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U.S. sets $1 billion healthcare innovation initiative

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U.S. President Barack Obama speaks at a Democratic Party fundraiser at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York, May 13, 2013. REUTERS/Jason Reed

U.S. President Barack Obama speaks at a Democratic Party fundraiser at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York, May 13, 2013.

Credit: Reuters/Jason Reed

WASHINGTON | Wed May 15, 2013 3:27pm EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration on Wednesday announced a $1 billion initiative to fund innovations in federal healthcare programs aimed at cutting costs while improving the health results.

The Department of Health and Human Services said the money will be used to award and evaluate projects that test new payment and delivery models for federal programs including Medicare, Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program.

The announcement marks the second round of innovation initiatives for the administration under President Barack Obama's 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

The government is looking for models that can quickly cut costs in outpatient or post-acute settings, improve care for people with special needs, transform healthcare providers' financial and clinical models or improve health conditions by clinical category, geographic area or socioeconomic class.

The application period runs from June 14 to August 15.

(Reporting by David Morgan; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick and Vicki Allen)
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Comments (11)
unionwv wrote:
“Models” will become “Edicts”, ossified and opressive – typical governmental evolution of “service” to the people.

Healthcare innovation and flecibility will be available only to those wealthy enough to escape the U.S. communistic dragnet.

May 15, 2013 10:53am EDT  --  Report as abuse
Inertia wrote:
Wasn’t the Gov program in general based on its ability to grant better coverage for less money? Now, after it’s set into law and turning out to be a financial nightmare, there’s a contest to get a piece of $1B to find a way to make this system work.

Is that a way to say “we screwed up” without saying it outright?

May 15, 2013 10:58am EDT  --  Report as abuse
Ron4Sure wrote:
Yes, instead of wasting time creating Obamacare, what they should have been doing was creating a single payer system. Now, seeing the error of its ways, and acknowledging massive overcharging and bloating of healthcare costs, they are going to throw more taxpayer money at finding alternatives. Things get ever more ridiculous in Washington. Our legislators need to get to work actually doing something to fix the healthcare system — like, for instance, getting the insurance companies out of it completely and letting the government deliver healthcare. And yes, the government should cap procedures.

May 15, 2013 11:07am EDT  --  Report as abuse
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