Kirk pushes better tracking of health spending

KIRK'S REMARKS

America is said to lead the world in health innovation. It can create the finest medical devices, the most effective drugs to treat diseases, and advanced processes and procedures to care for patients. It is this wide range of remarkable innovations that have helped us to create today’s $2.3 trillion health care industry.

But, despite all our medical achievements and technologies, and the private and public money we spend on health care, we do not lead the world in health outcomes. We need to innovate not only in the way we treat patients, but in the way we create and implement health care policy. For that reason, one of the most promising provisions in the draft health reform measures about to come before us is the creation of a Key National Indicators System.

When illness strikes, we expect a health care team to carefully collect information from the patient and then consult the wide range of information available to them to achieve the appropriate diagnosis and treatment. That careful and complete process should yield the best possible course of treatment and recovery.

We need the same kind of approach in the creation of wise health care policy. In particular, we need measures to identify what is wrong with our current health care system, including what is driving the increasingly high cost of care.

Abundant research and reports have analyzed such questions. What is desperately needed, however, is a central, independent organization that can analyze all of the research performed by various organizations, and make that information readily available to Congress, the Executive Branch, and the American people. That’s an indispensable part of successful health reform. It will give decision-makers easier access to all the knowledge available and eliminate wasteful spending of the hard-earned dollars of American families.

Senator Kennedy and Senator Enzi, in a strong, bi-partisan effort, understood the need for this vital resource, and they designed the Key National Indicator System to provide it. It will be a non-partisan, independent agency with a public/private partnership. It will foster better relationships between members of the legislative, statistical and scientific communities, and will lead to greater transparency and accountability for spending on national health programs.

Without such a resource, we will be at a serious disadvantage in fully understanding emerging health risks, and in assessing whether the intended result is being achieved or adequate progress is being made on the health care challenges facing us.

The Key National Indicator System will make all its data available on a newly created, widely accessible website. In the health care context, this unprecedented accessibility of data will assist the public in understanding what information was used by politicians in creating health care policy. It will enable policy makers to see whether progress is being made in health reform. And it will permit practitioners and researchers to use the information for the greater benefit of patients and consumers of medical care.

Significant progress in this area has already been accomplished. Over the years, the Institute of Medicine has been able to identify five drivers of health care quality and costs: 1) health outcomes, 2) health-related behaviors, 3) health system performance, 4) social and physical environment, and 5) demographic disparities.

The Institute has recommended 20 specific indicators for measuring these five drivers of health care quality and cost. These indicators were carefully selected to reflect both the overall health of the nation and the efficiency and effectiveness of our health care industry. However, the institute lacks an implementation system that can use these indicators effectively to guide future policy and practice. That’s the goal and mission of the new agency and the key national indicators system we propose.

Here’s one example of how this legislation will improve our health care system. A recent study conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health found that using a simple checklist during surgical procedures resulted in one-third reduction of complications from that surgery. Reports such as this are made public, but you have to know where to look in order to access this information.

The Key National Indicators System will take these reports, compile them, and disseminate them and make them available to the public. So, anytime a bill is being developed, a Congressional office can go to this website and see all the research that has been conducted on the topic, in order to make economically sound decisions for the American people.

Currently, Congress and the Administration continue to follow old habits. We tend to reinvent the wheel with every major new bill that is introduced. That approach leads to wasted time, wasted energy, and wasted money. Old habits are not good enough to achieve tomorrow’s goals. By developing this indicator system, a process will be in place so that the efficiency and effectiveness of government spending on short, medium, and long-term problems can be determined quickly and in a fiscally responsible manner.

Our current system is unsustainable. It creates unnecessary confusion when Americans can least afford it. We need a system that will provide insight, foresight, transparency, and accountability.

We won’t be doing our job for the American people if we allow their money to be spent without assessing the cost-effectiveness of the various programs being developed. By creating the Key National Indicator System, we can reassure all Americans that we did our required due diligence, and that our health care reform bill will truly work for them.