Partnership for Patients: A Common Commitment
The Partnership for Patients: Better Care, Lower Costs is a new public-private partnership that will help improve the quality, safety and affordability of health care for all Americans.
Using as much as $1 billion in new funding provided by the Affordable Care Act and leveraging a number of ongoing programs, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will work with a wide variety of public and private partners to achieve the two core goals of this partnership – keeping patients from getting injured or sicker in the health care system and helping patients heal without complication by improving transitions from acute-care hospitals to other care settings, like home or a skilled nursing facility.
Beyond reducing harm caused in hospitals, the Partnership for Patients is an important test of what can occur when the nation acts as one to address a major national health problem.
The recently formed Innovation Center at the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services intends to dedicate over $500 million to test models of safer care delivery and promote implementation of best practices in patient safety. CMS will also provide $500 million for a Community-based Care Transition Program created by the Affordable Care Act to support hospitals and community based organizations in helping Medicare beneficiaries at high risk for readmission to the hospital safely transition from the hospital to other care settings.
Read Questions and Answers about the Partnership.
Who has Joined the Partnership?
Achieving the goals of the Partnership for Patients will reflect the combined effort of many key stakeholders within the health care system –physicians, nurses, hospitals, health plans, employers and unions, patients and their advocates, and the federal and state governments. Major stakeholders – including more than 2,000 hospitals – have pledged to join with Medicare in a shared effort to save thousands of lives, stop millions of injuries, and take important steps toward a more dependable and affordable health care system.
Stakeholder groups include:
- Hospitals and organizations representing physicians and nurses: America has the best-trained and equipped health care system and workforce in the world working hard to provide the best care for patients. These professionals are committed to improving care processes and systems, and improving communication and coordination, to dramatically improve the outcome of that care for patients.
- Consumer and patient organizations: Patients and their families feel most deeply the harms from preventable health care complications. Organizations representing patients’ interests are committed to raising public awareness and developing information, tools and resources to help patients and families effectively engage with their providers in these activities.
- Employers, unions, health plans and States: Those who purchase health care for most Americans can help provide the incentives and supports to help improve safety and quality so patients and clinicians have the best possible information and the burden on hospitals and other providers is minimized.
- Medicare: As the single largest purchaser of health care in the U.S., Medicare will dedicate $1 billion from the Affordable Care Act to provide support to physicians, nurses and other clinicians working in and out of hospitals to make patient care safer and to support effective transitions of patients from hospitals to other settings. These tools and support will be customized to meet the local needs of different settings and clinicians. In addition, agencies across HHS will align their ongoing safety and quality initiatives behind the goals of the initiative.
See who has joined the Partnership.
Posted on: April 12, 2011