Practicing Prevention Through Payment – Joshua Liao, MD

While the function of healthcare is to improve our health, how we pay for healthcare matters. With many Americans experiencing medical debt and many others battling insurance companies to have medications covered, payment is at the backbone of healthcare. Dr. Joshua Liao is the Associate Professor of Medicine and and Associate Chair for Health Systems in the Department of Medicine among other positions he holds at The University of Washington. He is also the founder and director of the Value and Systems Science Lab at UW which aims to bring value into payment and care delivery models. Lastly, he advises policy makers through a number of avenues, including service on the US department of Health and Human Services through his role on PTAC (the physician focused payment model advisory technical committee). In this episode, we discover the depths of payment for medical services, how preventive services and care might be promoted within a value based payment model, and how to make healthcare more equitable and accessible for those in need. This episode covers a lot and answers many questions about payment in healthcare. The opinions, views, and statements made in this podcast are solely those of Dr. Liao and do not reflect those of his employer or any group he's affiliated with. Dr. Liao's Links: Twitter Link Show Outline * What gets you up every morning, why do you do what you do? * What does preventive medicine mean to you? * How do people pay for healthcare and how did it get so complicated? * Where do preventive services fall in the reimbursement model? * What is the Value and Systems Science Lab and why did you start it? * How do we reduce the overuse of health systems? How does reducing the overuse of healthcare impact patient care? * Even with preventive services available, they are often not accessible to those who need them most. How can the right services be made available to those who need them? * What does incentivizing preventive care in a healthcare system look like? * You serve on some committees at a higher level such as the PTAC, what is their take on payment for healthcare? Is this acknowledged as a problem? * What is your ideal payment approach for improving the efficiency and value of healthcare delivery Join our Mailing List HERE: Mailchimp