Mittler Jessica
Issue Brief (Commonw Fund). 2005 Jul(834):1-11.
An aging population, the addition of a prescription drug benefit, and federal budget deficits require policymakers to continue to explore ways to improve Medicare. Because Medicare is such a large share of health care spending, initiatives to improve its efficiency and the quality of care it funds will potentially influence the health care system as a whole. Current strategies to improve the quality of care and efficiency of the program focus on getting beneficiaries to migrate to better-performing providers, or intervening more directly to encourage the system to provide higher quality, more efficient care. Some strategies try to increase information sharing overall, some focus primarily on providers or beneficiaries, while others target specific diseases.
人口老龄化、处方药福利的增加以及联邦预算赤字要求政策制定者继续探索改善医疗保险的方法。由于医疗保险在医疗保健支出中占如此大的份额，提高其效率和其所资助的医疗服务质量的举措可能会对整个医疗保健系统产生影响。当前提高该计划的医疗服务质量和效率的策略侧重于让受益人转向表现更好的医疗服务提供者，或者更直接地进行干预，以鼓励该系统提供更高质量、更高效的医疗服务。一些策略试图全面增加信息共享，一些主要关注医疗服务提供者或受益人，而另一些则针对特定疾病。
