New Privately-Funded D.C. Policy Center Aims to Find $100 Billion in Health Care Savings

Posted: January 25, 2012 by David Rosenfeld

The pressure to reduce health care costs continues to grow and more organizations are entering the field of health care outcome research. This week saw the launch of the West Health Policy Center in Washington, DC. It’s mission: Find ways to reduce health care costs by $100 billion.

The center is funded by a “multi-year, multi-million dollar commitment” from philanthropists Gary and Mary West, according to its press release. Candidates for one of five fellowships offered through the policy center must show an ability to target at least $1 billion in actionable annual health care savings.

The first fellow is Peter Neumann, MD, an internationally renowned researcher on the use of cost-effectiveness analysis. Neumann currently serves as a director at the Institute for Clinical Research and Health Policy at Tufts Medical Center in Boston.

Areas of focus for the policy center include the appropriate use of care, price transparency, rational reimbursement and regulation regulation, says the center in a on online document.

To quickly get health IT analytics research on cost-effectiveness underway, the Center also announced that is partnering with the clinical analytics company Humedica, Inc. West Health Policy Center fellows will have access to de-identified patient data held by Humedica, as well as Humedica’s analytics platform.

Additional Resources

The center’s launch press release (PDF file)

Posted in health_analytics , health_care_spending

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