Dr. Skip's Medical Peer Review Blog: While the U.S. Spends Heavily on Health Care, a Study Faults the Quality
Thursday, July 17, 2008
While the U.S. Spends Heavily on Health Care, a Study Faults the Quality
Usually paying a premium for services and goods means you’re getting a product of higher quality in return. For example, organic produce costs more than conventionally-grown produce and octane 92 gas costs more than octane 89 but you get what you pay for: better fruits and cleaner gasoline.
According to a study conducted by Commonwealth Fund, a nonprofit research group in New York, this get-what-you-pay-for formula is not the case for the American healthcare system. The report shows that the United States spends more than twice as much on each person for health care as most other industrialized countries but has fallen to last place among those countries in preventing deaths through use of timely and effective medical care.
In summary: Americans are paying way too much for very little. The study also examines costs and inefficiencies within the American healthcare system. The administrative costs of the medical insurance systems consume much more of the current healthcare dollar, about 7.5 percent, than in other countries.
One avenue that healthcare payors can take to reduce costs is to outsource review cases to independent review organizations (IRO). IROs are efficient, cost-effective and knowledgeable, providing peer specialists who are actively practicing and up-to-date with today’s medical standards. By ensuring that reviews are done according to current medical standards, IROs reduce extraneous administrative costs of rework and re-reviewing.
