Lateefah Simon: “At a time when the Congress is proposing--and HCFA will be responsible for administering--significant reductions in…”

“At a time when the Congress is proposing--and HCFA will be responsible for administering--significant reductions in Medicare and Medicaid costs, this proposal is particularly timely. Specifically, with the advent of managed care, and the resulting shift of patient care from inpatient acute care to ambulatory and other primary care settings, an integrated health care delivery system is essential. At present, information management systems to measure cost outcomes--and achieve cost savings--beyond the acute care setting are not commercially available. The information management system recommended in this report language would serve as a prototype for other health care delivery systems, and offers the promise of cutting health care costs while maintaining quality health care.”