Thirty years in healthcare makes one a bit jaded. I have been mulling over the following questions, some for many, many years. Perhaps one of you might have an answer, propose a solution or have another question to add …
- If the IOM says that 30% of healthcare is waste, fraud and/or abuse, why are Kaiser and other fully integrated provider/insurers not at least 20% cheaper than other plans?
- Why can I buy a car on eBay, but not an X-ray?
- Who makes the money if I improve my health?
- If every sector of the healthcare system says that the work they are doing is “for the patients”, why has overall health not improved given all we spend?
- If every sector of healthcare points to another sector saying “take the costs from that sector, they’re the problem”, doesn’t that ultimately lead back to themselves?
- If hospitals have such small margins, could it be they overbuilt?
- Can we truly continue to grow the healthcare trough and shoot for 30% of GDP?
- If healthcare only accounts for 10-20% of a community’s health status, why are we looking to providers to improve our health?
- Why are hospitals moving into selling wellness and health improvement programs in the community when healthcare costs are 10.6% higher for hospital workers than the general employee population and their health risks are 8.6% higher? Shouldn’t they show they can improve their own first?(2)
- Will we still be asking these same questions in 10 years?
What do you think?
(1) http://resources.iom.edu/widgets/vsrt/healthcare-waste.html
(2) Sicker and Costlier: Healthcare Utilization of U.S. Hospital Employees. Thomson Reuters, August 2011