AHIP Advances New National Strategy to Improve Health Care Safety and Quality

Patients and physicians will have more information to make value-based health care decisions under a comprehensive new strategy to improve the safety and quality of medical care released today by the Board of Directors of America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP).

The plan calls for the development of a new entity to compare the safety and efficacy of medical procedures and technologies, advocates steps to promote transparency of health care information and speed the adoption of best practices, and calls for the creation of a new patient-centered dispute resolution mechanism.

The absence of objective, patient- and physician-friendly information related to the value of medical services has come into sharp focus in recent years as safety and efficacy concerns have arisen related to a series of common treatments and technologies, including autologous bone marrow transplantation, implantable cardioverter defibrillators, Cox-2 inhibitors, and arterial stents.

The AHIP plan addresses this urgent challenge by advocating a three-point program: creating a new public-private partnership charged with providing up-to-date and objective information on which health care services are most effective and provide the best value; assuring that the FDA has the authority to monitor the long-term impact of new drugs, devices and biologicals; and, adopting a national medical research agenda that closes gaps in knowledge and provides actionable information to patients and physicians.