The solution to combating health care costs may lie in maximizing patient involvement. Under the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Shared Savings Program, Accountable Care Organizations are eligible for financial incentives if they meet certain performance measures, which aim to improve outcomes, care delivery, and patient experience.
Rose Gutierrez has a big decision to make.
Gutierrez, who was diagnosed with breast cancer last spring, had surgery and 10 weeks of chemotherapy. But the cancer is still there. Now Jasmine Wong, a surgeon at the University of California, San Francisco, is explaining the choices—Gutierrez can either have another lumpectomy followed by radiation, or she can get a total mastectomy.
According to the recent Wall Street Journal article patients are encouraged to engage in care, keep track of their medical data, seek preventive care, and to manage their conditions. Studies show that if patients are actively involved in care and partner with providers, that they experience better health outcomes and lower costs.
Playing an active role in their radiation treatment decisions leaves cancer patients feeling more satisfied with their care, and may even relieve psychological distress around the experience, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania report in the journal Cancer.