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medpundit |
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Monday, September 27, 2004He also points to this study (it's a CBS report, but not by Dan Rather, so maybe it's reliable), that shows that healthcare costs may be increasing because we're spending more per patient per disease, with better outcomes: Fifteen conditions accounted for more than half the overall growth in health-care spending from 1987 to 2000, according to a new report that examined 260 medical conditions and was published in the journal Health Affairs. U.S. health-care spending rose an inflation-adjusted $200 billion, or about 3 percent per year, in that 13-year span. ...Heart disease, mental disorders, lung conditions, cancer and trauma -- the five most expensive conditions -- accounted for 31 percent of the overall rise, the study said. High blood pressure, cerebrovascular disease like strokes, arthritis, back problems, diabetes, pneumonia, skin disorders, infectious disease, endocrine and kidney diseases rounded out the 15 most costly medical conditions driving spending growth. ...In eight of the 15 conditions seeing the biggest rise in spending, a rise in the cost per treated case -- and not a rising volume of cases treated -- contributed most to the spending boost. Growth in the cost per treated heart disease case, for example, accounted for about 70 percent of the rise in spending while the number of heart disease patients remained stable in that time. posted by Sydney on 9/27/2004 10:26:00 PM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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