Obama wants to reduce healthcare costs! But How?
After the Health Care Executive consortium meeting with Obama, the number 1 action is to reduce healthcare costs! But How?
Sources of increase in cost:
1. Medical Errors
2. Friction with insurance
3. Shortage of skilled workers
4. Rising costs of new therapies
5. Adoption of IT systems and new technology
Medical errors lead to morbidity/mortality and maybe litigation. Adding to costs. So formula is to reduce errors.
Insurance works on the fundamental that say 100 healthy people pay for illness of say < 10 ill people. If the balance begins to tip towards the other side, then the costs begin to spiral. Then the payer wants to pay less and provider naturally wants to safeguard its income. So the formula is to keep the balance right.
Skilled workforce shortage leads to higher wages, over utilization, and increased chances of failed outcomes. So the formula is to train more workers and in the interim fill the shortfall by aliens/immigrants.
New therapies are unavoidable, because there is a constant battle going on between disease and therapies. One trying to outdo the other! So the formula is to be conservative while using new therapies.
Adoption of IT systems helps in optimizing the processes, removes silos, reduces errors and provides information at the point of care. This is exactly what the incentive package intends to do.
Cutting costs is easier said than done because cost for one stakeholder is revenue for another in the healthcare system.
Comments
Point no. 1- Under the global healthcare point of view each and every person should be insured in developed, developing and under developed countries and it shoud be mandatory to all corporates, small organizations and government sector.
Point No. 2- Service delivery is important but the demand creation from the side of community should also be done by proper awareness and delivery system.
Point No.3- The health delivery system should be or must be free from corruption. New health system implementation approach can be taken up by the organizations.
Posted by: chanchal Tailong | June 4, 2009 6:16 AM
In an Utopian world, what you say is true. However, on the ground, you have to consider the reality too. We are also trying to make it work the way it should be.
Posted by: Dr Pankaj Gupta | June 8, 2009 5:24 AM
Point 2 - the key to keep the inflow / outflow balance of insurance payers right to ensure low insurance premiums is to make wellness and prevention services a priority in legislation and policy.
Posted by: Luis Montes | July 13, 2009 11:03 PM