Reform The Doctor Recertification Process To Create A Better Health Care System

Editor's note: Peter Orszag coauthored this post with Alan Muney. There’s a lot of talk about creating a better health care delivery system based on value, not volume. Much of the focus is on insurers rewarding doctors financially for improving patients’ health in a cost-effective way. But there’s more to creating a sustainable model for health care that improves quality and lowers costs, and it’s something we can start right now to see results within the next decade: reform the recertification process for doctors. Currently, doctors are recertified based exclusively on their book knowledge. Wouldn’t it be better to base medical certification at least in part on how doctors actually practice medicine? If doctors knew their clinical practices would influence their recertification chances, the resultant accountability would help to improve quality and reduce costs within the 10-year cycle that medical specialty boards generally require for recertification. As an analogy, would you drive differently if your actual driving habits were retrospectively reviewed as part of a license renewal process? Probably. How many fewer accidents and deaths from speeding might there be, and how much more affordable might insurance be as a result? And wouldn’t you rather drive with someone you actually knew followed speed limits rather than someone who just passed a written test demonstrating knowledge of those limits?
Source: Health Affairs Blog - Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Tags: All Categories Effectiveness Health IT Physicians Policy Quality Workforce Source Type: blogs