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Senate Finance chair wants to move on pay for performance

Quality Improvement Monitor, August 4, 2005

Senate Finance Chair Charles Grassley pledged to act on legislation by the fall that would attempt to tie Medicare payments to quality of care, according to a report July 27 at The Commonwealth Fund Web site, www.cmwf.org.

"Everyone around here knows I'm a stickler for getting the most out of every tax dollar spent," the Iowa Republican said at a hearing. "Right now, we're not doing that in Medicare."

A marriage of Medicare payments and quality of care marks a "sea change in Medicare policy," said Max Baucus, D-MT, the committee's ranking Democrat. The change will influence private payers because Medicare is the largest purchaser of healthcare in the United States, the report said.

Baucus and Grassley have co-sponsored legislation that would tie Medicare payments to quality.

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