Cost Reduction |
Cost Containment in Health Care- Payers
Introduction |
| Rising health care costs threaten the solvency of individuals, the viability of businesses, and the
economy of the United States. More than half of the personal bankruptcies in the US are brought
about by illnesses that cause the worker to lose their job. Health care benefits are the fastest
growing expense for US businesses. Starbucks pays more for health care benefits than for coffee
beans. 12% of the cost of a new car is related to health benefits for the workers that produced it.
The crisis is illustrated by the fact that GM just placed 1 Billion dollars of health care liability
back on their workers to stay solvent. Businesses can control the cost of raw materials but so far
they have not been able to control the cost of health care. Health care costs have risen at double
the rate of inflation. Health care expenditures are now at 14% of GNP. When they reach 21%
we will have a situation similar to the economy in 1978 -1980 when interest rates were at 21%
and that was not and can not be sustainable for the economy. The US spends 1.6 Trillion dollars
per year on health care and we do NOT have better outcomes than other developed countries.
This White Paper describes the drivers of cost, and explains how costs can be controlled, because
70% of what we pay for is unnecessary. It makes a compelling argument that businesses and
their insurers need to invest in a longitudinal database to prospectively analyze health care
outcomes over time and across delivery systems. Tracking the variation in therapy among
practitioners would allow us to target therapy & populations to those that would actually benefit
from proven therapies thus avoiding treatment in the 70% who won’t benefit. A Global Portable
Medical Record system can cut health care costs by 10-40% and provide additional health and
safety benefits. |
| What are the drivers of costs? |
Third party payments
Asymmetrical knowledge and decision making under uncertainty
Variation in diagnosis & therapy
Antiquated business practices
Waste & Harm
New Technology
Aging Population
Escalating Prescription Costs
Malpractice Insurance
The Uninsured
Evidence Based Medicine:
THE SOLUTION: Global Portable Medical Records
How do they differ from regular medical records?
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| GPMR- |
- Are patient controlled, HIPAA compliant, & Ultra-secure.
- They are portable and can operate on or off line; so 80 pages of emergency are always available to the Medics coming in your house or rescuers in New Orleans with no power or Internet service.
- Provide universal access to a longitudinal record of original encounters across delivery systems in real time. Provider smart cards can be used to gain security access to a patient directed medical record in any participating EPIC, IDX, GE, HBOC or Cerner system. They can connect hospitals in a chain or RHIOs across the world.
- Generate type written records & billing in real time which decreases errors and improves
safety.
- Collected data are automatically entered into a relational database for outcome analysis, drug surveillance and targeting populations and therapies.
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