Defining Affordable Care - Short Story
Affordability from the Patient’s PerspectiveAffordability is often one of the most daunting barriers patients face in our healthcare system. A key first step to address this issue is to define what affordable care means from the patient’s perspective.NQF’s Measuring Affordable Care Project, funded by the
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, is exploring affordability from the vantage point
of the patient, including which measures matter most to consumers, what type of
data is needed for such measures, how to best leverage and report measures to address consumer needs, and the factors
that influence consumers’ perspectives of whether care is affordable.
Melissa Thomason, co-chair of the Measuring Affordable Care
Committee and a patient advisor with the 2013 Eisenberg Award-winning Vidant Health System, illustrated the real world
implications of affordable care by sharing her own personal story at the NQF
meeting.
“No one wants to talk about money because what cost can you
put on a life . . . and how can you even measure that?” said Thomason, who described
needing emergency open-heart surgery within hours of giving birth, the five heart
surgeries that followed, the impact of the cost of her care on her family, and how
it changed her perspectives on affordability.
Hear Melissa’s story:
Measuring Affordable CareJohn M. Eisenburg Patient Safety and Quality Awardseorourke@qualityforum.orgDefining Affordable CareWhat
does affordable care mean from the patient’s perspective?#E4801C
