FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 26, 2008

PQC Statement on Healthcare Costs

For Immediate Release Contact: Kate Navarro-McKay
February 26, 2008 (646-246-5906)

Washington, DC – The report issued today by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on projected health expenditures contains critically important macroeconomic data for anyone concerned about the long-term affordability of high quality health care in the United States. While health care spending projections are lower than in previous years, the current trajectory is clearly one of increasing, rather than decreasing, costs.

What the CMS report does not address is how much of current health care spending represents "dollars well spent" on health interventions that maximize the value of our health care dollars. As an organization of one million front-line health care workers, as well as public, private, religious, teaching and nonprofit hospitals and integrated health systems caring for more than 50 million patients annually, the Partnership for Quality Care (PQC) is committed to building a health care system in which every American has affordable access to the highest quality care. To reach that goal, we must control costs to ensure that every health care dollar is a dollar well spent.

PQC believes there are major opportunities to improve quality while containing costs right now. Every day we delay addressing this challenge, the more challenging it becomes to achieve universal coverage in the United States. And as the number of uninsured grows, the goal of containing costs while improving quality will grow more elusive.

To demonstrate the opportunities that can be found in a health care reform process that is driven by quality, PQC will first tackle the problem of chronic care. At a March 19 summit in Washington, DC, leading health care providers and caregivers will discuss real-world initiatives that have succeeded in restraining costs and increasing the quality of care for more Americans. Because chronic disease accounts for 75% of health care costs, achieving greater value in our treatment of these diseases will have an immense impact on the efficiency and quality of our health care system.

About the Partnership for Quality Care

Launched in May 2007, the Partnership for Quality Care is a unique national organization, a labor-management partnership of healthcare providers and healthcare workers. It includes more than 1 million workers, as well as public, private, religious, teaching and nonprofit hospitals and integrated health systems caring for more than
50 million patients annually.