“This fact illustrates that high employer reimbursements are enabling most hospital systems in America to remain reactive and not focused on preventing disease. Only when those high employer reimbursements are scarce will hospitals change.”
Ochsner Health headquartered in New Orleans with 40+ facilities across the Gulf South was able to lower healthcare costs by $56M across 500K of their patients. Ochsner then took $45M of those savings and gave it to the doctors and other healthcare providers. Ochsner accomplished these savings by
1) reducing ER visits and hospitalizations via improved outpatient primary care,
2) taking on financial risk for the total cost of care for a patient population and
3) decreasing disease.
That’s right… Ochsner accomplished these financial savings while IMPROVING patient care: –88 percent of patients with diabetes had their condition well controlled vs. a national average of 50-60 percent. –85% of patients with hypertension had their blood pressure well controlled vs. a national average of 20 percent.
Why?
Of all the hospital systems in America, why did Ochsner choose to move away from reactive, fee-for-service care? It’s because New Orleans and the Gulf South does not have a lot of patients with high-reimbursing commercial insurance through employer-sponsored plans.
Most of Ochsner’s patients are on much lower-paying Medicare and Medicaid insurance plans. This fact illustrates that high employer reimbursements are enabling most hospital systems in America to remain reactive and not focused on preventing disease. Only when those high employer reimbursements are scarce will hospitals change.
