“The Bundled Payments Initiative, announced by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services yesterday, is the kind of innovative payment reform that offers real promise for improving the quality and coordination of health care. This initiative is well worth testing and we commend the Administration for its flexible approach to incentivizing providers to test it.

At a time when patients, and especially those with multiple chronic health problems, are left to fend for themselves in a health care system in which many providers do not talk to each other and care is fragmented, we urgently need new approaches that will improve communication, collaboration and coordination across providers and settings. This kind of payment reform has the potential to do just that and promote better continuity of care, fewer errors and ultimately lower costs for the program and patients.

All patients and their family caregivers – and especially those who are most vulnerable and are heavy users of the health care system — have a tremendous amount at stake as reform is implemented. We applaud the Administration for incentivizing Medicare providers to make meaningful changes in how they deliver care so that patients receive better care, with better results, at lower cost.”