"When you or your loved one is facing a serious illness, the last thing
you want to worry about is how much it will cost".
FAIR Health, a national independent, not-for-profit corporation, has
created a website to help you. The
FH Consumer Cost Lookup is a free tool to provide you with an honest estimate of costs for medical and dental services by geographical area, as well as what you can expect your insurer to cover.
FAIR Health uses its database of billions of billed medical and dental
services to power this free website enabling consumers to estimate
and plan for their medical and dental expenditures. In addition the site provides many
other resources, videos and guides to
help you make informed decisions about your health care.
Labels: cost of dental services, cost of medical services, health care costs, health insurance
The game that used to be reserved for politicians; the game that parents are not supposed to play; the game that Google rankings depend on, celeb's slave for, teens die for, and medical school professors pretend to ignore; namely, the 'popularity contest'.
Now consider the effects of this game on the medical profession and its consequences for the rising cost of health care. Surprised? Just consider how you would rate your doctor in a patient satisfaction survey if he/she told you that you needed to lose 30 pounds?
"You can tell people to eat their vegetables all you want; they’re still going to remember more fondly the person who gave them a slice of cake."
Were you aware that the growing trend in the United States is to tie a physician's compensation to their performance - not in the operating room - not in providing quality evidence-based care - but on their rating on the
patient satisfaction survey?
 |
| Catering to Patients Can be Harmful to Their Health |
I invite you to read this very interesting article by Kai Falkenberg published in Forbes [Jan 2, 2013] called, "Why Rating Your Doctor is Bad for Your Health?" .
Labels: culture of healthcare, health care costs, patient satisfaction, physician patient interaction
America's Path to the Best Health Care at Lower Cost: IOM Report
The Institute of Medicine of the National Academies (IOM) released a report yesterday (September 6, 2012) entitled
"Best Care at Lower Cost : The Path to Continuously Learning Health Care in America." The IOM's Committee on the
Learning Health Care System in America was tasked with determining the key challenges to health care in the United States today.
"America's health care system has become far too complex and costly to continue business as usual. Pervasive inefficiencies, an inability to manage a rapidly deepening clinical knowledge base, and a reward system poorly focused on key patient needs, all hinder improvements in the safety and quality of care and threaten the nation's economic stability and global competitiveness. Achieving higher quality care at lower cost will require fundamental commitments to the incentives, culture, and leadership that foster continuous "learning”, as the lessons from research and each care experience are systematically captured, assessed, and translated into reliable care."
In brief this report identifies three major imperatives for change:
- the rising complexity of modern health care
- unsustainable cost increases
- outcomes below the system’s potential
Read the brief or full report free online at the IOM website.
Labels: health care costs, health services, healthcare reform, IOM, knowledge transfer, patient safety, quality of care, US healthcare
The Commonwealth Fund conducted a survey of more than
10,000 primary care physicians in 11 countries to compare perspectives, care, costs and experiences.
"Across the globe, countries are working to redesign their primary care systems by investing in information technology, round-the-clock access, teamwork, integration, and quality improvement."
"A Survey of Primary Care Physicians in 11 Countries, 2009: Perspectives on Care, Costs, and Experiences" (November 5, 2009) Schoen C [et al]
Health Affairs Web Exclusive.
Also for interactive, custom statistics visit the new
Commonwealth Fund International Health Policy and Data Center.
Labels: Commonwealth Fund, health care costs, interactive statistics, primary care, statistics
Steps Forward in the Prevention of Cervical Cancer
Dear Colleagues,
Our second semester medical student
Smita Prasad, with her Master’s in Public Health [University of Kentucky, College of Public Health, Lexington, KY] has done it again... Smita is an asset to our University and a joy to work with! This is her second published article on HPV vaccines and their cost effectiveness in the prevention of Cervical Cancer.
Sincerely,
Dr. MJ Cannon "Management strategies and cost effectiveness in the prevention of cervical cancer." by Smita R Prasad,
ClinicoEconomics and Outcomes Research Journal, June 2009.
Coincidentally,
Cervical Cancer is in the news here in the Caribbean this week as well. The
Trinidad & Tobago Express reports:
"The incidence of cervical cancer in the Caribbean is more than four times that in some developed countries because women are either uneducated about the disease or afraid to be screened, says Minister of Health, Jerry Narace." Labels: cervical cancer, health care costs, HPV, human papillomavirus
Smita Prasad MPH, first year UMHS-SK medical student, has published her research findings along with co-author
Raymond Hill DrPH MPA.
"The objective of this study was to determine the cost-efficiency of vaccinating against Human Papillomavirus (HPV) in Medicaid enrolled females of the Appalachian region of Kentucky (n=49,411 females) aged 12 to 25 years, versus paying for the treament of cervical cancer cases (n=643 cases) within this population later in life." The study demonstrated that such a prevention plan is cost-efficient and that over time, as the vaccinated population ages, an actual cost saving will be recognized.
Prasda SR, Hill R. A cost-benefit analsis on the HPV vaccine in Medicaid-enrolled females of the Appalachian region of Kentucky.
Kentucky Med Assoc J.June 2008;106:271-276.
Full text of the article is available in the library.Click for most information on
Cervical Cancer ,
Statistics Facts Sheet &
CDC 2007 National Immunization Survey Data.
Labels: cancer prevention, cancer research, Caribbean medical student, CDC, cost-benefit analysis, health care costs, HPV, human papillomavirus, public health, UMHS-SK, vaccination, womens health
"In the United States, nearly 13 percent of adults age 20 and older have diabetes, but 40 percent of them have not been diagnosed, according to epidemiologists from the
National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), whose study includes newly available data from an
Oral Glucose Tolerance Test (OGTT)." “These findings have grave implications for our health care system, which is already struggling to provide care for millions of diabetes patients, many of whom belong to vulnerable groups, such as the elderly or minorities,” said Griffin P. Rodgers, M.D., director of the NIDDK. “Of paramount importance is the need to curb the obesity epidemic, which is the main factor driving the rise in type 2 diabetes.”
“These findings of yet another increase in diabetes prevalence are a reminder that a full-scale public health response is in order. Re-directing the trends in diabetes will require changing the nutritional and physical activity habits of people at risk, and also creative and substantial efforts by health systems and communities," said Ed Gregg, Ph.D., epidemiology and statistics branch chief in CDC’s Division of Diabetes Translation.
Click on the title to link to the NIH news release and further informational links on Diabetes.Labels: applied statistics, burden of disease, CDC, diabetes, health care costs, NIH, obesity, OGTT, Oral Glucose Tolerance Test, public health, research study
The findings of a landmark randomized controlled trial which demonstrates the value and impact of the medical librarian has just been published!
"
BACKGROUND: The "Just-in-time Information" (JIT) librarian consultation service was designed to provide rapid information to answer primary care clinical questions during patient hours. This study evaluated whether information provided by librarians to answer clinical questions positively impacted time, decision-making, cost savings and satisfaction...
CONCLUSIONS: In this study, providing timely information to clinical questions had a highly positive impact on decision-making and a high approval rating from participants. Using a librarian to respond to clinical questions may allow primary care professionals to have more time in their day, thus potentially increasing patient access to care. Such services may reduce costs through decreasing the need for referrals, further tests, and other courses of action."
McGowan J, Hogg W, Campbell C, Rowan M. Just-in-time information improved decision-making in primary care: a randomized controlled trial. PLoS ONE. 2008;3(11):e3785. Epub 2008 Nov 21.PMID: 19023446 [open source]. Labels: clinical care, evaluation, evidence-based medicine, health care costs, hospital librarian, hospital library, hospital services, impact of librarian, medical librarian, RCT
