“So how do we change the incentives to make it easier for the health system to function the way it should? At a time when the majority in Congress are against any new spending, how do we demonstrate that Medicaid should start paying for the kind of work that Health Leads’ volunteers perform?
One idea, suggested by Rick Brush from Hartford, Conn., (17) is to develop “new financing mechanisms like social impact bonds” — bonds that only pay off only if you are successful in producing a positive social result. “The key will be to demonstrate to those who pay for health care costs (e.g., insurance companies, employers, hospitals, government, and citizens) that it’s more efficient to invest $1 in upstream prevention than it is to pay $6 in downstream treatment.”
(Source: The New York Times)
