Recent news from CMS that healthcare spending has slowed isn’t as rosy as it seems, says the Commonwealth Fund. “Any celebration is premature,” fund president Karen Davis said in a statement. A data brief from the fund’s Commission on a High Performance Health System notes that even though 2005’s 6.9% healthcare spending increase is the lowest since 1999, it still outpaces inflation and wage growth for the average U.S. worker.
The commission suggests several strategies to improve value and efficiency in the U.S. healthcare system. They include more open reporting on costs and quality of care, rewarding health providers for quality and efficiency, and expanding the use of IT.
