January 17, 2017

3 Min Read
Medtech's Take on New HHS Leadership

The potential for new HHS leadership

Omar Ishrak, Medtronic chairman and CEO--"Improve outcomes and lower costs--that's what value-based healthcare is. I know there is overall support for that notion. The journey toward value-based healthcare is not going to change, no matter who the administration is. There is no other alternative. I think there is general agreement around that. The question is, how do you get there? We think that some of the programs that have been put in place by CMS are ones that will probably stay in some form. I think the CJR will almost certainly stay and the others probably will stay in some form. I think there's been bipartisan support for MACRA, which is really asking physicians to be paid on quality measures, which is going in that direction. We think there's general acknowledgment in that area. I think the specifics of how it's done, who manages it, is probably the biggest variable in the U.S.

But I just want to point out that value-based healthcare is not just a U.S. phenomenon. It's across the whole world. It's one that's an undeniable shift that'll have to happen in healthcare whether you like it or not. For us to be on the leading edge of that, with technology, being one of the key players, I think it's important." 

David Dvorak, Zimmer Biomet president and CEO--"Only to speculate, but based upon the positions taken and articulated over time, maybe a more traditional view is to how those delivery changes might transpire. This has been an environment in the last few years since the adoption of the ACA where administratively the rule-making capability from proposal to implementation has been accelerated, to say the least . . . So the question is do those kinds of initiatives, whether it's CJR or other bundling arrangements, slow or revert back? I would tell you that I think that in any of those proposals there's some intelligence as to what needs to happen in the way of a more coordinated delivery of care. Our Zimmer Biomet Signature Solutions is driven in that direction. I think that we can make a big difference both from a clinical outcome and an economic standpoint. I think that even if the federal programs take another form or the pace of implementation changes in a significant way, the private pay sector will continue to be attracted to an intelligent management and coordinated care and episode of care and more value-based orientation rather than fee-for-service.

I think irrespective of what changes are made, I feel like our strategies continue to put us on the right ocean and whatever course corrections we need to make or refinements we need to make, we'll be poised to do so."

          

 

[Image courtesy of PUBLICDOMAINPICTURES/PIXABAY]

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