By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
  • Health
    • Mental Health
  • Policy and Law
    • Global Healthcare
    • Medical Ethics
  • Medical Innovations
  • News
  • Wellness
  • Tech
Search
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: What the Supreme Court (and You) Won’t Hear About Health Reform
Share
Notification Show More
Font ResizerAa
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
Font ResizerAa
Search
Follow US
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Health Works Collective > Policy & Law > Public Health > What the Supreme Court (and You) Won’t Hear About Health Reform
Policy & LawPublic Health

What the Supreme Court (and You) Won’t Hear About Health Reform

Michael Millenson
Michael Millenson
Share
5 Min Read
SHARE

 

By Michael L. Millenson

 

By Michael L. Millenson

More Read

ACA
Some Big Health Plans Must Think Exchanges Will Succeed
Massachusetts Governor’s Race: Views on Healthcare
Is There Too Much Screening for Heart Disease?
Most Breast Cancer Patients May Not Be Getting Enough Exercise
Why We Need To Be More Open About End-of-Life Care
Mike Millenson

Michael L. Millenson, President of Health Quality Advisors

There’s a reason the pundits and legal poohbahs are prattling on about the “severability” of the individual mandate provision that’s the focus of much-anticipated Supreme Court hearings on health reform constitutionality. That’s because the partisan obloquy about “Obamacare” too often obscures the fact that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is mostly about patient protection and affordable care.

Case in point: the law’s landmark provisions regarding “patient-centeredness.”

Is anyone against patient-centeredness? Those elitists at the Institute of Medicine, drawing on work by suspect Massachusetts liberals at the Picker Institute, defined patient-centeredness back in 2001 when George W. Bush was president, this way: “Care that is respectful of and responsive to individual patient preferences, needs, and values and ensuring that patient values guide all clinical decisions.” The IOM also made patient-centeredness one of six aims for U.S. health care.

Wait. Couldn’t Ron Paul and the Libertarians endorse that same individual-centric definition, which actually has roots in religious teachings? (Hey, the original Tea Party was in Boston.)

If you’re a free-market conservative, patient-centeredness fits the concept of health care as a marketplace filled with consumers and providers. Interestingly, as early as 1974, under another Republican president, those IOM elitists endorsed publishing outcomes measures “so consumers can be informed of the relative effectiveness of various health providers and make their choices accordingly.”

Finally, if you think actual medical care has nothing to do with politics – which makes you normal –  then patient-reported outcome measures, such as physical functioning have a clinical role when reported in standardized formats that can provide feedback about ongoing treatment decisions.

The ACA supports all of these, repeatedly referring to patient-centeredness, patient satisfaction, patient experience of care, patient engagement and shared decision-making in its provisions. Even when the law only uses the more general term “quality measures,” patient-centered assessments are being required when these provisions are turned into regulations.

These ACA patient-centeredness requirements, built on a long history of bipartisan accord, support and supercharge similar efforts in the private sector and represent an unsung transformation of health care. My colleague Juliana Macri and I write about it in a just-published Urban Institute paper sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, entitled, “Will the Affordable Care Act Move Patient-Centeredness to Center Stage?”

Well, to center stage of real life, anyway, if not the excited talking heads world of politics.

 Key ACA Provisions Related to Quality Measurement & Reporting: 

Program/Provision

Quality Measurement & Reporting Activity

Measure Development and/or Revision

Data Submission

Public Reporting

Provisions that specify that “patient-centered” measures (a) must be used
SEC. 3005. Quality Reporting for PPS-Exempt Cancer Hospitals (b) 

X

X

SEC. 3013. Quality Measure Development (c)

X

  
SEC. 3022. Medicare Shared Savings Program 

X

X

SEC. 3023. National Pilot Program on Payment Bundling

X

X

 
SEC. 3201. Medicare Advantage Payment 

X

X

SEC. 3502. Establishing Community Health Teams to Support the Patient-Centered Medical Home 

X

X

SEC. 3503. Medication Management Services in Treatment of Chronic Disease 

X

 
SEC. 4108. Incentives for Prevention of Chronic Diseases in Medicaid 

X

 
SEC. 10202. Incentives for States to Offer Home and Community-Based Services as Long-Term Care Alternative to Nursing Homes 

X

 
Provisions related to quality measurement that DO NOT specify that “patient-centered” measures must be used
SEC. 2701. Adult Health Quality Measures

X

X

X

SEC. 2703. State Option to Provide Health Homes for Enrollees with Chronic Conditions 

X

 
SEC. 3001. Hospital Value-Based Purchasing 

X

 
SEC. 3002. Improvements to the Physician Quality Reporting System (d) 

X

 
SEC. 3004. Quality Reporting for Long-Term Care Hospitals, Inpatient Rehabilitation Hospitals, and Hospice Programs 

X

X

SEC. 3011. National Strategy for Quality Improvement in Health Care (e)   
SEC. 3014. Quality Measurement (f)   
SEC. 3015. Data Collection, Public Reporting 

X

X

SEC. 3021. Establishment of Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation Within the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (g)   
SEC. 3024. Independence at Home Demonstration 

X

 


TAGGED:ACAindividual mandatepatient-centerednesssupreme court
Share This Article
Facebook Copy Link Print
Share

Stay Connected

1.5kFollowersLike
4.5kFollowersFollow
2.8kFollowersPin
136kSubscribersSubscribe

Latest News

a woman walking on the hallway
6 Easy Healthcare Ways to Sit Less and Move More Every Day
Health
September 9, 2025
Clinical Expertise
Healthcare at a Crossroads: Why Leadership Matters More Than Ever
Global Healthcare
September 9, 2025
travel nurse in north carolina
Balancing Speed and Scope: Choosing the Nursing Degree That Fits Your Goals
Nursing
September 1, 2025
intimacy
How to Keep Intimacy Comfortable as You Age
Relationship and Lifestyle Senior Care
September 1, 2025

You Might also Like

ACA
FinanceHealth ReformPolicy & Law

Groups Nationwide to Get Federal Grants to Promote ACA

August 18, 2013
patient privacy
Medical Ethics

Crucial Steps to Safeguard Patient Privacy in the Digital Age

June 22, 2023

Newt Gingrich and “Conservative” Hypocrisy on Medicare Part D

January 25, 2012

New OIG Self-Disclosure Protocol

April 20, 2013
Subscribe
Subscribe to our newsletter to get our newest articles instantly!
Follow US
© 2008-2025 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Username or Email Address
Password

Lost your password?