What Can the U.S. and England Learn from Each Other’s Health Care Reforms?
<p>Both the U.S. and England are currently working toward better integrating health services, improving population health, and managing health care costs. Drawing on their<em> JAMA </em>Viewpoint published today, Harkness Fellow Adam D. M. Briggs, along with Hugh Alderwick, Stephen M. Shortell, and Elliott S. Fisher, say on <em>To the Point </em>that despite the differences in their health systems, the U.S. and England can still learn from each other’s reforms.</p><p>In the U.S., ACOs were established in 2010 under the Affordable Care Act as a way to hold health care providers accountable for care quality and costs. And in the U.K., there are new “place-based” partnerships of all the National Health Service organizations and local government departments that purchase and provide health and long-term care services for a geographically defined population.</p>
<p>The authors offer lessons from each country’s reforms. For example, the U.S. ACO experience suggests that English policymakers should be realistic about the potential benefits of their new partnerships. And U.S. policymakers might take inspiration from the NHS by including all payers in their reforms, and avoiding the mixed incentives that come with health care organizations being paid both by fee-for-service and through value-based contracts.</p>