Former Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (MedPAC) Administrator Donald Berwick is right about one thing: regardless of the Supreme Court ruling on the Affordable Care Act (ACA), health care reforms are already being driven in the private sector marketplace.
In a speech Monday at the American Health Lawyers Association’s annual meeting in Chicago, Berwick noted that the “reform train has already left the station.” He added that many changes, such as the shift toward team-based care structures and the implementation of care coordination programs are already meeting their goals in terms of lowering healthcare costs.
While the power and import of the Supreme Court, the President and Congress are preeminent in the context of law and regulatory policy, the dynamism of the U.S. private sector and the healthcare marketplace itself is the primary driver of transformative changes that elevate quality and comparative provider costs to the fore, where they belong.