By: Giselle C. Matlis, Research Assistant
On Monday June 26th 2017, Medtronic announced that they will be using a “new outcomes-based [payment] agreement with Aetna (NYSE:AET) for type 1 and type 2 diabetes patients”. Hooman Hakami, president of the Diabetes Group at Medtronic stated that “this agreement reinforces our shift towards value-based healthcare. We know technology alone isn’t enough and ultimately improved outcomes are what matter…Our goal is to continue to lead by driving innovation that demonstrably improves patient outcomes, elevates patient experience and lowers the total cost of care”.
This sounds like a great new idea.
Ironically, Axendia President, Daniel Matlis, predicted this ten years ago!
In a June 4, 2007 blog post on Axendia.com, Mr. Matlis noted that Sear’s Craftsman line of tools had a lifetime guarantee. This was a business decision by Sears to gamble that the high quality of their tools would minimize warranty costs. He then suggested that a similar approach could work in the healthcare industry and projected that out-come based billing would be the next big thing for the pharmaceutical world. He stated that this approach could, “enable a new health care paradigm, where all involved have the proverbial ‘skin in the game’. Patients get access to drugs that are nearly certain to be effective. Health care payers can ‘afford’ to make new, and let’s face it, expensive, treatments available to patients since they are provided a degree of confidence of treatment effectiveness, and limited downside through a refund”.
So, you decide: #newidea or #throwbackthursday?