Regarding health care reform, perhaps UNMC’s John Adams, Ph.D., said it best.
“Providers will have to do business differently,” said the assistant vice chancellor for budget and planning. “It’s not going to be business as usual.”
But while much uncertainty surrounds health care reform, several UNMC officials see potential opportunities, particularly in terms of finding new and better ways to deliver health care.
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New models of care must be examined to help the country find a sustainable way to deliver health care in the face of an aging population, a massive number of uninsured and rising health care costs, said UNMC Chancellor Harold M. Maurer, M.D.
“We need to change because our costs cannot exceed our reimbursements, which is inevitable in our current system,” Dr. Maurer said.
In the spirit of experimentation, UNMC will have the opportunity to create a Healthcare Innovation Zone (HIZ), which is described in the health reform bill as “a geographic region that contains an academic medical center and other clinical and non-clinical entities that provide the full spectrum of health care services to a defined population.”
The Healthcare Innovation Zone is one model of care under consideration as a solution to implement health care reform. UNMC has added the creation of such a zone as critical success factor in its strategic plan.
Federal funding is available to help institutions set up pilot HIZs and UNMC may be eligible to receive such monies.
UNMC is in the early stages of forming its HIZ. A specific patient population, geographic partners and payment structures have yet to be determined.
As UNMC moves forward, its strength in primary care and its strong connections to rural Nebraska could be key components in the formation of the HIZ, Bowen said.
“The entrepreneurial spirit at UNMC and its strengths lend themselves well toward putting together a strong HIZ and this gives UNMC a chance to be a leader and a model for others,” Bowen said.