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The explicit theme of the recent Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services quality conference was, “Making America Health Again: Innovating Together for Better Health.” The implicit theme was, “Speak Softly And Carry A Big Stick,” as agency leaders made clear they intend to use the $1.2 trillion in provider payment they control to make value-based care the new paradigm of American medicine.
The agency’s policies affect 160 million Americans, so private payers typically follow where CMS leads. As Chris Klomp, director of the Center for Medicare, bluntly put it: “Where Medicare goes, so, too does the rest of the health care economy.”
That’s the $5 trillion-plus ”health care economy,” which accounts for over one-sixth of the entire U.S. economy.