About the Project
White Papers
News and Commentaries
Additional Resources
Updated! An Overview of Proposed Healthcare Reforms Impacting Hospitals
New! Summary of House Healthcare Reform Bill
About HFMA’s Healthcare Payment Reform Project
HFMA recognizes that changing the current healthcare payment system is key to achieving the nation’s overall health goals of wellness, high-quality care, access to care and other societal benefit, and a financially stable health system.
In September 2007, HFMA held a retreat on “Building a Better Payment System” to get input from a cross-section of system stakeholders in order to identify principles that should guide changes to the current system. In September 2008, HFMA brought together a group of provider executives to examine the actions that providers would need to take to support various approaches to payment reform and followed up that retreat with research to see how leading provider organizations are preparing for reform.
Arising from these two retreats were the two white papers offered below. Healthcare Payment Reform: From Principles to Action is the product of the 2007 retreat. It identifies the principles of quality, alignment of incentives, fairness/sustainability, simplification, and societal benefit that should guide reform.
Healthcare Payment Reform: A Call to Action is the product of the 2008 retreat. It shows the key competencies that provider organizations will need to succeed under payment reform that is emerging from our federal government and throughout the country.
HFMA will continue to help its members and others involved in healthcare finance to understand and succeed in our nation’s efforts to build a sustainable and effective healthcare system.
White Papers
Healthcare Payment Reform: A Call to Action (June 2009)
Federal payment reform appears poised to emerge within the coming year, and once it does, providers may need to change quickly. This white paper identifies competencies in three key areas that providers can begin to build today to succeed under payment reform.
Healthcare Payment Reform: From Principles to Action (Sept. 2008)
Our current payment system works against the actions needed to improve health care. This paper outlines the principles, actions, and collaborative approach among all stakeholders that is needed to transform the payment system.
News and Commentaries
Summary of House Healthcare Reform Bill
This document provides a section-by-section summary of the House of Representatives’ Affordable Health Care for America Act. (Note: This document is located on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce's web site; opens in a new window.)
Senate Finance Committee Releases Reform Bill
Read this HFMA News story, with a link to the draft legislation.
Vetting the Health Care Rhetoric
This article from Congressional Quarterly sorts through various claims on proposed health reform legislation, identifying true, false, and misleading assertions. (Note: Not an HFMA publication; opens in a new window.)
Health Reform: A Message to HFMA Members
HFMA President and CEO Richard L. Clarke discusses the necessity and challenges of reform.
Incremental Healthcare Reform Can Work
In this opinion piece, HFMA member Olakunle Olaniyan and a colleague argue for an incremental approach to reform in lieu of a rapid overhaul.
The Realities of Healthcare Costs
HFMA member Gregory Burfitt defines eight realities of healthcare costs in this opinion piece for HFMA Views.
HFMA Comments on Attributes of Tax-Exempt Healthcare Providers
In this June 18, 2009, comment letter to Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, HFMA encourages moving away from a narrow focus on charity care in discussions of not-for-profit hospitals’ tax-exempt status.
Healthcare Reform: A Moral Imperative, an Economic Necessity
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D.-Mont.) outlines both social and economic arguments in favor of reform.
Healthcare Reform: It Can Be Done
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the Senate Finance Committee’s ranking member, identifies four key principles for healthcare reform.
Strange Bedfellows
Richard L. Clarke, DHA, FHFMA, President and CEO of HFMA, considers the factors behind an apparent alignment of key healthcare stakeholders on the need for reform.
Additional Resources
An Overview of Proposed Healthcare Reforms Impacting Hospitals
This downloadable presentation summarizes recent healthcare payment reform proposals and examines their potential impact on acute care hospitals. Updated November 5, 2009.
Impact of a Government-Run Option on Hospital Revenue
Use this tool to model the impact of a government-run option in the health insurance market on your hospital's revenues. Results are based on assumptions by the Commonwealth Fund and the Lewin Group, as well as scenarios that you can create.
Are You Ready for Value-Driven Health Care?
Value-focused reforms to today’s payment system are sure to be a major component of healthcare reform, and providers need to be prepared. This HFMA educational report describes how participants in the 2009 HFMA CFO Summit are using new pricing structures, physician alignment strategies, and healthcare IT to enhance the value and quality of care.