“Last night Congress continued the process of reforming Medicare to make it more responsive to consumers and to make its payments to providers anchored in performance. Congress built on prior efforts to expand hospital payment and public reporting requirements, and took a small but important step to reform payment for physicians by providing incentives for them to submit data on their performance to the Medicare program.

This is progress toward a system that rewards quality and not just quantity of health care services. In addition, Congress recognized the importance of care coordination by supporting payment reform pilot projects to support a ‘Medical Home’ that would ensure care for Medicare beneficiaries with complex conditions.

At a time when Americans have no more than a 50/50 chance of getting the right care at the right time, Congress should establish the right incentives for providing high quality care. We need to give providers, consumers and purchasers meaningful performance information if our health care system is to improve. This law continues the steps toward the transparency we need.”