ACP Recommends changes to the Health Care System

In a new evidence-based paper, the American College of Physicians (ACP) analyzes health care in the United States and 12 other industrialized countries and identifies lessons that could be applied to the particular political and social culture of the United States to achieve a high performing health care system, including achieving universal health insurance coverage for all Americans. It recommends:
1. Provide universal health insurance coverage
2. create incentives to encourage patients to be prudent purchasers by having access to health information necessary for informed decision-making;
3. avert a collapse of primary care by developing a national workforce policy that ensures an adequate supply of physicians trained to manage care for the whole patient;
4. redirect federal health care policy toward supporting the patient-centered medical home, an innovative practice system designed to strengthen the physician-patient relationship by having a primary care physician coordinate a team of health care professionals as they address the full range of a patient’s needs;
5. provide financial incentives for physicians for care coordination, disease prevention, and achievement of evidence-based performance standards;
6. reduce the costs of health care administration by creating a uniform billing system for all services;
7. support with federal funds an inter-operable health information technology infrastructure;
8. encourage public and private investment in medical research and assessments of the comparative effectiveness of different medical treatments;