Key cuts to healthcare waste saves $3.6 trillion
Related News
- Obama takes aim at Republicans on healthcare
Sun, Jun 13 2010- Obama takes aim at Republicans again on healthcare
Sat, Jun 12 2010- Democrats launch push to promote Obama health law
Thu, Jun 10 2010- Pennsylvania probing health insurers over rates
Wed, Jun 9 2010- Pennsylvania probing health insurers over rates
Wed, Jun 9 2010
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. healthcare industry can cut $3.6 trillion in waste over 10 years with a few common-sense steps to eliminate fraud, errors and to encourage efficiency and healthier behavior, according to an analysis by Thomson Reuters.
Recommended changes include giving patients a medical "home" to better coordinate care, eliminating a culture of fraud, encouraging patients to ask about healthcare costs, and rewarding quality improvement initiatives.
Such changes could reduce waste by 5 percent a year, adding up to $3.6 trillion over 10 years, according to the report.
"Last year, we published a report concluding that the U.S. healthcare system wastes $700 billion a year," Bob Kelley, vice president for healthcare analytics at Thomson Reuters, said in a statement.
"This new report describes a possible path for significantly reducing that waste."
Kelley and colleagues at Thomson Reuters, parent company of Reuters news agency, asked clients what they were doing that worked. They also read published studies on ways to cut waste.
The report, available at factsforhealthcare.com, outlines some of the best measures.
They include:
* Encouraging everyone to manage their own health through personal behavior to prevent diseases, early detection and appropriate care for chronic diseases.
* Using a simple checklist approach to prevent medical errors, which cost $50 billion to $100 billion a year. For instance, Dr. Peter Provonost at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore estimates his checklist he uses when inserting a catheter to deliver medication, called a central line, reduced infection rates from 11 percent to zero. This prevented 43 infections and eight deaths and saved the hospital $2 million.
* Reducing opportunities for fraud. A George Washington University report estimated that in 2007, fraud accounted for 5 percent to 10 percent of the $2.3 trillion in healthcare spending.
"The goal is to change the culture of fraud," the report reads, adding that while most providers submit legitimate bills, "the public and the provider community need to be better educated about how fraudulent payments directly reduce resources available to patients for legitimate and necessary healthcare services."
* Reduce fragmentation in the delivery of care, better coordinating care among specialists and cutting administrative costs.
* Create a "culture of performance improvement" that promotes the quick dissemination and adoption of best practices.
"New Jersey's five largest health plans and five physician groups have created a pilot program allowing hospitals and physicians to communicate with health plans and address administrative tasks through a single Web portal," the report reads.
Electronic records are key, the report said. "The Minnesota Department of Health estimates that when fully implemented, a law requiring the standard, electronic exchange of routine healthcare business transactions will save the state more than $60 million per year," it reads.
Democrats in Congress passed a healthcare reform bill in March that largely focuses on health insurance. Republicans say the plan is too expensive at a time of monstrous federal budget deficits, but President Barack Obama has argued it is possible to use reform to save money.
"Great effort was expended to provide a balanced and specifically apolitical viewpoint equally weighing the concerns of patients, providers, payers, and purchasers," the Thomson Reuters report reads.
(Editing by Philip Barbara)
Comments
Jun 14, 2010 6:27am EDTmacman2 Report As AbusiveNo mention of the biggest waste of health care funds – the US private health insurance industry. We could save $400 billion annually with a single payer plan for this nation. It would much more efficient than the suggestions listed.
Jun 14, 2010 7:06am EDTStoryburn_has Report As AbusiveObamacare will never work unless we turn the health insurers into non profit entities.
Jun 14, 2010 9:24am EDTgwng99 Report As AbusiveOur healthcare and insurance industry are the same as banking and mortgage filled with greedy management plus some unethical doctors. They take advantage of the inefficiency and ineffective of our governemnt and bureaucratic system. Basically they have been milking tax payers money for years.
Jun 14, 2010 12:01pm EDTCalGal Report As AbusiveEven if no other reforms come to pass, it is absolutely necessary to take a hard look at the DME (durable medical equipment) racket. In our city, a block of these fraudsters was shut down after an investigation. When a $14.99 pair of support stockings turns into a $75.00 pair after the amount of latex in the stocking turns it into DME, something is fishy. It’s the same with the scooters, walkers, etc. Billions could be saved if prices were reasonable and realistic.
Jun 14, 2010 12:29pm EDTjimmy37 Report As AbusiveKeep call insurance companies greedy – - what about calling government incompetent and wasteful? * * *
Why do lefties keep insisting that going to a single payer system will save money? What about the billions of dollars of fraud that is built into the Medicaid and Medicare because Congress tells it what to do? What about the poor record keeping systems they have so they can’t keep track of their payments?
Jun 14, 2010 3:40pm EDTindieinfla Report As AbusiveJimmy37-
The fraud in Medicaid and Medicare is not due to congress telling it what to do, but hospitals and doctors double and triple billing as well as billing for services not rendered. The poor record keeping is only a piece of the puzzle.
Jun 14, 2010 8:34pm EDTbuckeyecal Report As Abusive“Kelley and colleagues at Thomson Reuters, parent company of Reuters news agency, asked clients what they were doing that worked. They also read published studies on ways to cut waste.”
No industry experience, just 3rd party analysis and this constitutes a story that is newsworthy? Trying to grab headlines?
Why not actually do some thorough research of people in the industry?
Jun 15, 2010 12:05am EDTJUANDEMTY Report As AbusiveThe billing process, as it exists now, is perhaps the single biggest contributor to fraud and abuse. Lack of effective regulation allows fraud to occur. As a response, the fiduciary intermediates unilaterally claim fraud on what are basically random claims. This results in dissatisfied providers while unfairly enriching the billing entities. The incentive is to increase collections by whatever legal means, and this involves knowing which loopholes to use, rather than relying on good medical care and acting in the interest of the patient. No other nation has the insurance industry so entrenched in health care. The insurance industry is largely responsible for our healthcare system, and this is based largely on legalized corruption and greed. When we realize that our system is not the best in the world, we will begin to make progress.
*We welcome comments that advance the story directly or with relevant tangential information. We try to block comments that use offensive language or appear to be spam and review comments frequently to ensure they meet our standards. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters.
Its a funny thing in US healthcare - we do the complex incredibly well, but we cant do the simple basics well at all. We can practically cure cancer, but we lose biopsies all the time. Reuters came out with a study echoing this. Atul Gawande is pioneering the idea of checklists in the hospital. Doctors and nurses may not like it, but it is needed. There are so many resources that need to come together for a successful surgery, at the right time, and the right place that is incredibly hard to run things from mental notes anymore. Much like car seats for babies - you are protecting the baby when the drive goes well. You are protecting for that one in a million chance when things go bad. When there are 300 million patients, many more million surgeries, one in a million aint that great of odds anymore.
The report focuses on other basics - early detection and prevention of diseases (a common theme of mine is that the earlier a problem is found out, the cheaper it is to fix and the better the outcome), eliminating fraud (more transparency in all billing will help here), and focusing on best practices.
I like how these are framed as common sense solutions. While I dont know if I believe we can drive $3.6 trillion of waste out solely from fixing these issues, I do believe they are a great place to start to get the ball rolling and quickly.
0 Responses to "Eliminate waste in Healthcare by focusing on the basics: $3.6 trillion could be saved"
Post a Comment