Source: Thompson Reuters
According to a recent report by Robert Kelley, vice president of healthcare analytics at Thomson Reuters, an estimated $700 billion is wasted annually on healthcare practices and procedures in need of revision.
Examples of such waste include: A paper-based system which discourages the sharing of medical records (6 percent of annual overspending), thank you lack of technology utilization and HIPPA; Overuse of antibiotics and lab tests accounts for some 37 percent of healthcare waste ($200 to $300 billion a year); Fraud is responsible for 22 percent of healthcare waste ($200 billion a year) in fraudulent Medicare claims, kickbacks for referrals for unnecessary services and other scams; Administrative inefficiency and redundant paperwork account for 18 percent of healthcare waste; Medical mistakes account for 11 percent ($50 billion to $100 billion); and, Preventable conditions such as uncontrolled diabetes cost $30 billion to $50 billion a year.
The report also found that there is a shortage of US primary care doctors (compared to specialists) which leads to wasteful use of emergency rooms, for primary care issues.
So what does this all add up to? Well, $505 to $850 billion in costs per year certainly, forcing Americans to spend more per capita and the highest percentage of GDP on healthcare than any other “developed” country while managing the paradox of maintaining an unhealthier population with higher incidence of diabetes, obesity and heart disease and neonatal deaths than other such countries. All is not entirely doom and gloom. Americans still have more access to generally more advanced healthcare with less wait involved. However, if the push from the US Government for mandated reform doesn’t make it clear, the current system requires some significant revision.
~Posted by D.M. Schwadron, Esq.