HHS intends for the network to accelerate transformation of the nation’s healthcare delivery system to one that achieves better care, smarter spending, and healthier people by engaging private sector leaders to build upon public sector successes. Already at work in Medicare, alternative payment models have contributed to notable successes according to HHS: 50,000 fewer patient deaths in hospitals due to avoidable harm and 150,000 fewer preventable hospital readmissions since 2010.

The network is the next step in HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell’s plan to tie 30 percent of Medicare fee-for-service payments to quality or value through accountable care organizations or other alternative payment models by 2016. HHS wants 85 percent of all Medicare payments linked to quality or value by 2016, climbing to 90 percent by 2018.

“The Health Care Payment Learning and Action Network will serve as an important mechanism for sharing and spreading successful, transformative healthcare efforts, and we’re proud to be a partner in this effort,” said John B. Bulger, DO, MBA, Chief Quality Officer of Geisinger Health System, an NQF member.

Geisinger and NQF are among the more than 2,800 partners that have registered to participate in the network. Dozens of partners, including the American Cancer Society, Kaiser Permanente, Montefiore Medical Center, New York State, and Walmart, have set entity-specific goals to encourage adoption of healthcare payment models that improve quality and reduce cost.

The network currently is establishing working groups for its core functions, including serving as a convening body to facilitate implementation of new payment and care delivery models, fostering collaboration to generate evidence and share approaches; developing common approaches to core issues such as quality measurement; and creating implementation guides for payers, purchasers, providers, and consumers, among others.