« The Dual Agenda: January 21, 2015 Issue
Noteworthy News
Community Catalyst Report Charts a Path for Health System Transformation
Community Catalyst has released a new report, “The Path to a People-Centered Health System: Next Generation Consumer Health Advocacy,” to equip consumer advocates to take on the challenges and opportunities of transforming our health system in the coming years. Even as advocates across the country continue the important work of ensuring full implementation of the ACA to maximize coverage, they must also turn their attention to the next phase of health reform – the rapid transformation of our health care financing and delivery system. The ultimate goal is a health system that ensures all people get the care they need and that invests in keeping them healthy. To get there, advocates must become fully engaged in health system transformation work at the individual, delivery system and policy levels, to counter approaches focused solely on cutting costs at the expense of quality, and instead to promote approaches that will be beneficial to consumers.
Care for Frail Older Adults: A Comprehensive Local Vision
An article by Alice Bonner and Joanne Lynn for the Altarum Health Institute proposes a comprehensive local or regional approach to providing the full continuum of services essential for caring for frail older adults. Most older adults are likely to confront physical and cognitive disabilities and medical conditions as they age that make it impossible to be fully independent. The authors propose the creation of local entities, which could be municipal or county bodies, or a governmentally endorsed coalition of private organizations, that will build new models of financially sustainable community-based services. These entities would provide a regional management structure that integrates services and funding; monitors quality and supply; and acts to improve service capacity, financing and quality. This structure would enable agencies providing housing, meals, transportation, recreation, day care, foster care, assisted living, home health, respite care, nursing home, post-hospital care, and medical care to work together in a fully coordinated way. The article lays out a number of grassroots steps consumer activists can take to begin promoting this model with their local governments.