improve healthcare quality. His recommendation is somewhat predictable in light of his recent success with then 100,000 Lives Campaign, which aimed to reduce the number of avoidable deaths at hospitals by pushing specific quality improvements. Specifically, Berwick suggests better treatment of chronic illnesses, improving physician payment incentives and fixing discrepancies between geographic markets. The federal Medicaid commission aims to make recommendations for decreasing Medicaid spending growth by $10 billion over five years. Report